Amy Tan

Early life

Amy Tan was born in Oakland, California, on February 19, 1952. Her parents, John and Daisy Tan, were Chinese immigrants. Amy Tan grew up and attended school in Oakland.

Author Amy Tan was born in Oakland, California, in 1952 Pixabay

John Tan only lived until Amy Tan was fifteen. He died of a brain tumor, as did Amy Tan’s brother at around the same time. After these tragedies, Daisy took her remaining children to Switzerland. Amy Tan would complete her high school education while living there.

Amy and Daisy Tan did not always get along well. In fact, their relationship was stressed; Daisy was frequently suicidal—as her own mother had been, even eventually committing suicide—and is known to have been violent toward Amy Tan on at least one occasion. That incident involved Daisy holding a knife to Amy Tan’s throat, upset about Tan’s current boyfriend. On another occasion, Tan decided to leave Linfield College and transfer to San Jose City College to follow her boyfriend. Daisy had personally chosen Linfield College for her daughter; she was so upset that several months passed in which the two didn’t speak at all. Amy Tan later transferred to San Jose State University.

Amy Tan graduated from San Jose State University Pixabay

Adult life and Career

Tan graduated from San Jose State University with a BA in English and Linguistics in 1973 and an MA in Linguistics in 1974. Also in 1974, Amy Tan married Lou DeMattei, whom she had met on a blind date. She worked for several years as a language development specialist. In 1983, Amy Tan’s writing career began when she started working as a freelance business writer. By 1985, she began writing fiction.

Her first novel was The Joy Luck Club, published in 1987. It was unexpectedly successful, quickly becoming a bestseller. All of her following novels have also been bestsellers, including The Kitchen God’s Wife (1991), The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2001), Saving Fish from Drowning (2005), and The Valley of Amazement (2013).

Amy Tan: Books

Author Amy Tan has written several novels, all of which have been bestsellers. Some of the most famous are highlighted below.

The Joy Luck Club (1989)

Amy Tan’s first and most famous novel, The Joy Luck Club, quickly became a bestseller upon its publication. The plot is made up of the stories of four separate Chinese-American families that come together to form a mahjong club. Each character’s story is explored as the plot weaves together sixteen stories about the mothers and daughters that make up the Joy Luck Club.

The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2001)

Amy Tan’s fourth novel, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, was published in 2001. As with many of Tan’s works, it explores the relationship between a Chinese immigrant mother and her Chinese-American daughter. The plot follows two different stories: that of Chinese-American Ruth dealing with an aging mother, Lu Ling, suffering from dementia, and that of Lu Ling’s own life in China that she had written out in Chinese for Ruth. Their relationship shifts and strengthens as Ruth comes to understand her mother’s struggles and why she acts the way she does.

The Hundred Secret Senses (1995)

A fictional novel inspired by Tan’s life and her mother’s stories. The plot follows the relationship between two sisters: Kwan, born in China, and Chinese-American Olivia. Though their relationship is initially strained by their cultural differences, they become close and together forge their own understanding of their heritage and identities. This novel covers themes such as identity, heritage, and love.

Amy Tan’s other novels are The Kitchen God’s Wife (1991), Saving Fish from Drowning (2005), and The Valley of Amazement (2013).

Amy Tan: Short Stories

Amy Tan’s short stories are “Mother Tongue” (1990), which discusses the difficulties of being raised in the US by parents who speak limited English, “Fish Cheeks” (1987), which encourages pride in one’s heritage, and “The Voice from the Wall” (1989), which is a short story included within the novel The Joy Luck Club.

Amy Tan: Other Works

Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat is a children’s book about a Siamese cat learning about its heritage Pixabay

Author Amy Tan has also written two children’s books and several works of nonfiction. Her children’s books are The Moon Lady (1992) and Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat (1994). Her nonfiction works include The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings (2003) and Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir (2017). She also collaborated with other authors on Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America With Three Chords and an Attitude (1994), Mother (1996), and The Best American Short Stories 1999 (1999).

Amy Tan: Quotes

The Hundred Secret Senses is a book that examines the relationship between two sisters—one Chinese-American and the other born in China and not skilled in English or fitting in when she arrives in the United States. This quote shows the evoking relationship between the sisters and the deep connection they eventually form.

This quote comes from the novel The Kitchen God’s Wife. This book addresses a Chinese mother, her Chinese-American daughter, and their relationship. It deals with understanding their identities and heritage as well as how they function within a traditionally patriarchal culture.

This quote is from a short story included between chapters in The Joy Luck Club. These stories are meant to introduce the themes that will be important in the coming chapter. This story introduces the final section of the novel, and highlights themes of cyclical inheritance and wisdom passing between the old and the young, as well as the other way around.

Saving Fish From Drowning is a novel that follows Chinese-American tourists as they travel through their ancestral country. They don’t fully understand what they are experiencing, and the things that they misinterpret are commented on by a spirit they cannot see or hear. The group is kidnapped at one point, and though things get tough they learn to rely on their hidden strengths.

¹“About”. Amytan.net.

²"'I Am Full Of Contradictions': Novelist Amy Tan On Fate And Family". NPR.org, 2017.

³Bridget Kinsella, "'Fifty Shades of Tan': Amy Tan". Publishers Weekly, 2013.