Apart from The Joy Luck Club, I really enjoy Tan's books. A good friend loaned me Tan's first best seller to me while I was an undergraduate, at that time, I couldn't appreciate it. Looking back, I really could not understand much of what she was trying to say in that thin volume. Years later, by chance I saw the movie version back in my home country. This time, I not only understood it very well, I absolutely loved it. That is extremely unusual for me. 99.99% of the time I would choose a book over its movie. The only other movie(that I can off hand recall) I like over the book is The Lord of the Ring.
Back to The Hundred Secret Senses, I lost count of how many times I read it. The main reason I like it is because each time I read it, I remember something either of my deceased maternal grandma or something she once told me. This grandma of mine was born some where in Canton, China. She grew up as an adopted daughter of a landless Hakka share-cropping family. She sailed to my country as a mail order bride at the ripe old age of twenty one. I grew up listening to her stories nightly.
Like Oliver, I grew up in a house hold that very often contain long staying relatives, father's friend's children and assorted guests. When female guests ended up in my room or I ended up giving up my bedroom to any visiting couple, one cannot pretend to like it. As Oliver put up with her step-sister, Kwan; I have to put up with my girl cousin who loved to boss me around every school holiday.
If you are thinking of how Oliver went to China with Kwan and her ex-husband, in the story it somehow seemed it was meant to be. Taoist may call it fate. Free thinkers may call it chance occurrence. Some Christian may say it was due to circumstances. It seemed dramatic to have Kwan disappeared in the cave. Yet interestingly, a child that was not supposed to be possible was born and Kwan's husband later married another woman whom Kwan would have approved of. Just one trip ended with two good out come, not bad at all!
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