Influences

• The Holy Ghost of my father and the Chinese ghosts of my mother.
  
  The American Dream and the Chinese family's interpretation of that.
  
  Free books from the library every week and reading books that appeared on the banned book lists.
  
  Writing secret letters to my friends about running away to Haight-Ashbury and writing thank you letters as my mother dictated them to me in bad English.
  
  The early deaths of my older brother and father and my mother's belief that I would die next.
  
  An SAT score in the 400s for English and SAT score in the 700s in Spanish
  
  Listening to my mother and her friends gossip in Chinese. Understanding Chinese but not being able to speak it.
  
  Luck and an amazing amount of it.

Web Links

• AmyTan.net