Review Excerpt:

I've been reading Amy Tan and teaching her in my college classes for about 8 years now, and she's always voted the "favorite reading" among my students who relate to her many characters and her art of story telling. Me too.
I just finished The Hundred Secret Senses (1995) and found it a wonderful blend of contemporary Chinese America and old world China, just as her Joy Luck Club was and is. It's also a mix of narrative voices: the wit, even sarcasm, of photographer Olivia, and the magic realism of her Chinese step-sister Kwan. Parts of the book set in China remind me of A Passage to India...especially with the visits to the ancient caves, but the writing is clearly Amy Tan who can make you laugh and cry on the same page. It's an enjoyable journey into the heart: "And the soul is nothing more than love--limitless--endless--all that moves us toward knowing what is true." She restores hope through our finding compassion in ourselves. It's a very contemporary yet timeless theme.