Amy Ruth Tan (b.1952) is a Chinese-American author of novels about Chinese American women, generational conflicts, and the immigrant experience.
Born in Oakland, California, Tan grew up in California and Switzerland. She studied English and linguistics at San Jose State University and the University of California, Berkeley, and had a highly successful freelance business writer at first. In 1987, a trip with her Chinese immigrant mother to China inspired her first novel, The Joy Luck Club (1989; film, 1993.) The novel describes the experiences of four Chinese mothers, their Chinese American daughters, and the struggles of the two different cultures and generations to relate to each other.
Tan is famous for her narratives of emotional conflict between Chinese-American mothers and daughters separated by generational and cultural differences. Together with a distinctive writing style and rich imagery, Tan’s treatment of such themes as loss and reconciliation, hope and failure, friendship and familial conflict, and the healing power of storytelling have brought her widespread success and critical praise.
Tan’s other notable works include The Kitchen God’s Wife (1991,) The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2001,) and Saving Fish from Drowning (2005.) She also wrote children’s stories, such as The Moon Lady (1992) and Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat (1994; television series, 2001.) Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s Memoir was published in 2017.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Amy Tan
With each passing day, I didn’t lose hope. I fought to have more.
—Amy Tan
Topics: Hope
In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.
—Amy Tan
Topics: Chance, Circumstance
Fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention.
—Amy Tan
Memory feeds imagination.
—Amy Tan
Topics: Memories
If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.
—Amy Tan
Topics: Fate, Attitude
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