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The Hundred Secret Senses, Amy Tan
number of voters: 5
percentage of voters who finished the book: 100
highest rating: 10
lowest rating: 6.5
average rating: 7.68
average star rating: 3.3 stars
alternate title: The 100 Secret Plots
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My book group friend believes she has yen eyes. She longs for those plots that have trailed off or died as though they were still sitting in her kitchen on Hampshire Street in Eugene.
Actually, I believe her. I’ve seen some of those plots myself, although I won’t admit it—to her or to anyone. Maybe people will think I am as crazy as my book group friend and lock my future book choices up in that place where book group recommendations go to die.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
You see it all started when our book group read The Hundred Secret Senses, by Amy Tan. Some of us loved it, while others struggled to get through. Just to set the record straight, there were two that night who admitted they couldn’t finish it—and that isn’t counting the others who didn’t even bother to attend (not that I blame them, but this is just a factual account, you understand).
But I digress.
The important thing is that my friend, she loved this book. Sure, many of us were able to follow the story, for the most part. Some of us even enjoyed it. But my friend, she gets it. She sees the story like an elaborate quilt, the various plot threads all woven together. While we stumble along trying to find our needle and thread, she is happily piecing together the grand work of art—the story, the language, the characters, the thoughts, the other-worldliness of it all.
Maybe you too have yen eyes—that longing for plots that require patience and suspension of disbelief and a sort of hold-on-and-don’t-let-go ride. Maybe you will be able to follow the story, for the most part. Maybe you will even like it. Or maybe, if you are like my book group friend, you will get it.
In any case, it is likely you will never read another book quite like this one. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is all in how you see it.
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