The Hundred Secret Senses : The Exposition (chapter 1)

Out of all the English novels that I have read, which are very few, unfortunately for me, The Hundred Secret Senses especially caught my eye straightaway within the first pages. In the setting, everything takes place in The United States, in the twentieth-century. Olivia Bishop, a commercial photographer, narrates the beginning of the story, in which she let the readers know that her Chinese half-sister is coming all the way from China to come live with her family. Olivia also explains with rigour the atmosphere in her household. Her father died when she was only four years-old, and she is now scared that Kwan, who is twelve years older than the protagonist, is going to take her place in her mother’s heart. However, Kwan is a sweet, most of the time naive and usually very oddball girl. Additionally, she claims that she can interact with ghosts and always tells otherworldly, imaginary and supernatural stories, which everyone is fascinated with. In the first chapter, Kwan and Olivia have some disagreements and an overall difficult relationship that the reader can detect by flipping through the pages.

The novel’s author Amy Tan catches the reader’s eye by entering directly in the heart of the matter at the beginning. First of all, the title The Hundred Secret Senses and the cover page image stole my attention, because it is genuinely original and stimulates curiosity. Plus, I like to read books when we feel connected and called out during the reading, and when the narrator is the first person. I was able to notice many cultural similarities between my country and theirs that made me understand and relate even more to the characters. Indeed, I have a little half-sister, just like Kwan, and we both have the same mother. Sometimes she annoys me just as much as Kwan bothers Olivia, in addition to being innocent and childlike at some point. In some way, I can relate to Olivia and her plan of getting rid of her sister, but at the end of the day, I still enjoy her presence. I remind myself that she is part of the family and needs to be as loved as every other member.