Amy Tan
Amy Tan
Amy Tanis an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships and the Chinese-American experience. Her best-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 25 languages. In 1993, the book was adapted into a commercially successful film...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth19 February 1952
CityOakland, CA
CountryUnited States of America
mother argument middle
Whenever my mother talks to me, she begins the conversation as if we were already in the middle of an argument.
mother new-year years
On the third day after someone dies, the soul comes back to settle scores. In my mother's case, this would be the first day of the lunar new year. And because it is the new year, all debts must be paid, or disaster and misfortune will follow.
mother teaching ghost
My mother would say it is literally ghost writers who come to me.
writing rewards fiction
In [writing] fiction, every sentence is its own reward.
secret wish want
What is a secret wish?" "It is what you want but cannot ask.
country lying giving
They know where happiness lies, not in a cave or a country, but in love and the freedom to give and take what has been there all along.
dog strong heart
I thought this man had long ago drained everything from my heart. But now something strong and bitter flowed and made me feel another emptiness in a place I didn't know was there. I cursed this man aloud so he could hear. You had dog eyes. You jumped and followed whoever called you. Now you chase your own tail.
daughter mother pain
So this is what I will do. I will gather together my past and look. I will see a thing that has already happened. the pain that cut my spirit loose. I will hold that pain in my hand until it becomes hard and shiny, more clear. And then my fierceness can come back, my golden side, my black side. I will use this sharp pain to penetrate my daughter's tough skin and cut her tiger spirit loose. She will fight me, because this is the nature of two tigers. But I will win and giver her my spirit, because this is the way a mother loves her daughter.
mean different way
It means we're looking one way, while following another. We're for one side and also the other. We mean what we say, but our intentions are different.
mother eye hands
My sisters and I stand, arms around each other, laughind and wiping the tears from each others eyes. The flash of the Polaroid goes off and my family hands me the snapshot. My sisters and I watch quietly together, eager to see what develops. Ghe grey-greensurface changes to the bright colors of our three images, sharpening and deepening all at once. And although we don't speak, I know we all see it: Together we look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in suprise to see, her long-cherished wish.
character thinking where-you-are
You should think about your character. Know where you are changing, how you will be changed, what cannot be changed back again.
jesus thinking quality
Only you pick that crab. Nobody else take it. I already know this. Everyone else want best quality. You thinking different.
good-things seems
Too many good things all seem the same after a while.
girl mother running
A girl is like a young tree, she said. You must stand tall and listen to your mother standing next to you. That is the only way to grow strong and straight. But if you bend to listen to other people, you will grow crooked and weak. You will fall to the ground with the first strong wind. And then you will be like a weed, growing wild in any direction, running along the ground until someone pulls you out and throws you away.