The Hundred Secret Senses (1995) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

• Olivia "Libby-ah": The protagonist who tells the story of her and her Chinese half-sister, Kwan.
• Kwan: Olivia's half sister from China. She sees Yin people.

Quotes edit see section history

• “So you see? He was already being bossy, making decisions for me. That's how I knew we were married. That's how he told me, "I do".”

  Kwan

• “I once thought that love was supposed to be nothing but bliss. I now know it is also worry, and grief, hope and trust. And believing in ghosts -- that's believing that love never dies. If people we love die, then they are lost only to our ordinary senses. If we remember, we can find them anytime with our hundred secret senses.”

  Olivia

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• I think Kwan intended to show me the world is not a place but the vastness of the soul. And the soul is nothing more than love, limitless, endless, all that moves us toward knowing what is true. I once thought love was supposed to be nothing but bliss. I now know it is also worry and grief, hope and trust. And believing in ghosts—that’s believing that love never dies. If people we love die, then they are lost only to our ordinary senses. If we remember, we can find them anytime with our hundred secret senses.

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• I believe hope can surprise you. It can survive the odds against it, all sorts of contradictions, and certainly any skeptic’s rationale of relying on proof through fact.

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• “Too much happiness always overflows into tears of sorrow.”

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• You see, in five ways she could sense the world like a Chinese person. But it was always this sixth way, her American sense of importance, that later caused troubles between us. Because her senses led to opinions, and her opinions led to conclusions, and sometimes they were different from mine.

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• Why do we love the mothers of our lives even if they were lousy caretakers? Are we born with blank hearts, waiting to be imprinted with any imitation of love?

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• Too much happiness, said the man who returned, always overflows into tears of sorrow.

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• Religion teaches you that faith takes care of hope. All my hopes are gone, so why do I need faith anymore?”

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• “ ‘Love is tricky,’ ” he read in a quavery voice. “ ‘It is never mundane or daily. You can never get used to it. You have to walk with it, then let it walk with you. You can never balk. It moves you like the tide. It takes you out to sea, then lays you on the beach again. Today’s struggling pain is the foundation for a certain stride through the heavens. You can run from it but you can never say no. It includes everyone.’ ”

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• “Send to Yin World. Everything with mind and heart together, use hundred secret sense.”

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• “Maybe her lack of attention is what made you as strong as you are today.”

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First Sentence edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Amy Tan (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Orange Prize for Fiction (Finalist, 1996, Shortlist)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813.54

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › United States › Asian American › Tan, Amy
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( T ) › Tan, Amy
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Women's Fiction › Domestic Life
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Women's Fiction › Sisters
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary