But instead, most of the time, I resented her for taking my mother’s place.” This is just one instance of many in which the complex relationship between the sisters is explored by the author. Quotes from The Hundred Secret Senses We dream to give ourselves hope. Kwan, her half sister from China, talks about ghosts all the time, especially the story of the loyal maid, the warlord, and the unfortunate lovers, Miss. The narrator Olivia, is half Chinese and half Caucasian.

The novel has two main characters, Kwan and Olivia. She liked nothing better than to be by my side. The Hundred Secret Senses starts with the claim that 'My sister Kwan believes she has yin eyes' (3), a key sentence of this novel. In The Hundred Secret Senses, a romance and mystery novel, Amy Tan tells the story of Olivia and her half-sister Kwan how they grow up together and help each other, while also depicting Kwan’s former life in China, and Olivia’s relationship with her love, Simon. In Chapter 1, Olivia explains “I should have been grateful to Kwan. Appreciate Your Own Culture: The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan is a story about the cultural divide between two sisters, Olivia and Kwan. This causes further cultural tension between the sisters as Olivia doesn’t understand Chinese culture and Kwan doesn’t really “get” how to assimilate into the American way of doing things. Furthermore, Kwan was born and raised in China while Olivia, who shares the same father, was born in San Francisco. However, sometimes Kwan’s best intentions are burdensome and annoying to Olivia causing her to want to distance herself from her sister especially those times when Kwan wants to “mother” Olivia. Kwan doesn’t do this out of spite or hate but because she wants the very best for her sister.

In the book, The Hundred Secret Senses, by Amy Tan, the main character, Olivia, is struggling to move forward with her life but her half sister, Kwan, is constantly reminding her of the past and trying to yank her back to a time when Kwan believes Olivia was happiest.

The 100 secret senses