Amy Tan

Amy Tan 1952-, American novelist, b. Oakland, Calif. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she has taken for her theme the lives of Asian-Americans and the generational and cultural differences among them, concentrating on women's experiences. Tan's novels include The Joy Luck Club (1989), The Kitchen God's Wife (1991), The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), The Bonesetter's Daughter (2001), and Saving Fish from Drowning (2005). She has also written a children's book, The Moon Lady (1992), and essays, e.g., the autobiographical pieces collected in The Opposite of Fate (2003).

Tan, Amy (1952–), born in Oakland, educated at San Jose State and at Berkeley, achieved wide critical and popular success with her first novel, The Joy Luck Club (1989), concerning the generation gap between the protagonist June, and three older Chinese women, members of the social group Joy Luck Club, which June's mother co‐founded. The real theme is the difficulty of love and communication between mothers and daughters. Her next, The Kitchen‐God's Wife (1991), also about a mother and daughter and the struggle to communicate well between old and new cultures and generations, was again both a critical and popular success. Recent novels include The Hundred Secret Senses (1995) and The Bonesetter's Daughter (2001). The Opposite of Fate (2003) is a collection of biographical essays.