Rating: 
Summary: An excellent read
Review: This is one of those books that is hard to put down. When you do you find yourself thinking about it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not enough character description
Review: I didn't think the characters were described very well and I never felt like I really knew them. I also didn't like that sometimes Olivia, the main character, did not believe her sister and sometimes she did. It also annoyed me that she wasn't able to communicate what she was really feeling about her husband.
Rating: 
Summary: "The Sixth Sense", Amy Tan style!
Review: This book could kind of be called "The Sixth Sense, Amy Tan Style". After all, there is a strange similarity between the first line of this book ("My sister Kwan believes she has yin eyes.") and the often quoted line from "The Sixth Sense" ("I see dead people!"). Yet, Amy Tan's tale is a story of Chinese mysticism, family ties, and modern and historical China - a fascinating albeit weird novel!This is the story about the relationship between half-sisters Kwan and Olivia. Kwan comes from China and serves as a mother-figure for the young Olivia, haunting her with tales of ghost and past lives. These mystical tales are engrossing because they also give a history of Manchu China. This book goes where Amy Tan's other novels haven't - it actually travels to modern-day China. This was my favorite part of the book! The descriptions were so well-written that I felt like the characters who were seeing China for the first time. I'd like to thank Ms. Tan for "showing" me this unique culture!
Rating: 
Summary: Starts off good, but kind of blah overall
Review: I really enjoyed the first half of this book. The lead character really grew on me, and I found myself laughing out loud several times. However, she really began to grate on my nerves, as did the wimpy Simon, once they all went to China. I just didn't care anymore and found myself skipping over passages just to finish it. I really enjoyed The Kitchen God's Wife ... this one just didn't provide consistency or generate enough of my interest.
Rating:
Summary: I know this girl, but she's so hard to figure out
Review: According to my kids, my youngest girl is a bit like her. She's bright and imaginative, and very annoying. Amy Tan's first-person experiences with her older, mysterious, oriental sister tells us a lot about herself, her world as a child and as a grown-up, and very little about her sister. The firuge of the sister floats there all over the book, but the story is about herself, not about her sister. The character, an almost typical California girl, is touching, and I could easily identify with her (if I were a girl and from California). Although the style is dry, the emotions underneath are powerful and wonderful to read. I enjoyed it enough to order some more of her books (this is my first)
Rating:
Summary: Enchanting Story
Review: This novel is an enchanting read, and the character of Kwan is hilarious and authentic. The only weak point is the dialogue between Olivia and Simon - it sounds very forced and devoid of true emotion. Their fights seem written by a precocious sixth-grader... The best parts of the book are those written in the voice of Kwan and her previous self, Numunu.
Rating:
Summary: Two Stories or One
Review: In The Hundred Secret Senses, Amy Tan tells us the story of two sisters, Olivia who has been raised in America and Kwan who joins the family straight from China after their father's death. Kwan begins to tell Olivia her "Yin Stories" or shall we say her conversations with the dead. The book splits in two different stories, not only do we read about Olivia and Kwan, but Kwan tells us the story of two 19th century women Ms. Banner and Nunumu, but if you are patient and can wait till the two stories eventually are interwoven. I loved Kwan she was such a great character. She seemed so friendly and there was many times that she had me laughing out loud especially with her use of the English Language. I didn't find this book as good as The Joy Luck Club or The Kitchen God's wife but I did find it enjoyable and worth the time to read to the end. It was the relationship between the two sisters that held me interest through out the book and I loved the way both stories became one at the end.
Rating:
Summary: A wise book that will make you think
Review: This book is terrific. The interlock of current and past stories makes this book unique and great. Like always, Amy Tan uses Chinese wisedom and superstition to creat a story. What anchors this book is the character Kwan. She is truely one to wonder about. Strange yet always knowing everything, Kwan and her ghosts create intrigue and fill the imagination. Although this book stretches the patience sometimes, it is altogether great.
Rating:
Summary: a great book about sisters
Review: Olivia and Kwan could easily be yin and yang -- Olivia is born and raised Westernized, while Kwan joins her family in the USA after living in China for about 13 years. She is full of yin tales of the Old Country and her English is accented -- Olivia finds this embarrassing and is resentful that her older sister is not the hip playmate she thought she would be. Thirty years on, as her marriage is on the rocks, Olivia starts to appreciate and love Kwan. They travel back to China together, where Olivia learns more about her sister and her ways, and perhaps it's not just all stories and talk on Kwan's part, that there is a lot more to Kwan's past, and not all of it is easily explained to the logical mind. I liked this book because, as a first-generation Asian-American, Olivia and Kwan seemed to represent the two sides that most daughters of immigrants face within themselves, except they were two separate women and complete beings unto themselves. I also think this worked because they were girls and not boys -- the relationship between sisters is profound even if they been of any other culture/ethnicity.
Rating:
Summary: Mesmerizing - a smorgasbord of poignant, poetic images
Review: In this book, as well as in "The Kitchen God's Wife," Amy Tan reveals to us her acute understanding of the Chinese psyche and culture. She is such a gifted writer and infuses her tales with storytelling magic. The reader is effectively rendered "present" in just about every compelling, atmospheric scene.
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