The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a
Writing Life by Amy Tan
A Great Book
Amy Tan begins The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings, a collection of
essays that spans her literary career, on a humorous note; she is troubled
that her life and novels have become the subject of a Cliff’s Notes
abridgement. Reading the little yellow booklet, she discovers that her work
is seen as complex and rich with symbolism. However, Tan assures her
readers that she has no lofty, literary intentions in writing her novels--she
writes for herself, and insists that the recurring patterns and themes that
critics find in them are entirely their own making. This self-deprecating
stance, coupled with Tan’s own clarification of her intentions, makes The
Opposite of Fate feel like an extended, private conversation with the
author. Tan manages to find grace and frequent comedy in her
sometimes painful life, and she takes great pleasure in being a celebrity.
Midlife Confidential brings readers on tour with Tan and the rest of the
leather-clad writers’ rock band, the Rock-Bottom Remainders. And Angst
and the Second Book is a brutally honest, frequently hysterical reflection

on Tan’s self-conscious attempts to follow the success of The Joy Luck
Club. In a collection so diverse and spanning such a long period of time,
inevitably some of the pieces feel dated or repetitious. Yet, Tan comes off
as a remarkably humble and sane woman, and the book works well both to
fill in her biography and to clarify the boundaries between her life and her
fiction. In her final, title essay, Tan juxtaposes her personal struggles
against a persistent disease with the nation’s struggles against terrorism in
the aftermath of 9/11. She declares her transformative, artistic power over
tragedy, reflecting: As a storyteller, I know that if I don’t like the ending, I
can write a better one. --Patrick O’Kelley
Personal Review: The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing
Life by Amy Tan
I am reviewing this book after reading it for the second time, so it should
already be obvious that I enjoyed it. Amy Tan, one of my favorite American
writers, finally gives her fans an inside look at what inspires and drives her
story-telling. All writers are influenced by their own experiences, but none
have a wealth of tragedies and settings in their lives to pull from. Tan has
lived through the deaths of her older brother and her father, within a year
of each other, and many years later, of her mother. She has lost friends to
tragic accidents, illness, and even murder. She has lived in San Francisco,
New York (which is where she was on September 11, 2001), and
Montreux, Switzerland. She performs in a rock and roll band with Stephen
King, Dave Berry, and Barbara Kingslover. She suffers from Lyme disease,
which has caused her to experience hallucinations, overwhelming fatigue,
and body vibrations. In short, she has not lived a normal life. It has been
filled with mysticism and unexplainable coincidences.
Perhaps most valuable to her fans who are also writers, are her thoughts
on writing. She describes her experience making the movie of The Joy
Luck Club, she talks about reviewers, the students who interpret her
writing for term papers, and how she wrote the dreaded Second Book. For
fans of Amy Tan, this book is a definite must-read. For those who are
interested in reading about the writing process, about a woman's real
relationship with her mother, or just about an interesting life, this book
should be perfect.
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