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Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s Memoir
From New York Times bestselling author Amy Tan, a memoir on her life as a writer, her childhood and the symbiotic relationship between fiction and emotional memory.
In Where the Past Begins, bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and The Valley of Amazement Amy Tan is at her most intimate in revealing the truths and inspirations that underlie her extraordinary fiction.
By delving into vivid memories of her traumatic childhood, confessions of self-doubt in her journals and heartbreaking letters to and from her mother, she gathers together evidence of all that made it both unlikely and inevitable that she would become a writer. Through spontaneous storytelling, she shows how a fluid fictional state of mind unleashed near-forgotten memories that became the emotional nucleus of her novels.
Tan explores shocking truths uncovered by family memorabilia – the real reason behind an I.Q. test she took at age six, why her parents lied about their education, mysteries surrounding her maternal grandmother – and, for the first time publicly, writes about her complex relationship with her father, who died when she was fifteen.
Written with candour and characteristic humour, Where the Past Begins takes readers into the idiosyncratic workings of her writer's mind, a journey that explores memory, imagination, and truth.
373 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 17, 2017
1393 people are currently reading
7257 people want to read
About the author
Amy Tan
100 books11.2k followersAmy Tan (Chinese: 譚恩美; pinyin: Tán Ēnměi; born February 19, 1952) is an American writer whose novels include The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Saving Fish From Drowing, and The Valley of Amazement. She is the author of two memoirs, The Opposite of Fate and Where the Past Begins. Her two children’s books are The Chinese Siamese Cat and The Moon Lady. She is also the co-screenwriter of the film adaptation of The Joy Luck, the librettist of the opera The Bonesetter’s Daughter, and the creative consultant to the PBS animated series Sagwa the Chinese Chinese Cat.
Tan is an instructor with MasterClass on writing, memory and imagination. She is featured in the American Masters documentary Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and recently received the National Humanities Medal. She serves on the board of American Bird Conservancy.
Her forthcoming book The Backyard Bird Chronicles began as a journal in 2016, when she turned to nature for calm. She also began taking drawing classes with John Muir Laws (The Laws Guide to Nature Journaling and Drawing, and The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds). During the pandemic shutdown, she drew birds only in her backyard, documenting behaviors she found puzzling. Over time she identified 64 species of birds that have visited her backyard in Marin County. By 2022, she had more than nine journals of sketches and notes, which her editor at Knopf suggested she publish. The book, which will be released in April 2024, has already received high praise:
“Much of great writing comes from great interest, and in The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan shows us how the world fascinates her, especially the birds. The result is both unexpected and spectacular.”
—Ann Patchett, author of These Precious Days
“What an enchanting and illuminating book! How lucky for us that Amy Tan has turned her genius, her deep empathy and insight, her keen eye for what is telling, to birds. Every page of these chronicles radiates warm curiosity, wonder, and delight.”
—Jennifer Ackerman, The Genius of Birds
“This is one of the most infectious and convincing books about nature I’ve read. For the bird-watcher, the would-be bird-watcher, or for the bird-watching skeptic, this offers great delight and unexpected intrigue. Through Tan’s ecstatic eyes, what could be a dry treatise on ornithological happenings becomes something far more fun and much more profound. It’s really a book about seeing.”
—Dave Eggers, author of Ungrateful Mammals
“Anybody even mildly interested in birds, or thinking about getting interested in birds (which are, after all, the indicator genus for the health of the planet), will want this book perched on their shelf, if only for the gift of Amy Tan’s eye and the example she gives us of how to pay attention. What a treasure.”
—Robert Hass, Pulitzer Prize-Winning author of Summer Snow: New Poems
“Backyard Bird Chronicles is fun reading. It shows how we can become engaged emotionally, literally and artistically with the natural world—to joyfully learn about the most accessible and yet wild animals, the often rare and beautiful birds that choose to come and live near and sometimes with us.”
—Bernd Heinrich, author of Mind of the Raven
“With this book as your guide, embark into the bird world Amy Tan. This is an intimate view, a sort-of love affair with the birds and their behavior, that Amy has come to know over several years. Within the leafy universe of her own backyard, she has quietly beheld, patiently observed, and taken in-depth notations of an extensive array of bird species. In colorful detail, she describes various bird’s behavior, while capturing their beauty in exquisitely rendered illustrations. Species include fearsome predators and watchful prey, long distance migrants and hometown residents. Through her unique insight and gift as an author and
Tan is an instructor with MasterClass on writing, memory and imagination. She is featured in the American Masters documentary Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and recently received the National Humanities Medal. She serves on the board of American Bird Conservancy.
Her forthcoming book The Backyard Bird Chronicles began as a journal in 2016, when she turned to nature for calm. She also began taking drawing classes with John Muir Laws (The Laws Guide to Nature Journaling and Drawing, and The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds). During the pandemic shutdown, she drew birds only in her backyard, documenting behaviors she found puzzling. Over time she identified 64 species of birds that have visited her backyard in Marin County. By 2022, she had more than nine journals of sketches and notes, which her editor at Knopf suggested she publish. The book, which will be released in April 2024, has already received high praise:
“Much of great writing comes from great interest, and in The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan shows us how the world fascinates her, especially the birds. The result is both unexpected and spectacular.”
—Ann Patchett, author of These Precious Days
“What an enchanting and illuminating book! How lucky for us that Amy Tan has turned her genius, her deep empathy and insight, her keen eye for what is telling, to birds. Every page of these chronicles radiates warm curiosity, wonder, and delight.”
—Jennifer Ackerman, The Genius of Birds
“This is one of the most infectious and convincing books about nature I’ve read. For the bird-watcher, the would-be bird-watcher, or for the bird-watching skeptic, this offers great delight and unexpected intrigue. Through Tan’s ecstatic eyes, what could be a dry treatise on ornithological happenings becomes something far more fun and much more profound. It’s really a book about seeing.”
—Dave Eggers, author of Ungrateful Mammals
“Anybody even mildly interested in birds, or thinking about getting interested in birds (which are, after all, the indicator genus for the health of the planet), will want this book perched on their shelf, if only for the gift of Amy Tan’s eye and the example she gives us of how to pay attention. What a treasure.”
—Robert Hass, Pulitzer Prize-Winning author of Summer Snow: New Poems
“Backyard Bird Chronicles is fun reading. It shows how we can become engaged emotionally, literally and artistically with the natural world—to joyfully learn about the most accessible and yet wild animals, the often rare and beautiful birds that choose to come and live near and sometimes with us.”
—Bernd Heinrich, author of Mind of the Raven
“With this book as your guide, embark into the bird world Amy Tan. This is an intimate view, a sort-of love affair with the birds and their behavior, that Amy has come to know over several years. Within the leafy universe of her own backyard, she has quietly beheld, patiently observed, and taken in-depth notations of an extensive array of bird species. In colorful detail, she describes various bird’s behavior, while capturing their beauty in exquisitely rendered illustrations. Species include fearsome predators and watchful prey, long distance migrants and hometown residents. Through her unique insight and gift as an author and
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 566 reviews
November 7, 2017
I have been reading Amy Tan's novel since I was first introduced to The Joy Luck Club when I was in high school. At the time I lacked the life experience to thoroughly enjoy her work about complex mother and daughter relationships, so over the last year I have been rereading these intricate novels. After immersing myself in two of Tan's novels this year, it came as no surprise to me that I would want to read her new memoir Where the Past Begins as soon as it came out. While not Tan's usual fictional journey through China to California and back, this new work shed like on why Tan has written what she has. As with her fictional gems, I knew with this memoir that I would be in for a treat.
Having read The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen G-d's Wife, and The Bonesetter's Daughter, I have seen how Tan has used her family history of sorrow to weave a novel. She has written tales involving her mother leaving twin daughters on a road in the Chinese countryside as well as both her mother and grandmother experiencing children dying young. Some of these tales must contain elements of the truth. Like the characters Tan has created, Tan's own mother lived a life carefully veiled in secrecy. Living with an abusive first husband, she immediately fell in love with a Chinese American citizen working for the American embassy. Married at the time, the couple decided to commence on a correspondence that would last almost ten years until the time was propitious for Tan's mother Daisy to immigrate to California and join her fiancé John. Leaving behind three daughters who she would not see again for nearly thirty years, Daisy discarded her horrendous life as an abused wife and remarried, starting a new family in California. That she did not speak of these events for years, and Tan had to piece together her mother's life based on stories from family friends shows the strength that Daisy had in keeping such personal details from her children.
To me, Amy Tan appears to be a prolific writer of prose, but she admits that it takes her years to construct a novel albeit holding a degree in linguistics and English language. This could stem from the fact that her parents spoke a mishmash of Shanghainese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and broken English at home. Tan spoke in this conglomeration of languages until she began school, and her being multilingual effected her career as a student as well as a writer. When constructing a character for her novels, especially one from mainland China, Tan has to think in a variety of languages, even those she is not especially proficient in. Many of her family friends became fluent in either Mandarin or Cantonese, but, because, her mother was not fluent in either language, but rather a distinct dialect of Shanghainese, she could not transmit language to her daughter, who in effect only became adept at speaking English. While Tan's immigrant parents were proud of their children as successful Americans, they did little to ensure that the next generation would continue to speak the language of their ancestors. This is reflected in both Tan's characters and the ever changing relationship she enjoyed with her mother as the years went by.
As one who has studied multiple languages and linguistics, I found Tan's writing process to be fascinating. She takes us back to when she was in kindergarten and a doctoral student engaged students who entered school reading in a study to see how successful they were. That Tan was in this study started her on the path to becoming a writer. I also found intriguing how Tan conversed with her mother in later years after her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and regressed to the Shanghainese of her youth. Mother and daughter were relegated to forming a new language of hand gestures and broken words in order to converse in a meaningful manner. All of these life experiences have made their way into Tan's novel and I enjoyed putting together the various life events with the stories found in her beautiful novels. As a result, I was able to finish this moving memoir in little more than a day as I immersed myself in Tan's writing process.
Another preferred writer of mine notes that reading leads to rereading that leads to writing. Going back through my reading notes, I have discovered that I have read a number of author memoirs focusing on the writing process over the last two years. Being that I have studied languages, I have always found the writing process to be fascinating, and, because I have read many of Tan's lovely novels, I thoroughly enjoyed entering her life and finding out about her family life and writing processes. While Tan and her family have experienced much sorrow, they have also experienced joy and love. This memoir was a labor of love and a joy to read. Until Tan is able to write her next novel, I am glad that I spent time with her on a more personal level.
4+ stars
Having read The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen G-d's Wife, and The Bonesetter's Daughter, I have seen how Tan has used her family history of sorrow to weave a novel. She has written tales involving her mother leaving twin daughters on a road in the Chinese countryside as well as both her mother and grandmother experiencing children dying young. Some of these tales must contain elements of the truth. Like the characters Tan has created, Tan's own mother lived a life carefully veiled in secrecy. Living with an abusive first husband, she immediately fell in love with a Chinese American citizen working for the American embassy. Married at the time, the couple decided to commence on a correspondence that would last almost ten years until the time was propitious for Tan's mother Daisy to immigrate to California and join her fiancé John. Leaving behind three daughters who she would not see again for nearly thirty years, Daisy discarded her horrendous life as an abused wife and remarried, starting a new family in California. That she did not speak of these events for years, and Tan had to piece together her mother's life based on stories from family friends shows the strength that Daisy had in keeping such personal details from her children.
To me, Amy Tan appears to be a prolific writer of prose, but she admits that it takes her years to construct a novel albeit holding a degree in linguistics and English language. This could stem from the fact that her parents spoke a mishmash of Shanghainese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and broken English at home. Tan spoke in this conglomeration of languages until she began school, and her being multilingual effected her career as a student as well as a writer. When constructing a character for her novels, especially one from mainland China, Tan has to think in a variety of languages, even those she is not especially proficient in. Many of her family friends became fluent in either Mandarin or Cantonese, but, because, her mother was not fluent in either language, but rather a distinct dialect of Shanghainese, she could not transmit language to her daughter, who in effect only became adept at speaking English. While Tan's immigrant parents were proud of their children as successful Americans, they did little to ensure that the next generation would continue to speak the language of their ancestors. This is reflected in both Tan's characters and the ever changing relationship she enjoyed with her mother as the years went by.
As one who has studied multiple languages and linguistics, I found Tan's writing process to be fascinating. She takes us back to when she was in kindergarten and a doctoral student engaged students who entered school reading in a study to see how successful they were. That Tan was in this study started her on the path to becoming a writer. I also found intriguing how Tan conversed with her mother in later years after her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and regressed to the Shanghainese of her youth. Mother and daughter were relegated to forming a new language of hand gestures and broken words in order to converse in a meaningful manner. All of these life experiences have made their way into Tan's novel and I enjoyed putting together the various life events with the stories found in her beautiful novels. As a result, I was able to finish this moving memoir in little more than a day as I immersed myself in Tan's writing process.
Another preferred writer of mine notes that reading leads to rereading that leads to writing. Going back through my reading notes, I have discovered that I have read a number of author memoirs focusing on the writing process over the last two years. Being that I have studied languages, I have always found the writing process to be fascinating, and, because I have read many of Tan's lovely novels, I thoroughly enjoyed entering her life and finding out about her family life and writing processes. While Tan and her family have experienced much sorrow, they have also experienced joy and love. This memoir was a labor of love and a joy to read. Until Tan is able to write her next novel, I am glad that I spent time with her on a more personal level.
4+ stars
November 1, 2017
I have enjoyed several of Amy Tan’s novels with their reflections on her Chinese heritage, on mother - daughter relationships. This is what prompted me to read her memoir which I hoped would be a look at her life, her family and the impact of these memories in her work. For the most part, this is what the book is , but it wasn't quite what I expected. It's a blend of thoughts on various things such as music and its impact on her writing , her self analysis of her creative process. While those sections were fascinating in some ways , the sections I enjoyed the most were when she talks about her childhood, her siblings, her parents' stories. Some entries left me scratching my head like journal entries from various times . There is a section of letters to and from her editor during the writing of The Valley of Amazement. I did find those exchanges somewhat interesting giving us a view of the interactions between writer and editor. Overall I just felt it to be an uneven mix mash.
The introduction was the section I truly enjoyed where she talks about the photos and documents she has holding the memory and history of her family. She astutely notes that sometimes what is not in the photo, what has been moved aside can jog a memory. She conveys some intimate personal details that I was not aware of - that she has epilepsy, suffered from depression and recognized years later that the suicidal tendencies of her mother were symptomatic of the depression she suffered. The writing in places was lovely, especially in the introduction. Recommended to fans of Amy Tan.
I received an advanced copy of this book from HarperCollins/Ecco throughput Edelweiss.
December 28, 2017
3.5 rounded up. This is described as a memoir of Any Tan's childhood and writing methods, but I think it's mostly a memoir of her mother and their relationship. Like Pat Conroy and his difficult love/hate connection with his violent father that infused all his books, the same thing appears to be true of Any Tan and her Chinese immigrant, mentally ill, difficult mother. All of her books contain elements of her mother's life, in an attempt to understand what made her tick. Certainly her childhood was a horror, without physical abuse, but plenty of mental cruelty, losing her 16 year old brother and her father within 6 months of each other, both with the same type of brain tumor, and coping with her mother's instabilty. There are other essays here too, about music and art and her knowledge of linguistics. Her intellect shines through it all, and her quest to find out who she is, and what her past means to her. Any fan of Amy Tan will find much to admire about this book, but it is not an easy read, because she delves deeply into her own psyche, even when it's painful.
August 31, 2017
This book could easily have been titled Where a Writer Begins. Of course, I prefer the actual title and subtitle much better. Tan is courageous in what she reveals about her past and her pinging, beautiful mind. She deeply delves into her past as she pursues her sense of self and what created the wonderful writer that she is. I was moved. I was in awe. And, I am grateful for her generosity.
November 20, 2017
I continue to vacillate between 3 and 5 stars on this one. It's another one of those reads that I just can't pin down. (Proust started this dilemma of indecision.)
I've been a long-time fan of Amy Tan's novels, starting with The Joy Luck Club, and delighting in her works ever since, so I thought this would be a natural extension of my Tan-fandom. I'm not sure that I gained much, despite enjoying this.
Sometimes, peeking behind the curtain doesn't reveal all that much. There is a sense, throughout, that Tan is withholding something, on a certain level, despite her open-book persona. She reveals many details of her life but it's as if we were seeing them through a veil; that is, she gives a "laundry list autobiography", without pinning much emotion to the actions. This distance created between her and the reader doesn't exist in her novels.
In her fiction, I found that Tan speaks things that are "truer than true" ... getting at the very essence of a thing: one of the best writers in modern fiction, in fact, to deal with complex mother-daughter relationships. Her memoirs, on the other hand, seem to only skim the very entangled relationship she has with her mother, creating a distance between what she knows and what she wants us to see. I'm not finding any fault in that, for it is not a writer's duty to bare the soul for the reader, but I just find it perplexing that one would write a "tell-all book" but in the end "tell only some of it".
I have an ambivalence, in any case, with autobiographies/memoirs: I don't read them all that often, because I think people often don't tell the truth in them -- and so what's the point of that? Perhaps the genre is really not for me, in the end: I find myself squirming just writing this review about how uncomfortable auto-bios make me feel, especially from writers.
This one hit a nerve in a very puzzling, complicated way: what I can seem to figure out is that I miss the Greater Truth in her novels that is somehow missing from this work.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed it on a certain level and I remain a staunch fan of her fiction.
This time, I think the expression, "It's not you, it's me" is especially apt.
I've been a long-time fan of Amy Tan's novels, starting with The Joy Luck Club, and delighting in her works ever since, so I thought this would be a natural extension of my Tan-fandom. I'm not sure that I gained much, despite enjoying this.
Sometimes, peeking behind the curtain doesn't reveal all that much. There is a sense, throughout, that Tan is withholding something, on a certain level, despite her open-book persona. She reveals many details of her life but it's as if we were seeing them through a veil; that is, she gives a "laundry list autobiography", without pinning much emotion to the actions. This distance created between her and the reader doesn't exist in her novels.
In her fiction, I found that Tan speaks things that are "truer than true" ... getting at the very essence of a thing: one of the best writers in modern fiction, in fact, to deal with complex mother-daughter relationships. Her memoirs, on the other hand, seem to only skim the very entangled relationship she has with her mother, creating a distance between what she knows and what she wants us to see. I'm not finding any fault in that, for it is not a writer's duty to bare the soul for the reader, but I just find it perplexing that one would write a "tell-all book" but in the end "tell only some of it".
I have an ambivalence, in any case, with autobiographies/memoirs: I don't read them all that often, because I think people often don't tell the truth in them -- and so what's the point of that? Perhaps the genre is really not for me, in the end: I find myself squirming just writing this review about how uncomfortable auto-bios make me feel, especially from writers.
This one hit a nerve in a very puzzling, complicated way: what I can seem to figure out is that I miss the Greater Truth in her novels that is somehow missing from this work.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed it on a certain level and I remain a staunch fan of her fiction.
This time, I think the expression, "It's not you, it's me" is especially apt.
Read
October 18, 2017Love the novels of Amy Tan? Then you’ll love to read about her childhood and influences. Love reading books where writers discuss their craft? Then you’ll love learning about Tan’s process and how she brings memory into her work. She’s a wonderful writer, and it’s a delight to have a work of nonfiction from her. It’s a win for everyone, really.
Backlist bump: The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/listen/shows/allt...
Backlist bump: The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/listen/shows/allt...
March 4, 2018
I have been reading Amy Tan since I was a teenager. I still have hard copies of her books on my shelf. I was annoyed the other day when I realized that somehow my copy of "The Joy Luck Club" went missing and had to go out and purchase another copy. I have been waiting for weeks now to get this copy of her memoir from the library. I was initially pretty happy with the memoir, but it was a very hard read to get through.
"Where the Past Begins" I have to say does give you insight into some of Tan's most famous works such as "The Joy Luck Club," "The Bonesetter's Daughter", and "The Kitchen God's Wife." You find out that she used her mother and maternal grandmother for inspiration for some of her characters. For example, the story in "The Joy Luck Club" that follows An-mei Hsu that tells about how her mother was raped by a rich man and forced to become his concubine/fourth wife. We find out that a similar situation happened to Tan's grandmother.
When the memoir gives you glimpses into the events that have shaped her stories, the book really shines. I had more problems when the book took on things that I think would have better served being cut such as Part V Reading and Writing and a portion titled "I Am The Author of This Novel."
I am fascinated by Tan's family's history and the strongest portions of the book really are when she talks of her mother and even her father. It sounds like her parents had to struggle to be together and then when they came to America there were still issues that Tan's mother was trying to overcome. Some of the incidents sounded very shocking, and one wonders how she can keep going on as she had with seemingly no bitterness.
I also didn't realize that Tan's father died when she was a teen as well as an older brother. I think if we got a straight forward memoir that I would have enjoyed this more. I think jumping back and forth chronologically made things confusing. We also had Tan including the same information about her mother and maternal grandmother in different sections which made the book feel a bit repetitive. I outright disliked one of the chapters, Chapter Ten Letters to the Editor. It is just emails back and forth between her and her editor.
Tan includes some insight into the Shanghainese and what makes them so different. I really enjoyed that she included pictures of her family as well as drawings that she has done. That tipped things up enough for me to give this two stars.
"Where the Past Begins" I have to say does give you insight into some of Tan's most famous works such as "The Joy Luck Club," "The Bonesetter's Daughter", and "The Kitchen God's Wife." You find out that she used her mother and maternal grandmother for inspiration for some of her characters. For example, the story in "The Joy Luck Club" that follows An-mei Hsu that tells about how her mother was raped by a rich man and forced to become his concubine/fourth wife. We find out that a similar situation happened to Tan's grandmother.
When the memoir gives you glimpses into the events that have shaped her stories, the book really shines. I had more problems when the book took on things that I think would have better served being cut such as Part V Reading and Writing and a portion titled "I Am The Author of This Novel."
I am fascinated by Tan's family's history and the strongest portions of the book really are when she talks of her mother and even her father. It sounds like her parents had to struggle to be together and then when they came to America there were still issues that Tan's mother was trying to overcome. Some of the incidents sounded very shocking, and one wonders how she can keep going on as she had with seemingly no bitterness.
I also didn't realize that Tan's father died when she was a teen as well as an older brother. I think if we got a straight forward memoir that I would have enjoyed this more. I think jumping back and forth chronologically made things confusing. We also had Tan including the same information about her mother and maternal grandmother in different sections which made the book feel a bit repetitive. I outright disliked one of the chapters, Chapter Ten Letters to the Editor. It is just emails back and forth between her and her editor.
Tan includes some insight into the Shanghainese and what makes them so different. I really enjoyed that she included pictures of her family as well as drawings that she has done. That tipped things up enough for me to give this two stars.
October 27, 2017
I attended a talk by Amy Tan when she was promoting her first book. I enjoyed her talk and reading that book. I put her on my list of authors to follow. Since that time, I have read all her books and make a point of attending her talks whenever she is in my area.
This book is a memoir of her life to-date. She traces her family history through photographs. Tan describes her skill of nature drawings and compares that creativity to her writing. She discusses her mother’s mental illness and its effect on her and the rest of her family. The main topic of the book is about writing and creativity. Tan discusses a collection of letters between herself and her editor, Daniel Halpern. She provides in-sights on writing. She brings out what it takes to be a professional writer. Tan is a gifted storyteller. I enjoy learning about authors and how they write.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is fourteen and a half hours long. Amy Tan narrated her own book. It is great to hear the author read their book.
This book is a memoir of her life to-date. She traces her family history through photographs. Tan describes her skill of nature drawings and compares that creativity to her writing. She discusses her mother’s mental illness and its effect on her and the rest of her family. The main topic of the book is about writing and creativity. Tan discusses a collection of letters between herself and her editor, Daniel Halpern. She provides in-sights on writing. She brings out what it takes to be a professional writer. Tan is a gifted storyteller. I enjoy learning about authors and how they write.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is fourteen and a half hours long. Amy Tan narrated her own book. It is great to hear the author read their book.
July 25, 2017
I think lots of people will like this book, but if you're a writer, reading this will be like reading the best and most ethical kind of pornography, or like eating the most delicious dessert you've had in a long time. Amy Tan makes me want to write and write and write and I could feel the impulse in my body as I read this, reminding me of just how physical writing can and its joys can be.
November 4, 2017
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
When I first learned that I had been approved for an ARC of Amy Tan’s new memoir, I was excited, as I’ve enjoyed quite a few of Amy’s books and count The Joy Luck Club as one of my favorites. Reading the summary, I understood going into it that this would be a memoir where Amy talks about many of the things that influenced her writing over the last 3 decades, with emphasis on her family’s history and her own cultural heritage, both of which have served as a basis for her novels. While I would say yes, this memoir did deliver in terms of what was laid out in the summary, it did so in a way that I didn’t quite expect, which impacted my overall enjoyment of the book as a whole.
In her memoir, family history was conveyed via the various mementos and keepsakes Amy finds – old photographs, letters, documents, newspaper clippings, etc. – all of which opened up the floodgates of her memories of her childhood, her relationship with her parents, her brothers, her extended family and relatives in China, some of whom she never really got to know. Digging deep into the past, Amy describes in candid detail the story of her maternal grandmother’s life in China (the differing versions told to her by her mother and by relatives) and the impact this had on the life her mother ended up leading as well as the type of person she eventually became – the significance being how greatly this impacted the next generation, specifically Amy and the books she ended up writing. I found this part of the book fascinating and most enjoyable. But then, in the middle of all this history, entire sections are inserted that appear to be excerpted from Amy’s journals -- random segments that seem to be (somewhat philosophical) self-reflections on her writing, tangents from her imaginative mind, ideas she had jotted down over the years as well as parts of stories that she had written that never got published. For me, these journal excerpts were the parts of the book that I didn’t expect and in fact, broke the flow of the narrative about Amy’s life and her family, which affected my ability to enjoy this book as much as I would’ve liked. There was also a chapter that consisted entirely of letters between Amy and her editor, letters exchanged during the writing of The Valley of Amazement – while the letters were interesting and at times fun to read, I felt that they were a bit of a distraction and, like the journal entries, broke the flow of the book a bit. Of course, it didn’t help that I haven’t yet read The Valley of Amazement, so much of what was said about the novel was lost on me – perhaps later, after I read the book, I can come back to this chapter, during which time I’m sure I would be able to appreciate this chapter better.
In addition to giving us insight into her family’s history and past, Amy also revealed many of her personal struggles, some of which I was surprised to find out about, such as her having epilepsy and the periodic lapses in her brain being able to function properly, also the fact that she suffered from depression that stemmed largely from her tragic childhood and a family history (on her mother’s side) of suicidal tendencies. There were also the instances where she narrowly escaped death several times, all of which were described in such detail that it made my heart stop a few times. I appreciated all the details and stories that Amy told about her own life as well as those of her family, but what appealed to me most was Amy’s depiction of her relationship with her mother, which was so vividly described in here (the theme of mother-daughter relationships is one of the things I love most about her novels – the ones that I’ve read, that is). There were so many aspects of Amy’s childhood and upbringing that I was able to relate to, but most of all, it was her relationship with her mother that had me floored because of the striking similarities to my relationship with my mom -- many of the experiences Amy described about the way she and her mother often interacted, I had actually experienced the same things growing up, so I knew exactly what she was talking about when she described her feelings and reactions to situations that had occurred. I was also shocked at some of the similarities in background with our parents (i.e.: my mom is also Shanghainese and came from a well-to-do family, also a beauty in her youth who lived a privileged life but left all that behind to start over again in another country; my dad was also born into a Cantonese family with an ancestral home in Guangzhou and also came from a large family, with him being the oldest of 10 children). My parents’ histories weren’t as tragic of course, but many of the cultural and emotional nuances that Amy and her brothers experienced as a result of being raised in an immigrant Chinese household parallel the experiences my brother and I had -- also the pressure this caused on the entire family was similar (i.e.: the struggles with assimilating to a completely different life in a foreign country, constantly having to live up to certain expectations, the resentment towards having to give up so much in exchange for a way of life that didn’t turn out as expected, etc.). It is this personal connection and also the emotional impact from reading Amy’s story that made me round this up to a 4. I greatly admire Amy and her mother’s strength, resolve, endurance, and most of all resilience in the face of all the tragedy and loss their family suffered. What is also admirable is Amy’s continued dedication to her mother after the death of her father and brother – a dedication that continued to endure despite all the arguments and the hurts and the emotional pain inflicted (whether intentionally or unintentionally). The chapter where Amy described her relationship with her mother during the last years of her mother’s life, when she was suffering from Alzheimer’s and could barely talk or move, up through the days of her death, truly moved me to tears. That chapter alone reinforced for me the power of love and family and its ability to put previous grievances and wrongs suffered into perspective.
Despite the issues I had with the format (if it had been better organized instead of all over the place, I think I would’ve given this book a solid 4 stars, maybe even higher), I would still recommend this memoir to Amy’s fans and/or anyone who has enjoyed her novels. The writing is wonderfully descriptive in many places and quite a few passages were beautifully rendered. The 80% or so of the book that talked about her childhood, family history, and their influences on her writing and in shaping who she became, really pulled me in…the rest, not as much, but overall this was still a worthwhile read. Also, knowing what I know now about the influence of her family background in her writing, this makes me want to go back and read/re-read Amy’s novels in the context of what I learned, as I’m sure her novels will take on a whole new meaning for me now.
Received advance reader’s copy from Harper Collins / Ecco via Edelweiss
When I first learned that I had been approved for an ARC of Amy Tan’s new memoir, I was excited, as I’ve enjoyed quite a few of Amy’s books and count The Joy Luck Club as one of my favorites. Reading the summary, I understood going into it that this would be a memoir where Amy talks about many of the things that influenced her writing over the last 3 decades, with emphasis on her family’s history and her own cultural heritage, both of which have served as a basis for her novels. While I would say yes, this memoir did deliver in terms of what was laid out in the summary, it did so in a way that I didn’t quite expect, which impacted my overall enjoyment of the book as a whole.
In her memoir, family history was conveyed via the various mementos and keepsakes Amy finds – old photographs, letters, documents, newspaper clippings, etc. – all of which opened up the floodgates of her memories of her childhood, her relationship with her parents, her brothers, her extended family and relatives in China, some of whom she never really got to know. Digging deep into the past, Amy describes in candid detail the story of her maternal grandmother’s life in China (the differing versions told to her by her mother and by relatives) and the impact this had on the life her mother ended up leading as well as the type of person she eventually became – the significance being how greatly this impacted the next generation, specifically Amy and the books she ended up writing. I found this part of the book fascinating and most enjoyable. But then, in the middle of all this history, entire sections are inserted that appear to be excerpted from Amy’s journals -- random segments that seem to be (somewhat philosophical) self-reflections on her writing, tangents from her imaginative mind, ideas she had jotted down over the years as well as parts of stories that she had written that never got published. For me, these journal excerpts were the parts of the book that I didn’t expect and in fact, broke the flow of the narrative about Amy’s life and her family, which affected my ability to enjoy this book as much as I would’ve liked. There was also a chapter that consisted entirely of letters between Amy and her editor, letters exchanged during the writing of The Valley of Amazement – while the letters were interesting and at times fun to read, I felt that they were a bit of a distraction and, like the journal entries, broke the flow of the book a bit. Of course, it didn’t help that I haven’t yet read The Valley of Amazement, so much of what was said about the novel was lost on me – perhaps later, after I read the book, I can come back to this chapter, during which time I’m sure I would be able to appreciate this chapter better.
In addition to giving us insight into her family’s history and past, Amy also revealed many of her personal struggles, some of which I was surprised to find out about, such as her having epilepsy and the periodic lapses in her brain being able to function properly, also the fact that she suffered from depression that stemmed largely from her tragic childhood and a family history (on her mother’s side) of suicidal tendencies. There were also the instances where she narrowly escaped death several times, all of which were described in such detail that it made my heart stop a few times. I appreciated all the details and stories that Amy told about her own life as well as those of her family, but what appealed to me most was Amy’s depiction of her relationship with her mother, which was so vividly described in here (the theme of mother-daughter relationships is one of the things I love most about her novels – the ones that I’ve read, that is). There were so many aspects of Amy’s childhood and upbringing that I was able to relate to, but most of all, it was her relationship with her mother that had me floored because of the striking similarities to my relationship with my mom -- many of the experiences Amy described about the way she and her mother often interacted, I had actually experienced the same things growing up, so I knew exactly what she was talking about when she described her feelings and reactions to situations that had occurred. I was also shocked at some of the similarities in background with our parents (i.e.: my mom is also Shanghainese and came from a well-to-do family, also a beauty in her youth who lived a privileged life but left all that behind to start over again in another country; my dad was also born into a Cantonese family with an ancestral home in Guangzhou and also came from a large family, with him being the oldest of 10 children). My parents’ histories weren’t as tragic of course, but many of the cultural and emotional nuances that Amy and her brothers experienced as a result of being raised in an immigrant Chinese household parallel the experiences my brother and I had -- also the pressure this caused on the entire family was similar (i.e.: the struggles with assimilating to a completely different life in a foreign country, constantly having to live up to certain expectations, the resentment towards having to give up so much in exchange for a way of life that didn’t turn out as expected, etc.). It is this personal connection and also the emotional impact from reading Amy’s story that made me round this up to a 4. I greatly admire Amy and her mother’s strength, resolve, endurance, and most of all resilience in the face of all the tragedy and loss their family suffered. What is also admirable is Amy’s continued dedication to her mother after the death of her father and brother – a dedication that continued to endure despite all the arguments and the hurts and the emotional pain inflicted (whether intentionally or unintentionally). The chapter where Amy described her relationship with her mother during the last years of her mother’s life, when she was suffering from Alzheimer’s and could barely talk or move, up through the days of her death, truly moved me to tears. That chapter alone reinforced for me the power of love and family and its ability to put previous grievances and wrongs suffered into perspective.
Despite the issues I had with the format (if it had been better organized instead of all over the place, I think I would’ve given this book a solid 4 stars, maybe even higher), I would still recommend this memoir to Amy’s fans and/or anyone who has enjoyed her novels. The writing is wonderfully descriptive in many places and quite a few passages were beautifully rendered. The 80% or so of the book that talked about her childhood, family history, and their influences on her writing and in shaping who she became, really pulled me in…the rest, not as much, but overall this was still a worthwhile read. Also, knowing what I know now about the influence of her family background in her writing, this makes me want to go back and read/re-read Amy’s novels in the context of what I learned, as I’m sure her novels will take on a whole new meaning for me now.
Received advance reader’s copy from Harper Collins / Ecco via Edelweiss
July 19, 2021
I reread Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club last year, and watched Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir a few months ago. I loved it and it reminded me that I want to read more by her. Apart from Saving Fish From Drowning which I read some years and may revisit as I work my way through her books, I've long considered her an author I love, but I haven't read as much of as I've meant to. I decided to start with this one, as an audiobook, because they used it throughout Unintended Memoir and I wanted to listen to it in its entirety.
I was wonderful listening to Amy Tan read this. It felt like I was having a beautiful, albeit one-sided conversation with her and I adored every second. Having seen the documentary I was familiar with the story of her older brother Peter developing a brain tumor, and how her father was diagnosed with one as well. They died within months of each other, and the chapter that focuses on this was was heart-wrenchingly sad. She also focused heavily on her relationship with her mother, which is often difficult and intense, but full of love as well. Her mother's history is fascinating, as is the way it has so often influenced and shaped the fiction her daughter writes.
I was wonderful listening to Amy Tan read this. It felt like I was having a beautiful, albeit one-sided conversation with her and I adored every second. Having seen the documentary I was familiar with the story of her older brother Peter developing a brain tumor, and how her father was diagnosed with one as well. They died within months of each other, and the chapter that focuses on this was was heart-wrenchingly sad. She also focused heavily on her relationship with her mother, which is often difficult and intense, but full of love as well. Her mother's history is fascinating, as is the way it has so often influenced and shaped the fiction her daughter writes.
October 18, 2017
Stunning and a real privilege to read. Read my full review
HERE
.
December 19, 2017
My childhood with its topsy-turvy emotions has, in fact, been a reason to write. I can lay it squarely on the page and see what it was. I can understand it and see the patterns. My characters are witness to what I went through. In each story, we are untangling a knot in a huge matted mess. The work of undoing them one at a time is the most gratifying part of writing, but the mess will always be there.
So, apparently Amy Tan was contractually obligated to provide her new editor, Daniel Halpern at Ecco, with two books – one fiction, one non – and while he was hoping for a memoir, Tan resisted: it would seem that the older she gets, the more tortuous her writing process has become (perhaps due to the brain lesions resulting from Lyme disease or the lingering effects of a massive concussion that affected her brain's language center), and the idea of a memoir – with the constant writing and rewriting and hedging and second-guessing – wasn't enticing to her. They struck a deal: Tan would send fifteen uncorrected pages on whatever she felt like writing to Halpern per week, and he would turn it into a book; this book. As a result, Where the Past Begins is very free-form, with essays on drawing and music appreciation, old journal entries and letters, an overlong email exchange between Tan and Halpern from when she was writing The Valley of Amazement, and chapters about her childhood and what she has been able to unearth about her family back in China. As a result, this is an inconsistent reading experience – some parts were fascinating, others less so – but as someone who has adored Tan's fiction throughout the years, I appreciated learning the inspiration behind some of her most gut-punching scenes. For the most part this worked for me, but individual experience may vary.
Tonight I go to a spot in my mind where the foot of the mountain and a river connect, sneggin, a meeting place. I wait until I feel the sound pulsing in my veins. And it comes – Pes-pas! Pes-pas! – the sound of horses galloping softly over grass. The second vowel tightens. Pes-pis! Pes-pis! The hooves are hitting the hard-baked earth of the steppes. Soon we will arrive at that place where the past begins.
I didn't realise that Tan received a Masters in Linguistics before she started her writing career, and her lasting fascination with languages seems a key to understanding her point-of-view and the family dynamics that feature so heavily in her fiction. Tan didn't find out until after her mother died that what she thought was her mother's fluid Mandarin was actually heavily accented, and that her native Shanghaiese was spoken with a posh and educated dialect: not only was Daisy handicapped in America with her “rusty” pidgin English, but even when speaking “Chinese”, most people missed the subtleties of what she was saying – this must have affected how she was treated; must have contributed (along with what Tan assumes to be some degree of mental illness) to Daisy's stated loneliness and suicidal (not to mention homicidal) threats. If it wasn't true, it would seem an authorial overreach to have the Linguist lose elements of her own speech due to both illness and injury, and then watch her aging trilingual mother lose each of her own languages to dementia until she's reduced to speaking in the baby-talk of her mother tongue.
The story of my grandmother is like a torn map glued together with so many bits and pieces that there is now more glue than map. The pieces haven't led to verifiable truth. I have imagined what the truth might have been, based on my own emotional and moral character. Others have done the same. We see what we want to believe. We are all unreliable narrators when it comes to speaking for the dead.
In particular, Tan is fascinated by dead languages and makes the point that once a language loses its native speakers – once no one is making puns or exchanging gossip in that tongue – it becomes impossible to actually know what those people's lives were like; cuneiform accounting tablets tell us nothing intimate of Sumerian domestic life. In the same way, Tan makes the point that we can never really know anyone by the words they leave behind – she can read old letters and study yellowing photos, but she will never know the grandmother who overdosed on opium when Daisy was only nine. And this leads to another interesting point:
I have never read an analysis of my work or me that reads as accurate. It's because they start off on the wrong path, have created the map and thereby see only those points and conclusions. There is no symbolic immortality to be had in giving one's archives to a library. It's perpetual misinterpretation. Who I was will have been missing since before I stepped off Earth's floor.
Apparently Tan intends to have all of her personal papers destroyed upon her death – all of the letters, journals, and partial novels that, as an admitted packrat, she now possesses – and this seems to be in line with what she's saying here: words on the page are dead things, not a conversation with their author, and open to misinterpretation; she wants to be remembered for what she has produced, not for what others assume those products mean. And that's very interesting coming from a Linguist-novelist; someone who uses language to discuss language; someone who uses language to untangle the knotted mess that is her inner self.
Where the Past Begins does have all the elements of a traditional memoir – we learn about Tan's childhood and her complicated relationship with her mother; the tragedies that befell the family when Tan was a teenager; the family stories behind some of her fictional scenes – but this “fugue state” free form style also includes material that didn't interest me very much. Still happy to have read it and am rounding up to four stars.
January 14, 2019
I've read two of Amy Tan's novels, so I went into this book knowing why she's one of the most acclaimed writers alive today, but what really got me excited about embarking on it was the subject matter. It wasn't just for the insight to be gained from a master like her talking about her writing process; it was because the flap copy specifically said it was about delving into memory and how that shapes writing. That there's a connection between memory and writing may seem like an obvious point, but now that I'm getting back into my own writing, I see how deep that runs, and I couldn't wait to see what Amy Tan would have to say about it.
My own deeper understanding of this connection happened last summer when I was enrolled in a memoir writing course at the Writer's Studio in Manhattan and simultaneously reading Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir by Natalie Goldberg. As you can tell by her name, Natalie Goldberg is Jewish like me, but she's also a practicing Buddhist, and her approach to writing is meditative. Some might call it "freewriting," but she calls it "writing practice," and she means it as a spiritual practice, much in the way we Jews use the word "avodah." Anyone who's serious about writing will tell you it's a spiritual process, or, if that writer is an atheist or agnostic, a therapeutic one. That's why so many people love doing it.
Last summer, I did every single writing prompt in Natalie's book, which is something I didn't do with her other books. I didn't finish it, but I probably got more out of it than anything else I read that year. Between her writing prompts, which were designed to stimulate memories, and the reassurance of my writing teacher that detailed descriptions are not boring but give your writing color, verisimilitude, and readability, I began remembering things I hadn't thought of in years. It's incredible how many sensory experiences our minds store over a lifetime, and with a little effort, you can bring it all out of yourself.
Once you've gotten in touch with the memories, there are endless ways you can interpret the details and shape them into a narrative. You can view any of your life's event positively or negatively. You can emphasize some details more than others, and you can ignore some things so much that they fade until they're forgotten. Memory is a flowing current that can run in any direction we choose, so the interpretation and meaning of our lives is in our own hands. That seemed like a Zen realization to me, so it's fitting that Natalie Goldberg helped me reach it.
Months after this insight, I discovered Amy Tan's book. She is famous for her portrayal of Chinese women and their Americanized daughters, but what I like best about her writing is how she weaves spirituality and myth into her fiction. Please see my review on The Joy Luck Club for specific examples. So I really wanted to know if Amy Tan, a descendant of the culture that brought the world Zen philosophy, would confirm what I experienced about the process of memory and writing.
I am pleased to say that she did, though that's not the only thing she discusses in the book. She also talks about music, linguistics, and most of all, her family. I never realized just how much of her novels were taken from her mother's life. But not only did Amy's mother give her permission to write her story in her novels, she thought Amy had done such a realistic portrayal, she wondered if the ghost of her own mother - Amy's grandmother, that is - had helped along. Talk about tapping into family and mythic memory! Amy does not reject the idea outright. Here is what she says about it: "If there is indeed a universal consciousness, it makes sense that mine would conjoin with it when the doors of imagination are flung wide open and all possibilities are allowed. . . I have periodically felt I have with me a spiritual companion who drops hints and guides me toward revelations, ones I never would have stumbled upon. . . Whatever it is, I don't need to analyze it any further. I simply welcome this benevolent companion when I write, be it my grandmother, the universal consciousness, or a deeper layer of my subconscious unleashed by my imagination."
My gosh, is that not the most awesome insight into the creative imagination ever?
Even if you're not interested in reading about Amy Tan's writing process, I recommend this book. Amy Tan's life story is that good. But read some of her other work first, especially The Kitchen God's Wife. That was the closest to her mother's life story, and it's astounding in and of itself. And if you are interested in the writing process, you'll learn plenty from this book. Even with the quote above, I haven't spoiled it for you.
My own deeper understanding of this connection happened last summer when I was enrolled in a memoir writing course at the Writer's Studio in Manhattan and simultaneously reading Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir by Natalie Goldberg. As you can tell by her name, Natalie Goldberg is Jewish like me, but she's also a practicing Buddhist, and her approach to writing is meditative. Some might call it "freewriting," but she calls it "writing practice," and she means it as a spiritual practice, much in the way we Jews use the word "avodah." Anyone who's serious about writing will tell you it's a spiritual process, or, if that writer is an atheist or agnostic, a therapeutic one. That's why so many people love doing it.
Last summer, I did every single writing prompt in Natalie's book, which is something I didn't do with her other books. I didn't finish it, but I probably got more out of it than anything else I read that year. Between her writing prompts, which were designed to stimulate memories, and the reassurance of my writing teacher that detailed descriptions are not boring but give your writing color, verisimilitude, and readability, I began remembering things I hadn't thought of in years. It's incredible how many sensory experiences our minds store over a lifetime, and with a little effort, you can bring it all out of yourself.
Once you've gotten in touch with the memories, there are endless ways you can interpret the details and shape them into a narrative. You can view any of your life's event positively or negatively. You can emphasize some details more than others, and you can ignore some things so much that they fade until they're forgotten. Memory is a flowing current that can run in any direction we choose, so the interpretation and meaning of our lives is in our own hands. That seemed like a Zen realization to me, so it's fitting that Natalie Goldberg helped me reach it.
Months after this insight, I discovered Amy Tan's book. She is famous for her portrayal of Chinese women and their Americanized daughters, but what I like best about her writing is how she weaves spirituality and myth into her fiction. Please see my review on The Joy Luck Club for specific examples. So I really wanted to know if Amy Tan, a descendant of the culture that brought the world Zen philosophy, would confirm what I experienced about the process of memory and writing.
I am pleased to say that she did, though that's not the only thing she discusses in the book. She also talks about music, linguistics, and most of all, her family. I never realized just how much of her novels were taken from her mother's life. But not only did Amy's mother give her permission to write her story in her novels, she thought Amy had done such a realistic portrayal, she wondered if the ghost of her own mother - Amy's grandmother, that is - had helped along. Talk about tapping into family and mythic memory! Amy does not reject the idea outright. Here is what she says about it: "If there is indeed a universal consciousness, it makes sense that mine would conjoin with it when the doors of imagination are flung wide open and all possibilities are allowed. . . I have periodically felt I have with me a spiritual companion who drops hints and guides me toward revelations, ones I never would have stumbled upon. . . Whatever it is, I don't need to analyze it any further. I simply welcome this benevolent companion when I write, be it my grandmother, the universal consciousness, or a deeper layer of my subconscious unleashed by my imagination."
My gosh, is that not the most awesome insight into the creative imagination ever?
Even if you're not interested in reading about Amy Tan's writing process, I recommend this book. Amy Tan's life story is that good. But read some of her other work first, especially The Kitchen God's Wife. That was the closest to her mother's life story, and it's astounding in and of itself. And if you are interested in the writing process, you'll learn plenty from this book. Even with the quote above, I haven't spoiled it for you.
June 10, 2021
I like crazy quilts: their unexpected directions and textures. However, I don't think you can put anything next to anything else and have it be equally good. Colors, textures and tones need to create an overall thematic theme.
Compare this:
Source
With this:
Source: Edna Force Davis, Fairfax county, Virginia, 1897.
Fair or not, that's how I felt as I read Amy Tan's memoir, Where the Past Begins. Her pieces were often, but not always autobiographical. They ranged from very large and raw emotions, especially at the beginning, to a relatively quiet set piece at the very end, where Tan talked about her house and daytime routines ("Companions in the House"). She included emails with her editor ("Letters to the editor") and unpublished fiction ("Language: A love story"). She includes a number of quirks (e.g., "Why write?).
I like most of the pieces I've named, but I don't always understand how these fit together. Tan talks about romantic compositions, which she often listens to and allows to guide her writing, compositions by Beethoven, Shubert, Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, etc.. Perhaps she was looking for the emotional highs and lows in these pieces, but I didn't see the patterns and connections, so her transitions felt either discordant or self-indulgent.
I feel somewhat guilty writing this, as I have adored and devoured Tan's novels and essays in the past. Just not this one.
Compare this:
Source
With this:
Source: Edna Force Davis, Fairfax county, Virginia, 1897.
Fair or not, that's how I felt as I read Amy Tan's memoir, Where the Past Begins. Her pieces were often, but not always autobiographical. They ranged from very large and raw emotions, especially at the beginning, to a relatively quiet set piece at the very end, where Tan talked about her house and daytime routines ("Companions in the House"). She included emails with her editor ("Letters to the editor") and unpublished fiction ("Language: A love story"). She includes a number of quirks (e.g., "Why write?).
I like most of the pieces I've named, but I don't always understand how these fit together. Tan talks about romantic compositions, which she often listens to and allows to guide her writing, compositions by Beethoven, Shubert, Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, etc.. Perhaps she was looking for the emotional highs and lows in these pieces, but I didn't see the patterns and connections, so her transitions felt either discordant or self-indulgent.
I feel somewhat guilty writing this, as I have adored and devoured Tan's novels and essays in the past. Just not this one.
November 1, 2017
Very disjointed and difficult to get interested in. I love Amy Tan, but this was disappointing.
January 25, 2018
I'm never good at reviewing nonfiction!
This is not a book I would have chosen to read myself, despite having read and enjoyed Amy Tan's first two novels. But a friend of mine gave it to me, so I felt obligated to read it in a timely fashion. And I'm very glad I did.
This is apparently a collection of essays that Amy Tan was "assigned" to do by her editor. So while they are loosely joined in a linear fashion as a memoir, they also range over a wide number of subjects. Because they are each sort-of discrete, there is a fair amount of repetitiveness in getting re-introduced to some of Amy's family, and this lack of consistent flow is one reason I knocked a star off my rating. But her family has a fascinating and tragic story, which Amy narrates beautifully, and I was riveted through most of the essays. In addition, Amy herself is a very interesting person, and I really enjoyed hanging out with her in the pages of this book.
I was least interested by a section where she and her editor exchange emails about a WIP. This stuff is utterly engrossing when it's YOUR WIP being discussed, but not so much when it's somebody else's. (And I'm sure it didn't help that I haven't read whichever of her books it was.)
Luckily, the book got its mojo back for me after that section with a discussion about Amy's love of languages, and a very touching reminiscence about her mother's last months struggling with Alzheimer's Disease, which is also about language.
I am very grateful to my friend for choosing this book for me. :-)
This is not a book I would have chosen to read myself, despite having read and enjoyed Amy Tan's first two novels. But a friend of mine gave it to me, so I felt obligated to read it in a timely fashion. And I'm very glad I did.
This is apparently a collection of essays that Amy Tan was "assigned" to do by her editor. So while they are loosely joined in a linear fashion as a memoir, they also range over a wide number of subjects. Because they are each sort-of discrete, there is a fair amount of repetitiveness in getting re-introduced to some of Amy's family, and this lack of consistent flow is one reason I knocked a star off my rating. But her family has a fascinating and tragic story, which Amy narrates beautifully, and I was riveted through most of the essays. In addition, Amy herself is a very interesting person, and I really enjoyed hanging out with her in the pages of this book.
I was least interested by a section where she and her editor exchange emails about a WIP. This stuff is utterly engrossing when it's YOUR WIP being discussed, but not so much when it's somebody else's. (And I'm sure it didn't help that I haven't read whichever of her books it was.)
Luckily, the book got its mojo back for me after that section with a discussion about Amy's love of languages, and a very touching reminiscence about her mother's last months struggling with Alzheimer's Disease, which is also about language.
I am very grateful to my friend for choosing this book for me. :-)
April 5, 2024
I picked this up on a whim despite not being what you’d probably call a Tan fan: I loved The Hundred Secret Senses, but I was a teenager at the time, and of her other books I’ve liked one, disliked one and DNF’d one. However, I knew her life was interesting, and was curious.
And on the one hand, it’s an interesting book. Tan has indeed had an interesting life, and has an interesting family, and the book is at its best when she writes about her family history, about investigating her parents’ lives, and about her troubled childhood. Her mother had a lot of trauma and wound up passing some of it on to her kids, and Tan writes about all this compellingly and with insight. It was also interesting to see her investigate other aspects of her young life: for instance, the longitudinal study she was part of in elementary school, which her parents claimed proved she was brilliant and meant to be a doctor, but which turned out to be a study of how early reading impacts kids. (When she was a child, experts were advising parents not to let children read before they were taught it in school, because they would then do it wrong forever! Luckily for Tan, either her parents hadn’t heard about or disagreed with this, or she sneakily learned from her older brother anyway—complications related to immigration and their resulting caution around anyone who seemed official caused her parents to claim the latter. I’m reminded of how when I was in school, kids were rebuked for even signing their names because you weren’t supposed to write cursive until officially taught in second or third grade. Shocker—nearly everyone preferred to print forever after, while cursive was generally considered a burden and seems to be a dying skill.)
On the other hand, reading this book clarified why I tend to avoid memoirs subtitled things like “A Writing Life.” There are two types of memoirs: celebrity memoirs, usually ghostwritten, whose appeal is based on preexisting interest in the person and which I don’t care about, and literary memoirs, whose appeal is based on the strength of their writing, storytelling and insight. Memoirs of famous writers might initially seem to fall within the literary category, because they write said books themselves and are good at it. But a true literary memoir has focus: it’s not just a straight autobiography but focused on a particular theme; it’s telling a story because that story needs to be told. And this is where famous writer memoirs tend to fall flat; they’re writing not out of a sense of urgency about some aspect of their personal story, but because they have a market.
And as strong as some of these chapters are, sadly, that describes this book. From Tan’s introduction, this grew from a series of essays she sent her editor, who suggested it seemingly as a way of keeping her hand in (or the money coming) between novels. (Tan writes that fiction actually became harder for her as she went, and in fact hasn’t published any since 2013.) The organization is scattershot and a couple of chapters—the one about her relationship with classical music, and the one consisting entirely of emails between her and her editor—bored me to the point of skimming.
In the end, a relatively interesting book, but not the strongest memoir; I wish Tan had committed to a central focus, delved more deeply, and cut unrelated material. But if you are a Tan fan, it’s worth checking out. And she really does have some wild stories.
And on the one hand, it’s an interesting book. Tan has indeed had an interesting life, and has an interesting family, and the book is at its best when she writes about her family history, about investigating her parents’ lives, and about her troubled childhood. Her mother had a lot of trauma and wound up passing some of it on to her kids, and Tan writes about all this compellingly and with insight. It was also interesting to see her investigate other aspects of her young life: for instance, the longitudinal study she was part of in elementary school, which her parents claimed proved she was brilliant and meant to be a doctor, but which turned out to be a study of how early reading impacts kids. (When she was a child, experts were advising parents not to let children read before they were taught it in school, because they would then do it wrong forever! Luckily for Tan, either her parents hadn’t heard about or disagreed with this, or she sneakily learned from her older brother anyway—complications related to immigration and their resulting caution around anyone who seemed official caused her parents to claim the latter. I’m reminded of how when I was in school, kids were rebuked for even signing their names because you weren’t supposed to write cursive until officially taught in second or third grade. Shocker—nearly everyone preferred to print forever after, while cursive was generally considered a burden and seems to be a dying skill.)
On the other hand, reading this book clarified why I tend to avoid memoirs subtitled things like “A Writing Life.” There are two types of memoirs: celebrity memoirs, usually ghostwritten, whose appeal is based on preexisting interest in the person and which I don’t care about, and literary memoirs, whose appeal is based on the strength of their writing, storytelling and insight. Memoirs of famous writers might initially seem to fall within the literary category, because they write said books themselves and are good at it. But a true literary memoir has focus: it’s not just a straight autobiography but focused on a particular theme; it’s telling a story because that story needs to be told. And this is where famous writer memoirs tend to fall flat; they’re writing not out of a sense of urgency about some aspect of their personal story, but because they have a market.
And as strong as some of these chapters are, sadly, that describes this book. From Tan’s introduction, this grew from a series of essays she sent her editor, who suggested it seemingly as a way of keeping her hand in (or the money coming) between novels. (Tan writes that fiction actually became harder for her as she went, and in fact hasn’t published any since 2013.) The organization is scattershot and a couple of chapters—the one about her relationship with classical music, and the one consisting entirely of emails between her and her editor—bored me to the point of skimming.
In the end, a relatively interesting book, but not the strongest memoir; I wish Tan had committed to a central focus, delved more deeply, and cut unrelated material. But if you are a Tan fan, it’s worth checking out. And she really does have some wild stories.
December 8, 2017
I am over my infatuation with Amy Tan's work.
There are two things to know:
I have read every Amy Tan book (including the non-fiction, Opposite of Fate) some of them twice!
And
I don't put books down. I have literally only stopped reading 5 books over the past 5 years! And one of those books was Valley of Amazement. I just couldn't do it.
So here I am, listening to her latest book, a memoir of sorts, with Amy Tan herself reading it...even she sounds bored much of the time!....and I am determined to get through this. All 14 1/2 hours. I'm pretty sure my ears were bleeding at some point, but I must have blacked out while driving!
I'm not going to dissect this, because there just wasn't anything I liked about it. But the biggest take away for me is that her mother-in real life- is a totally unlikeable person. In her writings, the mother characters were largely unlikeable..and they were usually based on her own mother...so it doesn't surprise me that I didn't like her actual mother as described in this book. But unlike Sherman Alexi who, in his recent memoir, did not try to defend his abusive and unlikeable mother, Tan not only defends, but she rationalizes and justifies all her negative and selfish actions. Alexi's mother was a bad mother, but a seemly well-respected person in the community. He never tried to rationalize her behavior, but it was his mother and he had guilt because he loved her but did not like her. Tan talks about all her mother's failings, but turns around and says that it comes from her past and tries to psychologically justify the bad behaviors. Her mother was not just a bad mother - to Amy and her brother, but she also deserted her other children in China!! - she was not a good person. And while Ms Tan recognizes this, she will never acknowledge anything but filial love, devotion and admiration for this woman.
As with the characters in Valley of Amazement, Ms Tan has over analyzed and over written the characters in her life. Perhaps she's trying to make peace with her writing of them in her later years, but maybe it's time to look at the present...or her own future in a fictional sense. I'm over her ancestral angst.
There are two things to know:
I have read every Amy Tan book (including the non-fiction, Opposite of Fate) some of them twice!
And
I don't put books down. I have literally only stopped reading 5 books over the past 5 years! And one of those books was Valley of Amazement. I just couldn't do it.
So here I am, listening to her latest book, a memoir of sorts, with Amy Tan herself reading it...even she sounds bored much of the time!....and I am determined to get through this. All 14 1/2 hours. I'm pretty sure my ears were bleeding at some point, but I must have blacked out while driving!
I'm not going to dissect this, because there just wasn't anything I liked about it. But the biggest take away for me is that her mother-in real life- is a totally unlikeable person. In her writings, the mother characters were largely unlikeable..and they were usually based on her own mother...so it doesn't surprise me that I didn't like her actual mother as described in this book. But unlike Sherman Alexi who, in his recent memoir, did not try to defend his abusive and unlikeable mother, Tan not only defends, but she rationalizes and justifies all her negative and selfish actions. Alexi's mother was a bad mother, but a seemly well-respected person in the community. He never tried to rationalize her behavior, but it was his mother and he had guilt because he loved her but did not like her. Tan talks about all her mother's failings, but turns around and says that it comes from her past and tries to psychologically justify the bad behaviors. Her mother was not just a bad mother - to Amy and her brother, but she also deserted her other children in China!! - she was not a good person. And while Ms Tan recognizes this, she will never acknowledge anything but filial love, devotion and admiration for this woman.
As with the characters in Valley of Amazement, Ms Tan has over analyzed and over written the characters in her life. Perhaps she's trying to make peace with her writing of them in her later years, but maybe it's time to look at the present...or her own future in a fictional sense. I'm over her ancestral angst.
July 30, 2021
I am sorry to say that I am not particularly happy with this book.
My imagination suggested that the past of Amy Tan should begin in China. It should be lush and elegant, populated with characters from the old country, family pictures and stories of the past. Instead, it contains random musings about this and that, some journal entries, excerpts from correspondence between her and her editor and some family memories, a letter here, a picture there, without much of a connecting substance. And most disappointingly, when it comes to where the history begins, it treats life in China as if it wasn’t any different from life in the United States.
The book feels fragmented, a little bit dry and indecisive. Not surprisingly, it is dominated by the complicated relationship to her mother, but otherwise it feels somehow incomplete. I understand that the family history consists sometimes of more questions than answers and that it can be difficult to reconstruct, but in that case I would’ve appreciated more research, more effort to recreate the atmosphere of where all of it did start, not only as if it just sprang up from the point of view of a frustrated emigrant daughter.
But perhaps I am expecting too much. Maybe talking about culture and not only facts would have made the book far more personal, perhaps it would require some kind of reckoning between the Chinese and the American-self, and that would have taken a lot of courage… So I learned a bit about the family, the father and mother, the two brothers and family tragedy but the Chinese roots remained like a box that was described from the outside, but that we were not allowed to look inside.
If I am to allow myself to speculate, I suspect that perhaps Ms Tan and her editor had so vastly divergent concepts of what this book was supposed to be like, that when they finally reached a compromise, the book became a half-measure, the kind that does not go deep enough or does not engage enough to produce a really satisfying result.
My imagination suggested that the past of Amy Tan should begin in China. It should be lush and elegant, populated with characters from the old country, family pictures and stories of the past. Instead, it contains random musings about this and that, some journal entries, excerpts from correspondence between her and her editor and some family memories, a letter here, a picture there, without much of a connecting substance. And most disappointingly, when it comes to where the history begins, it treats life in China as if it wasn’t any different from life in the United States.
The book feels fragmented, a little bit dry and indecisive. Not surprisingly, it is dominated by the complicated relationship to her mother, but otherwise it feels somehow incomplete. I understand that the family history consists sometimes of more questions than answers and that it can be difficult to reconstruct, but in that case I would’ve appreciated more research, more effort to recreate the atmosphere of where all of it did start, not only as if it just sprang up from the point of view of a frustrated emigrant daughter.
But perhaps I am expecting too much. Maybe talking about culture and not only facts would have made the book far more personal, perhaps it would require some kind of reckoning between the Chinese and the American-self, and that would have taken a lot of courage… So I learned a bit about the family, the father and mother, the two brothers and family tragedy but the Chinese roots remained like a box that was described from the outside, but that we were not allowed to look inside.
If I am to allow myself to speculate, I suspect that perhaps Ms Tan and her editor had so vastly divergent concepts of what this book was supposed to be like, that when they finally reached a compromise, the book became a half-measure, the kind that does not go deep enough or does not engage enough to produce a really satisfying result.
September 5, 2018
It was comfortable to read the usual Amy Tan work. Everything revolved around her mother. What I didn't like was the collection of emails.
I hope there will be another book or more.
I hope there will be another book or more.
December 19, 2017
This is one of those books you read because you respect the author, even while you know that if this was the first book of hers you'd ever read, you would never slog through the whole thing. Nor would you find it particularly interesting. But, because of the relationship that we, the readers, have developed in our one-sided devotion to this Ms. Tan, we persevere.
I did learn many new things about the author and her family that were of interest, again, because they're part of a larger body of work we've come to love, and because so much of that explains her gift as a writer and the stories she tells. As an author, I treasured the voyeuristic view of both her writing day and space. And as a bereaved parent, I sympathized with her mom who had lost too many children, knowing how that can screw with your psyche and explains in part why she derails her continuing adventures with motherhood. I, for one, didn't blame her for her attempt to escape the chains that bound in the wake of burying her husband and son. Who are we to judge, after all, and at least she had the courage to attempt to break free, folly as that may be.
With holiday baking on my mind, I guess I can conclude with a baking soda analogy: there are many-sized lumps to sift through in this ambitious tome, but the finer stuff does fall through. And remain...
I did learn many new things about the author and her family that were of interest, again, because they're part of a larger body of work we've come to love, and because so much of that explains her gift as a writer and the stories she tells. As an author, I treasured the voyeuristic view of both her writing day and space. And as a bereaved parent, I sympathized with her mom who had lost too many children, knowing how that can screw with your psyche and explains in part why she derails her continuing adventures with motherhood. I, for one, didn't blame her for her attempt to escape the chains that bound in the wake of burying her husband and son. Who are we to judge, after all, and at least she had the courage to attempt to break free, folly as that may be.
With holiday baking on my mind, I guess I can conclude with a baking soda analogy: there are many-sized lumps to sift through in this ambitious tome, but the finer stuff does fall through. And remain...
March 2, 2020
I'm on a "not so great roll!" I love Amy Tan's writing and the way she wrote this was good, but the content itself was not great. I read her other memoir style book and enjoyed it quite a bit. This was at turns super depressing or felt like a novel length lecture. Nothing felt entertaining.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with sharing the unhappy details of your life, but the way that she did it left so much to be desired.
I will always read her novels as soon as they are released, but I'm finished with her non-fiction.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with sharing the unhappy details of your life, but the way that she did it left so much to be desired.
I will always read her novels as soon as they are released, but I'm finished with her non-fiction.
August 26, 2019
I enjoyed this book. I could connect to many aspects of it, and found it all very interesting. Amy Tan's mother is Shanghainese so I found the information she shared that pertained to Shanghai to be intriguing. Her mother endured a number of dramatic events in her early life, many of which are chronicled in The Joy Luck Club and other novels Amy has written. Not only that, but after her mother came to the U.S. and had Amy, their family had more than its fair share of tragedy. Amy talks about how writing has helped her to understand and make sense of her past. She had a lot of reflections on learning languages as well, since she studied linguistics and almost earned a PhD in this field. For me, reading a memoir of one of my favourite authors was a pleasure.
December 15, 2017
The book was a bit all over the place and some of the sections were not great, but when she writes about her life, her parents, and her childhood, it’s great. The best nuggets of all is when she writes about writing. I could read an entire book where she just reflects on her craft.
August 12, 2020
I was vacationing in San Francisco the year Amy Tan's first book, The Joy Luck Club, was published. Then (as now) I was rarely tempted to read contemporary literature, but when I passed a bookstore with a prominent window display, I was intrigued by the book jacket and description of the “local” author and had to go in.
I felt an immediate affinity with Amy Tan when I read her first book. I identified with the complexities of the mother-daughter relationships she described so well and felt I understood how she thought. The character of Waverley spoke her inner fears and broodings. I was sure of that, because she could not have written it as she did if she had not felt those things deeply and personally. As the child of ambitious parents, I understand the pressure that’s applied (intentionally or not) and the expectations that can overwhelm a child. It doesn’t help that it’s done in love.
In Where the Past Begins, Amy Tan delves into her creative process, how she uses introspection, imagination and music, the experiences and emotions they evoke, and pours it all into her writing. I found it fascinating and felt again a feeling of connection with the author as she shared more of her childhood and family stories. This book is probably not for any except fans of Amy Tan. It’s a bit self-indulgent and dramatic in parts, but it does help you to understand the experiences that shaped her as a writer.
On further reflection, this is really a 3.5 star read for me and I've decided not to round up.
I felt an immediate affinity with Amy Tan when I read her first book. I identified with the complexities of the mother-daughter relationships she described so well and felt I understood how she thought. The character of Waverley spoke her inner fears and broodings. I was sure of that, because she could not have written it as she did if she had not felt those things deeply and personally. As the child of ambitious parents, I understand the pressure that’s applied (intentionally or not) and the expectations that can overwhelm a child. It doesn’t help that it’s done in love.
In Where the Past Begins, Amy Tan delves into her creative process, how she uses introspection, imagination and music, the experiences and emotions they evoke, and pours it all into her writing. I found it fascinating and felt again a feeling of connection with the author as she shared more of her childhood and family stories. This book is probably not for any except fans of Amy Tan. It’s a bit self-indulgent and dramatic in parts, but it does help you to understand the experiences that shaped her as a writer.
On further reflection, this is really a 3.5 star read for me and I've decided not to round up.
November 17, 2017
Let me be clear: I believe Amy Tan is an exquisite writer whose work educates and inspires readers. I have loved her earlier work. That said, this book is a potpourri of memories, beautifully written but not at all cohesive. The title and subtitle are misleading. It is not a coherent "writer's memoir." The well-written snippets seem forced together without a clear sense of direction. Perhaps major authors who are highly successful like Amy Tan have expectations from their agents and publishers to get a book out each year or two or three. But perhaps those authors do not have a book that is yet ready. Or perhaps they don't even have a good idea for the next book. The response from the agent should not be to pull together unrelated snippets and give them a name that promises more coherence than is possible. My one star rating is not because the writing in this book is weak because much of it is exquisite. My one star rating is because the book lacks a unifying story or theme. Give Amy Tan and other successful writers time to find their next books without a push toward premature publication.
November 21, 2017
LOVED Tan's writing in this memoir. This was the first time I read non-fiction from her. I was surprised that she commented on such diverse topics like drawing vs. writing and science research. I also really enjoyed the humor especially the back and forth between Amy and Daniel Halpern. Overall, the structure of the memoir is like no other I have read but really enjoyed getting to know her better. The somewhat disjointed organization might turn some readers off though
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February 24, 2022I don't recommend listening to this book on audio. Unfortunately, Amy Tan's narration was so slow that she sounded bored with her own story. It caused me to tune in and out quite a bit. I eventually lost interest.
April 26, 2018
There are parts of Amy Tan's memoir which soar. She is a teenager in Switzerland, with the remnants of her family after a terrible year of tragedy. I could see her there, her German boyfriend, the cold and clean house, the madness in her mother's eyes. She is an adult tending to her mother's last weeks, praising her beauty, marveling at her grasp of the English language which she thought her mother had lost to dementia. She is in a trance like stage, when she finds reality again she does not remember writing the powerful passage which remains in her first, highly successful novel.
Then, there are other parts of this memoir which do not take off, which stay decidedly and awkwardly on the ground. I found myself skimming over the long passages on classical and other musical genres. The back and forth emails between the author and her editor--perhaps I missed the insights and charm of them. Even the photos--they add immeasurably to the prose but there are no middle pages with glossy, full-size or enlarged pictures. Some are so small I had to squint to see the details. And the details do matter.
This felt like leftovers tossed together to make a meal that is at its best delicious and surprising, but at its worst a bit stale and over-filling. There is so much good stuff here, especially the insights into how many incidents in her novels are based on her mother's real world experiences. Perhaps in the email exchanges with her editor, he could have suggested sharpening and tightening this memoir.
Then, there are other parts of this memoir which do not take off, which stay decidedly and awkwardly on the ground. I found myself skimming over the long passages on classical and other musical genres. The back and forth emails between the author and her editor--perhaps I missed the insights and charm of them. Even the photos--they add immeasurably to the prose but there are no middle pages with glossy, full-size or enlarged pictures. Some are so small I had to squint to see the details. And the details do matter.
This felt like leftovers tossed together to make a meal that is at its best delicious and surprising, but at its worst a bit stale and over-filling. There is so much good stuff here, especially the insights into how many incidents in her novels are based on her mother's real world experiences. Perhaps in the email exchanges with her editor, he could have suggested sharpening and tightening this memoir.
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