The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings
by Amy Tan
Published 2004
Review by Johana
Available at the Downtown Library
Though I’m a huge fan of Amy Tan, I’m not the biggest fan of memoirs so I skeptically picked up this book and boy was I blown away. Being able to see things through the mind of Tan and seeing what inspires, motivates, and challenges her was phenomenal. If you’ve read her previous works this book provides insight into what went into the creation of them and if you haven’t read then it provides the reader with a view into the the mind of a writer. How for Tan a word isn’t chosen solely based on it’s meaning but also the way it feels on the tongue when saying it, the sound of it, the nostalgia even.
Tan delves into her relationship with her mother, her cultural identity, history of family mental diseases, along with other difficult times in her life but it doesn’t come off as critical of others. In her sharing of this we see her also trying to analyze herself and her life.