Cover of The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life

The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life

by Amy Tan · 2003

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Born into a family who believed in fate, Amy Tan has always looked for alternative ways to make sense of the world. And now, in The Opposite of Fate, her first book of nonfiction, she shares her thoughts on how she escaped the expectations and curses of her past, and created her own destiny.Amy Tan tells of her family, of the ghosts that inhabit her computer, of specters of illness, ski trips, the pliability of memory, rock and roll, and the twinned mysteries of faith and fate. Whether she is remembering arguments with her mother in suburban California, recounting trips to an outdoor market in Shanghai, or describing her love-hate relationship with the CliffsNotes edition of her first book, The Joy Luck Club, her recollections offer an intimate glimpse of a bestselling writer whose own life story is as magical and hopeful as her fiction.

Subject
biographybiographyMore like thisLess of thismemoirmemoirMore like thisLess of this
Genre
historical fictionhistorical fictionMore like thisLess of this
Themes
writerswritersMore like thisLess of thisdiversitydiversityMore like thisLess of thiswomenwomenMore like thisLess of thiscreativitycreativityMore like thisLess of this
Setting
20th century20th centuryMore like thisLess of thisAsiaAsiaMore like thisLess of thisChinaChinaMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
medium · 398 pages
Form
essaysessaysMore like thisLess of thisshort storiesshort storiesMore like thisLess of this

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