~ Life of Amy Tan ~

Michael Chen

Her life
Born February 19, 1952 Oakland, California

Daughter of two Chinese immigrants Family lived in several communities in Northern California before settling in Santa Clara.

Her Father
Electrical Engineer and Baptist minister who came to America to escape the turmoil of the Chinese Civil War.

Her Mother
Daisy had divorced an abusive husband but lost custody of her three daughters.

Forced to leave them behind when she escaped on the last boat to leave Shanghai before the communist takeover in 1949.
She and John had 3 children, Amy and her two brothers.

Influence of her Mother

The bitter early life of her mother, Daisy, inspired Amy Tan to later write a novel called The Kitchen Gods Wife.

Ohhhthe Tragedy
Tragedy struck the Tan family when Amys father and her oldest brother both died of brain tumours within a year of each other.

Her mother decided to move Amy and her other brother to Switzerland, where Amy finished high school.

Ohhhthe Conflict
After they have moved to Switzerland, Amy was in constant conflict with her mother.

Her mother wanted her to go to Baptist College but she chose to follow her boyfriend to San Jose City College instead.
She did not talk to her mother for 6 months

OH NO!!!!!!! MORE CONFLICTS

Instead of studying pre-med course that her mother has picked for her, she decided to pursue the study of English and linguistics.

Finally No more Conflicts

After all of those unfortunate events that had happened

She received her bachelors and masters degrees in English and Linguistics at San Jose State University.

Marriage
-She marries her boyfriend, Louise DeMattei.

Settled in San Francisco

And then
She studied for a doctorate in linguistics, first at University of California, later at Berkley.

She eventually left the program in 1976, and took a job as a language development consultant for ACARC.

ACARC = Alameda County Association for Retarded Citizens

She later started a business writing firm with a partner, providing speeches for salesmen and executives that worked in large corporations.

Prospered as a business writer.

After earning money, she bought a house for her mother. Lived well on their double income. She continued with her writing career. Wrote her first story Endgame, which won her an award and Waiting Between the Trees which impressed many literary agents. While on peak of career, mother fell ill. Promised her mother. China to find her daughter who had been left behind almost 40 years ago. Mother recovers and they go to china, she spent this time improving relationship with her mother.

When Amy returned, she started to finish up her book of stories.

It was during this time (1989) that she wrote her best selling book, The Joy Luck Club, which earned her 1.2 million (equivalent of 20 million nowadays) dollars within 8 months.

The book was translated into 17 languages, including Chinese.

Since then, she published 2 books for children:

The Moon Lady The Sagwa.

She also published 3 novels:

The Hundred Secret Senses (1995) The Bonesetters Daughter (2001) Saving Fish from Drowning (2005)

Her last book, which was published in 2003, is an autobiography. -The Opposite of Fate: A book of Musings About her experience with Lyme Disease. Went undiagnosed for years before she received proper treatment. She now spends most of her time raising awareness of Lyme disease.

And..
She is still living her life in California!