Musings on 'The Opposite of Fate'

Reading Amy Tan's The opposite of Fate. So far, Love it.*

I have read the Joy Luck Club but fortunately or unfortunately I saw the movie and as it happens often with the order of movie-then-book, the celluloid imagery blocked a large portion of my own visuals/imagination from being created. So there was not much to compare. I remember that the movie was well made and the book, well written. So in a way, this is my first taste of Tan in writing.

This is drastically different from her fiction, because the voice and the context is quite clearly American[ and she keeps insisting that she's an American writer and not a Chinese American one] and there are few situations which are not doled out with heaps of humour, irrespective of when she's talking about. I love the fact that bits and pieces of what she's written seems to have been taken out from her dairy. The tone is almost conspiratorial, like she's sharing moments or disclosing secrets with a close friend, you the reader.

And I love what she writes about. About being a cynical ghost believer to a rock band member. And the trials and tribulations of being the American daughter of a Chinese Mother. While custom wise, China and India are poles apart, cultural reasoning [ by that I mean the reasons behind a particular custom/cultural icon etc] is quite similar. And for that reason I'm able to identify with her, because I've heard my own versions of ills befalling a disobedient girl from my mother/grandmother.

But what I like best about the book is that she openly admits that she writes for herself. Least reading the essays, I had a feeling that she's someone who writes for herself and even if her first book had not got publlished or worse, not got read, she would still have written the rest.

When I write, I write for me more than anything else in the world. Communicating what I have to say is only part of the story, it's far more important that I have a clear idea of my thoughts and emotions, and writing helps me to do just that. I have to give it form and structure, a flow and all of it makes it so much more tangible which in turn helps to clarify who,what,where I am.

Whenever I have told this to someone, they exude displeasure which conveys what I'm doing is selfish and that's not how it's supposed to be. I've always been of the opinion only of you write for yourself will you be most dispassionate and give the most honest opinion you have. Else we'd be trying to adjust or compromise our opinion to fit in some way to the other person. Somehow that she writes for herself first and everyone else second gave me a sense of validation. Maybe validation is the wrong word.. I think it's more of ..ummm.. finding a kindred spirit. That's a unique feeling when you find someone ; a touch of relief mingled with joy, perhaps not just in knowing that you are not the only one, but because in it's own way it's you finding the common thread, a wisp, that runs though the soul of the universe as well. Least that how I feel when I come across someone who knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Anyways, That's about the sum of things on Tan.
Take care


*Finished it too. Still Fabulous! :-D