The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan

What a marvelous cultural experience!  It is fascinating to read such rich detail about China and the American-Chinese cultural blending.  Just as good as her other books I’ve read, The Joy Luck Club and The Kitchen God’s Wife.

WARNING: SPOILER
I thought the depiction of the problems and staleness of Olivia’s and Simon’s marriage quite apt.  It’s amazing how many people do get divorced for similar reasons these days.  However, I did think it was a little unrealistic that two whole years after Olivia has made her discoveries and shed her emotional baggage, that she and Simon are still not totally back together.  

I was a bit confused at the beginning, but maybe I’m just slow.  It took me a while to catch on that this is a reincarnation story.  By the end, Tan pulls the plot together convincingly, and it almost made me wish I believed in reincarnation.  The yin people, or ghosts, that only Kwan can see, are great.  That’s just how I believe people are in the spirit world; moving along, going about business, still learning, not knowing everything, rarely interfering with mortals, and waiting for the next step.

I’m sorry to say that bad language increased in frequency toward the end of the book – one of my pet peeves.