AsiAn AmericAns of Achievement amy tan AsiAn AmericAns of Achievement Margaret Cho Daniel Inouye Michelle Kwan Bruce Lee Maya Lin Yo-Yo Ma Isamu Noguchi Amy Tan Vera Wang Kristi Yamaguchi AsiAn AmericAns of Achievement amy tan susan muaddi darraj Amy Tan Copyright © 2007 by Infobase Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York, NY 10001 ISBN-10: 0-7910-9269-0 ISBN-13: 978-0-7910-9269-9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Darraj, Susan Muaddi. Amy Tan / by Susan Muaddi Darraj. p. cm.— (Asian Americans of achievement) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7910-9269-0 (hardcover) 1. Tan, Amy—Juvenile literature. 2. Authors, American—20th century—Biography— Juvenile literature. 3. Chinese Americans—California—Biography—Juvenile litera- ture. 4. Asian American authors—Biography—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series. PS3570.A48Z63 2007 813’.54—dc22 2006026061 Chelsea House books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.chelseahouse.com Series design by Erika K. Arroyo Cover design by Ben Peterson Printed in the United States of America Bang EJB 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. All links and Web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. contents 1   The Wake-up Call  7 2   Chinese Immigration to America  12 3   Growing Up Chinese-American  24 4   The Years in Switzerland  33 5   A New Career  43 6   Honing Her Craft  52 7   Writing The Joy Luck Club  59 8   The Sophomore Effort  68 9  The Silver Screen  77 10   Living With Loss  90 Chronology and Timeline 100 Glossary 104 Bibliography 105 Further Reading 106 Index 108 1 The Wake-up Call During the winter of 1985, Amy Tan was in Hawaii, enjoying a relaxing vacation with her husband, Louis, and her close friend, Gretchen. She especially relished the break from her stressful job—she worked as a freelance writer; her clients were mostly businesses and corporations. She wrote everything from training manuals, business reports, and speeches for company executives for clients that included AT&T and Apple Computer. Though freelance writing was not the employment Tan’s moth- er, Daisy, had hoped for her daughter, it provided a comfort- able living and a solid income. The downside of her career was the tremendous number of hours she worked. Sometimes Tan logged as many as 90 hours a week on a project. With all the stress in her life, the vacation in Hawaii was long anticipated and much needed. Tan was looking forward to the vacation so much that she neglected to leave anyone at home a number where she could be reached while away. One day, while relaxing, Tan received alarming news. Gretchen checked her messages at home and   amy tan Before Amy Tan began writing fiction, she knew very little about her mother’s life. heard a message that had actually been left for Amy. Her mother, Daisy, had apparently suffered a major heart attack and was in the intensive care unit. The message had been left four days earlier. the Wake-up Call  Panicked and anxious, Tan rushed to a telephone booth and tried calling the mainland. As she waited to be connected by the operator, she berated herself for being out of touch with her mother and for enjoying the Hawaiian sun while her mother was so ill. As she stood in the telephone booth in the middle of a busy shopping center, still on hold, a terrible memory flooded through her mind. In her autobiography The Opposite of Fate, Tan remembered how years earlier her mother asked her, “If I die, what you re- member?” The question was a pointed one: Since Amy Tan was a young girl, she and Daisy had a troubled mother-daughter relationship. Communication was difficult for them, and their few conversations were filled with awkward moments, misun- derstandings, and frequent hostility. Tan often reflected that she knew very little about her immigrant mother, a petite woman with a feisty, aggressive attitude toward life. Daisy’s questions also indicated that she realized how little her daughter knew her. Tan reacted to the question with sur- prise and tried to dismiss it. “Come on, you’re not going to die.” Her mother continued, asking again, “What you remember?” At the time, Tan resented the persistence, believing that her mother was trying to make her feel guilty for their disconnected relationship. She failed to answer the question to her mother’s satisfaction. At this, Daisy angrily replied, with her heavy ac- cent, “I think you know little percent of me.” That conversation now haunted Tan as she waited in the telephone booth for a connection to the hospital. She felt sure that her mother was dead and that she had failed to even try to understand or ap- preciate Daisy while she was alive. She offered up a prayer to God and made a vow to spend more time with her mother. “If my mother lives,” she recalled saying, “I will get to know her. I will ask her about her past, and this time I’ll actually listen to what she has to say. Why, I’ll even take her to China, and yes, I’ll write stories about her.”