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Top 10 Interesting Facts about Amy Tan

Amy Tan was born in Oakland, California. Both of her parents were Chinese immigrants. Her father, John Tan, was an electrical engineer and Baptist minister who came to America to escape the turmoil of the Chinese Civil War.

Her mother had a harrowing early life In China, where she divorced an abusive husband but lost custody of her three daughters.

She escaped on the last boat from Shanghai before the Communist takeover in 1949 She was forced to leave her children behind. 

Her marriage to John Tan produced three children, Amy and her two brothers

Amy Tan grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in a succession of twelve homes by the time she graduated from high school.

At age 15, she lost her older brother and father to brain tumours. After this tragedy, Mrs. Tan moved her surviving children to Switzerland, where Amy finished high school.

Continue reading to know 10 interesting facts about Amy Tan.

1.  Amy Tan has Lyme Disease

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A Lyme infected tick bit, Amy, in 1999. The disease that manifested and ravaged her body and mind went undiagnosed for four years by a number of doctors at major urban medical centres.

She experienced the usual flulike symptoms, rash, and then muscle pain, but as the disease escalated, she began to hallucinate.

Among the host of horrific symptoms it caused, the Lyme claimed all of the skills necessary for Amy to do her work.

Writing fiction suddenly became a challenge for the acclaimed author. With treatment, she, fortunately, regained her writing skills. 鈥�

Today, while not cured, her disease is medically managed, and her health, by her own new definition, is excellent.

She spends much of her energy raising awareness of Lyme disease, promoting its early detection and treatment, and advocating for the rights of Lyme disease patients.

2.  Amy Tan was a member of a Rock Band

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Tan was in the midst of this existential crisis when she received an email from San Francisco-based literary escort Kathi Kamen Goldmark. Goldmark was founding a rock band, exclusively for authors 鈥� just for fun.

Tan responded to the email right away. She wanted to join the band. She hoped it would provide an opportunity to let off some steam while connecting with fellow authors.

The Rock Bottom Remainders, also known as the Remainders, was an American rock charity supergroup, consisting of published writers, most of them both amateur musicians and popular English-language book, magazine, and newspaper authors.

The unique garage band comprised of other shining literary lights like author Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Stephen King, Dave Barry, Matt Groening, Greg Iles, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount Jr, Ridley Pearson, Sam Barry and Scott Turow.

But once a year they become rock stars, complete with roadies, groupies and a wicked cool tour bus.

More importantly, since the band鈥檚 founding in Anaheim in 1992 鈥� at a book convention 鈥� they raised over $2 million for various literacy causes.

 After a 20 year run, they performed their last public concert in June 2012.

3. Amy Tan is a Children with Developmental Disabilities Specialist 

The murder of one of our closest friends was her turning point.

He was a computer science major who had planned to make innovative devices for people with disabilities.

According to Amy, his friend would have done something meaningful with his life. So she vowed to do the same.

She worked as a language development specialist for county-wide programs serving developmentally disabled children from birth to the age of 5.

Later, she became director of a demonstration project funded by the U.S. Department of Education to mainstream multicultural children with developmental disabilities into early childhood programs.

4. Her Books have Been Translated into 35 Languages

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The American writer鈥檚 much-loved, best-selling novels have been translated into 35 languages, from Spanish, French, and Finnish to Chinese, Arabic, and Hebrew.

They include The Joy Luck Club (adapted into a successful film in 1993), The Kitchen God鈥檚 Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter鈥檚 Daughter, Saving Fish from Drowning and The Valley of Amazement, all New York Times bestsellers and recipients of various awards.

She is also the author of a memoir, The Opposite of Fate, two children鈥檚 books, The Moon Lady and Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat, and numerous articles for magazines, including The New Yorker, Harper鈥檚 Bazaar, and National Geographic.

She is also the author of the short story Rules for Virgins.

5.  A Teenage Amy Tan did not have the Best of Relationships with her Mother

After several missteps, the family of three wanderers settled in Montreux, Switzerland, where Amy fell in love, nearly eloped, was arrested in a drug bust of friends and still managed to graduate from high school one year early. 

When Amy finished high school, her relationship with her mother was one of constant conflict.

Mother and daughter did not speak for six months after Amy Tan left the Baptist College her mother had selected for her, to follow her boyfriend to San Jose City College.

It is alleged that there鈥檚 a point her mother held a knife to her neck threatening to kill her over a disagreement they had as a result of Amy鈥檚 boyfriend.

Tan further defied her mother by abandoning the pre-med course her mother had urged, her to pursue the study of English and linguistics.

 She received her bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees in these fields at San Jose State University

No wonder the overriding theme of her writings is mother-daughter relationships.

6.  Amy Tan was a Prosperous Business Writer

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With a partner, she started a business writing firm, providing speeches for the salesmen and executives of large corporations.

After a dispute with her partner, who believed she should give up writing to concentrate on the management side of the business, she became a full-time freelance writer.

Among her business works, written under non-Chinese-sounding pseudonyms, was a 26-chapter booklet called 鈥�Telecommunications and You,鈥� produced for IBM.

Amy Tan prospered as a business writer. After a few years in business for herself, she had saved enough money to buy a house for her mother.

She and her husband lived well on their double income, but the harder Tan worked at her business, the more dissatisfied she became.

The work had become a compulsive habit, and she sought relief in creative efforts.

7.    Her Books have Received many Awards

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Amy Tan has been awarded on several occasions for her books, fiction etc.

Some of the awards are 鈥� Finalist National Book Award (1989), National Book Critics Circle Award (1989), Finalist Los Angeles Times, Bay Area Book Reviewers Award, Commonwealth Gold Award, American Library Association鈥檚 Notable Books and many more

Tan鈥檚 novel, The Joy Luck Club was staged as a play in 1993 it has also been filmed. The Bonesetter鈥檚 daughter has also been in a musical theatre in 2008.  Her other book for children, Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat has been shown on a TV show.

8.   Amy Tan is Childless by Choice

In 1970, she met Lou DeMattei on a blind date.鈥� They have been together ever since, marrying in 1974.

They live in San Francisco, California. Many years since they got married, they are still yet to have any kids because she doesn鈥檛 want to have children.

This is because she feels she might pass on mental issues to them, something that both her mother and grandmother have suffered from. She also has suffered from depression.

When she was a young girl, Amy鈥檚 mother, Daisy would always threaten that she would kill herself so that she could join her own mother who had also committed suicide.

Daisy attempted suicide but failed and then in 1999, she died.

9.   Young Amy Was Ashamed of her Chinese Heritage

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Young Amy was deeply unhappy with her Asian appearance and heritage. She was the only Chinese girl in class from the third grade until she graduated from high school.

She remembers trying to belong and feeling frustrated and isolated. “I felt ashamed of being different and ashamed of feeling that way,” she remarked in a Los Angeles Times interview.

In fact, she was so determined to look like an American girl that she even slept with a clothespin on her nose, hoping to slim its Asian shape.

By the time Amy was a teenager, she had rejected everything Chinese.

She even felt ashamed of eating “horrible” five-course Chinese meals and decided that she would grow up to look more American if she ate more “American” foods.

10.  Her Roommate was Murdered when she was in College

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Amy鈥檚 roommate was killed when she was in college and she was the one who identified the body. This would continue to affect her for many years that followed.

Following the murder of a roommate in 1976, Amy left a linguistics doctoral program at UC Berkeley and was inspired by his intended career to work in the field of disabilities.

She became a Language Development Specialist for programs serving children with developmental disabilities, and later, she became the Director of a demonstration project on mainstreaming multicultural children with disabilities into the public school system.

Every writer from William Shakespeare to Harlan Coben, John Grisham to everyone else, has his own style.

For Amy Tan, she is probably the most popular when it comes to mother-daughter relationships. 

She has released a good number of books through the years including novels, short stories, non-fiction, and children鈥檚 work.