I decided to take a break from Fall in Seattle to visit my family in sunny Arizona. By a stroke of good luck, Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club, The Bonesetter’s Daughter and several other award-winning books happened to be speaking at the Tempe Center for the Arts. She was there to give a reading of her new novel The Valley of Amazement, but for some reason the book release date was pushed back so she was unable to share any excerpts from it. Instead we were treated to a series of personal stories.
First she talked about the novel itself which was sparked by a picture she found of her grandmother. Upon closer examination by historians, the picture suggested that the lady posed in those clothes during that time period might be a courtesan. That was not who Tan knew to be as her grandmother. While there are still some mother/daughter themes for which Tan is known for, this book promises to be a bit different and definitely juicy. I will be picking up my copy as soon as it comes out.
From there Tan went on to talk about her life. She made the distinction between her works of fiction and the things that actually happened. She talked about her family and how her father and brother both died of brain tumors within a year of one another and how it drove her mother to believe that they were cursed. One day her mother was looking underneath the sink and saw a Dutch cleanser and thought to herself, Holland is clean, it’s good, we should move there. And they actually did. Her mother sold their house and took Amy and her younger brother to Europe. She went without a job or a place to live or even any really contacts there. And they spent several years finding their way until they made it to Switzerland.
Like her writing, Tan was compelling, gritty, interesting and unexpectedly funny. As she stood on the stage in her black eyelet dress with her chunky silver necklace and her cut, so precisely telling us a bit of the life experiences that have shaped her writing, I felt myself turned inward. What makes you who you are? Is it just a strange collection of genetic pre-dispositions and accidental circumstances? If she hadn’t lost her father how would her life have been different? Would her mother have been less crazy? Would she have grown up in the States? So much hinges on circumstance. Would she still be a writer? The kind of writer she is now or would other stories have found root in her consciousness?
Shortly before the event, I had the chance to meet her in person in a private reception. Off stage she was just as elegantly dressed, formidable but, a bit hard to read. We chatted briefly about writing. I told her I had just written a children’s book and she surprised me by saying that if she were a writer starting out in this day and age that she would probably go the self-publication route too and not to hang high expectations on the big publishers. She also talked a bit about her process of writing and editing and gave me the perfect reminder that the process is just as important, if not more so than the product.
Through sharing stories of her personal journey, Tan helped me to remember the fundamental truth of my own writing. It comes from me. That vulnerability and willingness to share a part of who you are is what makes writing rich. I can’t wait to read her new book.
Reagan Jackson is a writer, artist, YA fiction aficionado, afro-punk, international educator, and community organizer based in Seattle, WA. You can find her most Tuesdays at the Seattle Poetry Slam or maybe just being nerdy at her favorite bookstores.
