"I've long thought about how life is influenced by death, how it influences what you believe in and what you look for. Yes, I think I was pushed in a way to write this book by certain spirits — the yin people — in my life. They've always been there, I wouldn't say to help, but to kick me in the ass to write. ...Yin people is the term Kwan uses, because "ghosts" is politically incorrect. People have such terrible assumptions about ghosts — you know, phantoms that haunt you, that make you scared, that turn the house upside down. Yin people are not in our living presence but are around, and kind of guide you to insights. Like in Las Vegas when the bells go off, telling you you've hit the jackpot. Yin people ring the bells, saying, "Pay attention." And you say, "Oh, I see now." Yet I'm a fairly skeptical person. I'm educated, I'm reasonably sane, and I know that this subject is fodder for ridicule. ... To write the book, I had to put that aside. As with any book. I go through the anxiety, "What will people think of me for writing something like this?" But ultimately, I have to write what I have to write about, including the question of life continuing beyond our ordinary senses."

Amy Tan Literature See all quotes by Amy Tan →

React to this quote

More by Amy Tan

“1989 audio interview of Amy Tan by Don Swaim of CBS Radio, RealAudio”

“It is because I had so much joy that I came to have so much hate.”

“On the third day after someone dies, the soul comes back to settle scores. In my mother's case, this would be the first day of the lunar new year. And because it is the new year, all debts must be paid, or disaster and misfortune will follow.”

“My mother had a look on her face that I'll never forget. It was one of complete despair and horror, for losing Bing, for being so foolish as to think she could use faith to change fate.”

“I discovered that maybe it was fate all along, that faith was just an illusion that somehow you're in control.”

“Even though I was young, I could see the pain of the flesh and the worth of the pain.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Christ’s resurrection is not an event of the past; it contains a vital power which has permeated this world. Where all seems to be dead, signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up. It is an irresist…"

— Pope Francis

Religion1936–2025

#time

"I think it caught on because the stories that these four girls have individually in the book are extremely relatable. They’re very real teenage experiences. I think the friendship between the four gir…"

— Alexis Bledel

Entertainment1981

#friendship

"In London, aside from bit parts, I was unlucky in my career but I was lucky in love. There was a theatrical club much frequented by all the young lions on their way up. They all gathered to eat inexpe…"

— Elaine Dundy

Music1921–2008

#love

"Ironically, the first thing that appealed to me about Islam was its pluralism. The fact that the Qur'an praises all the great prophets of the past. That Mohammed didn't believe he had come to found a …"

— Karen Armstrong

Literature1944

#religion