BIBLIOTECA TECLA SALA April 21, 2016 The Bonesetter’s Daughter

Amy (Sources: Official website, Litlovers, and Random House)

Summary

In memories that rise like While tending to her ailing wisps of ghosts, LuLing Young mother, Ruth discovers the searches for the name of her pages LuLing wrote in Chi- mother, the daughter of the nese, the story of her tu- Famous Bonesetter from the multuous and star-crossed Mouth of the Mountain. life, and is transported to a Trying to hold on to the eva- backwoods village known as porating past, she begins to Immortal Heart. There she write all that she can remem- learns of secrets passed ber of her life as a girl in Chi- along by a mute nursemaid, na. Precious Auntie; of a cave where "dragon bones" are Meanwhile, her daughter mined, some of which may Ruth, a ghostwriter for prove to be the teeth of authors of self-help books, is Peking Man; of the crum- Contents: losing the ability to speak up bling ravine known as the for herself in front of the man End of the World, where Summary 1 she lives with and his two Precious Auntie's scattered teenage daughters. None of bones lie, and of the curse Biography 2 her professional sound bites that LuLing believes she and pat homilies works for released through betrayal. A conversation 3 her personal life: she knows only how to translate what Like layers of sediment with others want to say. being removed, each page reveals secrets of a larger Ruth starts suspecting that mystery: What became of something is terribly wrong Peking Man? What was the with her mother. As a child, name of the Bonesetter's Ruth had been constantly Daughter? And who was subjected to her mother's Precious Auntie, whose disturbing notions about cur- suicide changed the path of ses and ghosts, and to her LuLing's life? Within LuLing's repeated threats that she calligraphed pages awaits the would kill herself, and was truth about a mother's even forced by her to try to heart, what she cannot tell communicate with ghosts. But her daughter yet hopes she now LuLing seems less argu- will never forget. mentative, even happy, far from her usual disagreeable (From the publisher.) and dissatisfied self.

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Biography

As a child Amy Tan believed her with a warning. me. She attended a fiction life was duller than most. She workshop at the Squaw Valley read to escape. Her parents She went from arrest to winning Community of Writers. There wanted her to be a doctor and a an American Baptist Scholarship she met writer Molly Giles, who concert pianist. She secretly to attend Linfield College in gave her advice on a flawed short dreamed of becoming an artist. McMinnville, Oregon. There, in story with too many inconsistent She began writing fiction when 1970, she met Lou DeMattei on voices and too many beginnings she was 33. Her first short story a blind date. They have been of stories. “Pick one and start was published when she was 34, together ever since. Amy then over.” Giles' suggestions guided and three years later, she publis- went to San Jose City College, Amy to write the multiple sto- hed her first book, a collection of then to San Jose State University, ries that would become The Joy short stories called The Joy Luck where she earned her B.A., as a Luck Club, published in 1989. Club, which the critics reviewed President’s Scholar, with a dou- Today Amy serves on the board as a novel. ble major in English and Linguis- of the Squaw Valley Community Author Bio tics. She attended both the Uni- of Writers. Amy was born in the United versity of California at Santa

States in 1952, a few years after Cruz and San Jose State Universi- Amy's other novels are The Kit- • Also named—En-Mai her parents immigrated from ty for her Master’s Degree in chen God's Wife, The Hundred Tan . Her father, John, was an Linguistics in 1974. She went on Secret Senses, The Bonesetter's • Birth—February 15, electrical engineer and also a to study linguistics in a doctoral Daughter, and Saving Fish from 1952 Baptist minister. Her mother, program at UC Berkeley. At the Drowning, all New York Times • Where—Oakland, Daisy, left behind a secret past, end of her education, she owed bestsellers, as well as the reci- California, USA including three daughters in Chi- $250. pient of many awards. She is also • Education—B.A., na and the ghost of her mother, the author of a memoir, The M.A., San Jose State who had killed herself when Following the murder of a room- Opposite of Fate, two children's Univeristy Daisy was nine. The Tan family mate in 1976, she left the docto- books, The Moon Lady and Sagwa, • Currently—San belonged to a small social group ral program and was inspired by The Chinese Siamese Cat, as well Francisco, California called The Joy Luck Club, whose his intended career to work in as numerous articles for magazi- and New York, NY families enacted the immigrant the field of disabilities. She beca- nes, such as The New Yorker, version of the American Dream me a Language Development Harper's Bazaar, and National by playing the stock market. Specialist for programs serving Geographic. Her work has been Nearly every year, the Tan family children with developmental translated into thirty-five langua- moved, from one mixed disabilities, and later, she became ges, from Spanish, French, and neighborhood in Oakland after the Director of a demonstration Finnish to Chinese, Arabic, and another and eventually to a se- project on mainstreaming multi- Hebrew. ries of nearly all-white suburbs in cultural children with disabilities the Bay Area. into the public school system. Amy served as co-producer and co-screenwriter with Ron Bass When Amy was fifteen, her fat- Starting in 1981, she worked as a for the film adaptation of The Joy her and older brother died of freelance business writer for Luck Club, directed by Wayne brain tumors six months apart. telecommunications companies Wang. The screenplay was nomi- Her mother took Amy and her such as AT&T, IBM, and Nort- nated for best adaptation by the younger brother, John, to Euro- hern Telecom, as well as Wells British Film Academy and the pe, to see the world before a Fargo Bank, Big Eight manage- Writers Guild. She was the curse killed them all. They ment consulting firms, and the Creative Consultant for Sagwa, settled in Switzerland. Angry and America’s Cup Challenge--all the Emmy-nominated television confused, Amy found comfort in fields and endeavors, she can series for children, which has a counter-culture boyfriend-- now confess, hold no real inter- aired worldwide, including in the unemployed and psychiatrically est for her. UK, Latin America, Hong Kong, suicidal, who hung with hip- China, Taiwan, and Singapore. In 1985, in an attempt to find pies. At age sixteen, Amy was Her story in The New Yorker, meaning in life, she started to arrested for drugs and let off "Immortal Heart,"was performed write fiction in her spare ti-

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A conversation... on stages throughout the United cancer. Amy has a younger brot- [Molly Giles is a longtime friend, States and in France. Her essays her, John Tan, and two half- mentor, and editor of Amy Tan’s. and stories are found in hun- sisters, Lijun Wang and Tina Her latest book is the novel Iron dreds of anthologies and text- “Jindo” Eng, who grew up in Shoes. She directs the Programs in books, and they are assigned as China. Creative Writing at the University of "required reading" in many high Arkansas in Fayetteville.] schools and universities. The In 1999, Amy was infected with National Endowment for the Lyme Disease, but was not diag- Molly Giles: Some writers say Arts chose The Joy Luck Club for nosed until 2003. Her disease their novels are inspired by a its"Big Read" program. She has had advanced by then and left scrap of overheard conversation lectured internationally at univer- her with epilepsy. Today, while or by a single incident they have sities, including Stanford, Oxford, not cured, her disease is medi- never been able to forget. You Jagellonium, Beijing, Georgetown cally managed, and her health, by seem to work from things you’ve both in Washington, D.C., and her own new definition, is exce- seen. You visualize and then Doha, Qatar. llent. She now has a valid excuse often imaginatively inhabit scenes why she cannot drive and must for your books before you write Amy's fifteen years of classical have her husband play chauffeur. them. Can you talk about the piano came in handy when she image or images that inspired The wrote the libretto for the ope- Since 1974, Amy has been ma- Bonesetter’s Daughter? ra The Bonesetter's Daughter, rried to Lou DeMattei, now a composed by , retired tax attorney. Over the Amy Tan: I was drawn by two which had its world premiere years, they have been devoted images. One is the photograph of with sold-out performances in parents to four Yorkies Bubba, my grandmother, which always September 2008 with the San Lilli, Bombo, and Bobo. Our sat on my desk. My grandmother Francisco Opera. Ms Tan's other newest member is Tux, is around seventeen in the photo musical work for the stage is a Pomeranian Poodle rescue, and in winter garb, to judge by limited to serving as lead rhythm who is a perfect gentleman the fur-lined high-neck collar. dominatrix, backup singer, and and also Daddy's boy. And she has on a remarkable hat! second tambourine with the I am a hat person. Hats overflow literary garage band, the Rock and fall from the shelf of my clo- set, so I was drawn by this trait Bottom Remainders, whose members include Kathi Kamen that she and I share. The second Goldmark, , Dave image was a blend of three co- Barry, , , lors: white, dark gray, and a vivid , Roy Blount Jr, bloodred. I saw a snowy lane, the , and color of the sky, with red ban-

Scott Turow. In spite of their ners hanging from gates leading to courtyard homes. I knew that dubious talent, their yearly gigs have managed to raise nearly two whatever I was going to write million dollars for literacy pro- about, I wanted those colors and grams. that scene to be in there. I wan- ted to follow that lane and enter Her mother. Daisy. did not live one of those houses. I also have to see many of her daughter’s a fascination with caves, and successes. But she was enor- while revising The Bonesetter’s mously proud and encouraged Daughter, I decided to include Amy to write even more stories imagery about excavations as a based on her life in China. She way to talk about memory. I had died of Alzheimer’s Disease in been lucky enough to meet the 1999, and two weeks later, Chinese archaeologist who had Amy’s influential editor and led the team excavating Peking friend, Faith Sale, passed from Man; he was about one hundred

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years old at the time, and his story. but I was completely mute. The story fascinated me. Peking Man next year, same thing. I realized was, of course, not a complete After the prologue, I was able to that part of my body was reliving skeleton of one man but the return to Ruth and her present the unspeakable horror of what partial remains of thirty-seven life, a modern life, which was had happened. To this day, my men, women, and children. The failing in so many ways. That was body reminds me. Ruth also has first remains found, part of a the first part. The second part is things from her past that she skull, were actually from a then wholly LuLing’s. Using a cannot talk about, and once a woman. This had me thinking journal that she might someday year, she too falls mute with about how incomplete and fragile show her daughter helped me what she thinks is laryngitis. Ot- our memories are. We find bits access Lu-Ling’s history and freed her parts of the book draw di- and pieces of our own past or her voice. In the third section, I rectly from my life. Foremost is those of our parents and ances- wanted to show Ruth moving my mother’s experience with tors, and we try to re-configure forward with this new knowled- Alzheimer’s: what she did, what these fragments in order to un- ge of her mother and grandmot- she said, the way she seemed to derstand ourselves: how we her. finally forget her sorrows, and, came to be who we are. most important, the way she MG: Ruth is such an anxious, sad asked me to forgive her for terri- worrywart of a person; I cer- MG: So you had all the “bones” ble things she had done to me tainly identified with her! But did of the novel–story fragments, but could no longer remember. you? Are there traits of you in ideas, and images. Working this In writing, I always try to draw her? What autobiographical ele- metaphor to death, can you tell upon the emotional truth of my ments will you admit to using in how you decided to organize this past experiences but never on this novel? skeleton into a living body of the actual factual truth. I alter fiction? AT: Ruth’s anxiety is similar to the details while trying to retain the sensual impact. This it seems AT: I organized by voice. I knew mine. My mother saw danger in to me is what fiction does and the book needed a daughter’s every gesture, in every unturned what makes it often more effecti- voice and a mother’s voice. In corner. I inherited her fears, had ve than straight biography or the first thirty go-rounds, I them reinforced by watching my memoir. By the way, no one in interwove the two voices; one brother and father die, and by my family has ever been a bone- chapter was Ruth’s, the next was other life events that told me: setter, orthopedic surgeon, ink Lu-Ling’s. That (as you pointed “See? Life is dangerous. You have maker, or calligrapher. I resear- out) was not working. Older to be careful. You have to prepa- ched these professions. I often women’s voices–and the voices re.” In 1976, my roommate and use fiction writing as an excuse of children–have always come one of my dearest friends was to do research. That’s the fun more easily to me than those of murdered during a robbery. I had part. Going to the museums of women my own age. I wanted to to identify the body, go through your mind. As to the methods of hear the mother’s voice early on, the room, look at the blood, and bone setting, the medicines are and I knew she needed to ex- identify what was taken to the based on old pharmacology and press herself in first person, police. I thought I was pretty the methods are purely my ima- directly. I needed to hear her calm about it. His death had a gination. So don’t try this at ho- passion before it was debilitated huge impact on my life though. I me. by Alzheimer’s. So it occurred to quit my doctoral program to do something useful. I went to work me that I might write a prologue, MG: Is Precious Auntie based on as a program consultant, working penned by a woman fighting to a character in your family’s histo- with kids with developmental hold onto her mind, starting with ry? the line “These are the things I disabilities. The following year, I know are true.” I wanted her lost my voice on the exact date AT: My inspiration for Precious voice to allude to a secret and to of my friend’s death. Laryngitis, I Auntie derives from two people its discovery, which then became figured. The following year, the in my family. One is my grand- the reason to tell the rest of the same thing happened. I felt fine, mother’s cousin, who was

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known to my mother as who had always protected me. I ghosts, curses, karma, reincarna- “Precious Auntie.” My mother felt great grief. Yet the experien- tion, Jesus, heaven, hell, the De- pointed her out to me in a pho- ce of loss was also one of letting vil’s work, and all God’s miracles. to; this young woman had once go of fears and uncertainties. I I was fortunate as a writer that turned down a marriage proposal was at my mother’s side when she was this way, but as a child, I to a man who wanted her to be she died, and it was a holy mo- simply thought she was crazy. I his second wife. She was pretty ment for me. It made me feel thought I had gone down the enough to be someone ’s first lighter. The book then became wrong chute and landed in the wife, she decided. Soon after, she lighter, I think. Information surfa- wrong family. My father was a contracted smallpox and her face ced during the last few weeks of Baptist minister, and because he was scarred. The man came back my mother’s life. On the day of believed it was blasphemous to and asked her to be his wife her death, with my half sisters talk to ghosts, my mother kept it again, only this time he wanted and relatives from China gathe- a secret that Christ wasn’t the her for the number four position, red around, I learned what her only unseen guest at our dinner since he already had a second given name had been at birth. It table. My mother also believed, and third wife. Since she had no astounded me that I never knew as LuLing believed about Ruth, other place to go, she accepted. that before–I, who was supposed that I had the ability to see and Later, she killed herself. The to be the family historian. That talk to spirits, and she was espe- other inspiration was my grand- same day I also learned for the cially keen that I communicate mother, my mother’s mother, first time what my grandmother’s with my grandmother. As a child, who also killed herself. She died given name had been. I already I did not know that my grand- in China in l925 at the age of knew about my grandmother’s mother had died by suicide, so I thirty-seven. Suicide reverberates death, but I realized I knew had little sympathy for my mot- through the generations, and I nothing of her life, all its pains her’s urgent desire to talk to her. have played out in my mind many and hopes and lovely moments. But every now and then, I would times what my grandmother felt These, like her real name, had say a phrase that reminded my when she decided to kill herself. been lost. These disclosures led mother of her mother. She was In writing about Precious Auntie, me to think about all the charac- sure that I had been in contact I would look at the photo of my ters whose true names have and that I was keeping this infor- grandmother and try to un- been lost. I wanted The Boneset- mation from her. When I started derstand her. I even wrote a ter’s Daughter to be about the writing fiction for the first time, I scene about the day the photo discovery of our true names, our wrote about my grandmother’s was taken. It’s not based on true pasts, and our true natures. death. My mother read that anything that ever happened. Yet As to whether or not I feel the story, and she asked me, “How I needed to know why she had spirits of Faith and my mother did you know your grandmother that faint smile, the distant look influencing me when I write: Yes. was really the fourth wife? How in her eyes. I do. I can still hear my mother’s did you know that this was the voice (she is saying, “You better way she died?” I don’t know how MG: While working on the listen to me!”) and Faith’s. They I knew that. Did I overhear it as book, you were hit hard by two guide me along. They are always a child sitting at the kitchen table tragedies, the death of your mot- present when I write, and I sense as my mother and aunts gossiped her and the death of your editor. them, not as filmy ghosts, but as in Shanghainese? Or did my Did writing The Bonesetter’s Dau- the wonderful strong voices they grandmother’s spirit plant ideas ghter help you come to terms always were. I sense them in the in my head? I do find that the with your losses? How did the same way anyone senses love more open I am to “help,” the spirits of these women influence and wonder. more I receive. It’s as if my you? grandmother has done networ- MG: But you do believe in king and come up with all the AT: My mother and Faith Sale, ghosts.... right research sources I need. my editor, died two weeks apart, Others might call that pure luck. so I was suddenly faced with the AT: I grew up with a mother loss of two people I loved and who believed in everything– When I was fifteen years old, my

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brother and then my father died graves and also bring food offe- of me and would show off to of brain tumors just six months rings. When my brother died, my people in unabashed ways, saying, apart, and my mother made me mother would bring bowls of “This my daughter–she famous!” use the Ouija board to commu- dumplings to the grave. “Look,” She also said in her last years nicate with them. She wanted to she would say to him, “your words I never thought I’d hear: know why we were cursed. I favorite.” It embarrassed me and “I’m happy. I have no worries.” made up the answers at times, also made me cry. but there were also moments MG: What help can you offer when the answers seemed to MG: LuLing’s descent into Alz- adult children who are caring for come from someone else. The heimer’s–which is based on your disabled parents? knowledge seemed certain, lo- own mother’s illness–is AT: Every child-parent relations- ving, and not at all frightening. heartbreaking. Can you talk about what you learned about hip is so different. But with all, I So I was raised to both believe Alzheimer’s and how you coped? would say it’s almost always and doubt. As a consequence I useful to write down the mo- am open to all possibilities, the AT: Like a lot of caregivers, I ments that were funny or war- true meaning of a skeptic–not a went to support groups. I did it ming. Write down moments you doubter, but someone who tries anonymously by joining message shared when you were a child. to let go of assumptions. I have boards on the Internet. We Write down anecdotes that fa- seen ghosts, including my older could talk about frustrations but mily members share. Join a bulle- brother and my mother. And also laugh about what the tin board and vent when the those experiences are shockingly afflicted parent had done or said crises arise. Decide ahead of wonderful, a whump to the that was so off and yet so true. I time what the next level of care chest, a frisson that runs through learned through these groups will be and do your research. my body and is filled with absolu- that I was mighty lucky that I had Look into assisted-living residen- te love, pure peace, and comple- the financial means to get my ces. Get on the waiting lists of te understanding. I prefer to mother the care she needed, the really good ones. We found a believe the spirits I saw were that I was extremely blessed our place near our home, and my real. I do thank God, Buddha, family was united, and that my mother loved that place more and my lucky stars that I am a friends loved seeing my mother than any other home she had fiction writer, a person who at dinner in a restaurant though ever had. She believed she was makes a living from her imagina- they had to take turns feeding an employee there and that she tion. If I tell people I believe in her. The delusions were difficult was the boss’s favorite. At other ghosts, they say, “Great!” instead on us. Once my mother held a times, she thought she was in a of “uh-oh,” which would cer- belief, she could not let go of it. girl’s boarding school. tainly be their reaction if I were, So I would have to join in with MG: You wrote The Joy Luck say, their doctor or their airline her, never arguing with what she Club, as I recall, in six winter pilot. thought, but entering her world, finding that knot of emotion, weeks, sitting in a poorly heated MG: What is a “hungry ghost”? slowly untying it for her, while all basement with your gloves on. I It is a phrase used often in the along agreeing she was absolutely watched you write The Kitchen book. right to feel the way she did. Her God’s Wife in a summer cabin, delusions were often about cons- sitting in a room full of talking, AT: Chinese ghosts in traditional piracies and loss of money, face, laughing, partying friends; you beliefs are thought to need food or trust in someone close to her. kept your headphones on and once in a while. Food is also a I learned that despite the very quietly kept tapping away at your way that mothers express love. sad aspects of watching my very laptop. In New York, one floor There is an actual festival day capable and sharp mother lose above a loud and lively street, called “the feast of the hungry her abilities, she was able to lead you work in a closet. How do ghosts.” It’s the Chinese version a very emotional life right to the you manage to concentrate in of Memorial Day, when you go end. She adored being the center everyday chaos? Please talk to the cemetery and weed the of attention. She remained proud about your writing process.

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AT: I am a rather undisciplined for others. I have read a few self- music and theater with a steep writer these days, sad to say. I help books, the ones back in the learning curve. I have been the used to sit down from 9:00 to 70s. I’m Okay, You’re Okay. But only student and have had the 7:00. That was before I was pu- I feel we are all such individuals best teachers: the composer, the blished. That was before the and the circumstances given us in singers, the musicians, the direc- Internet. These days, I have to life are all so different that I don’t tor, and the people in the small struggle more to settle down and see how any one book can provi- villages in China where we liste- find my rhythm, to block out de the answer. I think fiction is a ned to their music and the sto- distractions. I can’t read fan mail, better self-help vehicle; fiction ries of their lives. What a privile- do interviews, talk to the daugh- helps you observe life and cha- ge. What fun. ter of a friend of a friend who is racter. It is a jumping-off point doing a book report on me. I for thinking about your own life. have to sit and write. It requires Okay, I do admit I read a lot of me to go into a different state of dog-training books. Those are mind. I would liken it to delibera- like self-help. I sometimes read te disassociation, a trained form magazines that show you how to of “tuning out.” I have to place make over your tiny room by myself elsewhere and ignore my using just a paintbrush and a surroundings. I do work in spa- ribbon to turn it into a bedouin ces much like Ruth’s office des- seraglio. Columnists are great, cribed in The Bonesetter’s Daugh- too. They always have a perspec- ter. Small, windowless, done in tive. If you’re taking yourself too dark colors. I often put on head- seriously, read . I phones and listen to sound tra- would be tempted to read a cks, the same track over and book on how to get organized, over again. Sound tracks are only I’m afraid I would never be great, because they are scored able to find it. specifically to serve as back- ground. They are wordless, MG: What are you working on moody pieces, with repetitive now? themes. They will quickly get me AT: I have been working on the into the same mood I was in libretto for an opera based on when I worked on the same The Bonesetter’s Daughter. The sentence the day before. It’s a composer is Stewart Wallace. simple transport device to get Before doing this project, I never me to the fictional world more understood how operas were quickly. created. Did the words come I also read my work aloud. In this before the music? Or did they way I am more apt to catch false have to fit into the music that emotions, clunky words, and bad had already had been written? In rhythms. And I have always visua- this case, the process has been lized my scenes before writing closely collaborative. We move them. As I write I am right there together scene by scene. Before in the scene. I am a witness. this musical adventure, I had taken fifteen years of classical MG: Ruth writes self-help books. piano and had spent the last fif- What do you think of them? Do teen years singing badly in a gara- you read them yourself? ge band. Believe it or not, those qualifications were not enough. I AT: Ruth can’t help herself, so liken my opera-making experien- she ghostwrites self-help books ce to an advanced workshop in

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Notes

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