The anniversary reminds me of the passage of time, the author tells EW.
Its endurance is remarkable to me.
When you might get people to feel the emotions of the story, it becomes universal.
Credit: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images
It doesnt matter what the culture is.
That response, to the feeling over the details, speaks to Tans approach in writing it.
That was something I was going through.
Penguin Books
That was about my emotional relationship at that time with my mother.
And that was the best review I could have gotten for that book.
It was the best, the absolute best that I got.
That one might never be topped, but the raves have continued for three decades.
A lot of things in the creation of the novel came as a surprise.
The first was when an agent approached Tan asking to send the writers work out to publishers.
I said Yeah, well, youre going to go make any money off me, Tan recalls.
Even more astonishing, [the agent] went to New York and she sold this thing.
And I thought she was a scam artist!
I [said], You sold this book?
About Chinese-American characters, by me, a total unknown?
And she said, Yes, you have four offers!
The final surprise came once the book was finished.
I completely had no idea how to structure a novel, Tan recalls.
It [all] just kind of came together, just gradually, through happenstance.
I am not a good model when people say, Well, whats a good way to get published?
Thats what its going to require.
One book doesnt have to represent everything about a culture.
Which, in the beginning, I think that was the case.
Not very many of us have the lives that were depicted in the movie.
[Still] there were things about it, situations we could identify with, Tan says.
But the depiction of that lavish lifestyle is also a representation victory in itself.
There are still some people who think China or anything Chinese is still this backwater.
The crowd-pleasing rom-com is, however, absolutely a model of how movies should be.
I sawCrazy Rich Asiansthree times because I loved it so much, Tan enthuses.
And god, that lead!Constance WuandHenry Golding I mean, adorable!
They can be leads foranymovie and thats what I hope happens.
