to make in his work. Ong has addressed issues
such as the economic inequality that resulted in
the United States’s colonization of the Philippines,
and the ethnic typecasting faced by actors of color
in the entertainment industry.
Ong’s novels have gained wider appeal. His
first, Fixer Chao, a Los Angeles Times best seller, is
about William Paulinha, a Filipino street hustler
who, through a plan masterminded by Shem C.,
an unsuccessful Jewish writer who wants to wreak
revenge on the socialites who have shunned him,
becomes Master Chao, a revered feng shui prac-
titioner. Ong satirizes the upper-class society of
contemporary America and provides commentary
on race, class, and privilege. Not only does William
pretend to know the Chinese art of creating pros-
perity through maneuvering one’s environment,
but he also turns his ethnicity into a pretense and
a performance. The same patrons who claim to
be appreciative of Asian cultures are also the ones
who throw money at William without even real-
izing that he isn’t Chinese, viewing all of Asia as
a marketplace of commodified cultures. The same
patrons who sigh with pity at the impoverishment
of Third World countries also disavow any re-
sponsibility for the harm they have inflicted, both
directly and indirectly, on the less privileged. Ong
provides a biting and oftentimes comical look at
ignorance and hypocrisy.
It should be noted, however, that Fixer Chao
does not end with a complete triumph for Wil-
liam. Rather, as his plot becomes exposed, William,
already a social outcast at the novel’s start, finds
himself thrust deeper into a state of isolation. The
experience of being on the outside looking in is one
that Ong captures throughout his works. Although
his characters are often ostracized because of their
ethnicity, class, or sexuality, Ong portrays isolation
as a universal experience. The Disinherited, for
example, features a protagonist who, despite hav-
ing inherited a small fortune that he has decided
to donate, is unable to feel satisfied because of his
desire to give the money to the “right” cause. The
search for a completely guilt-free gesture is futile.
Catherine FungOpposite of Fate, The Amy Tan (2003)
AMY TAN’s first nonfiction work, The Opposite of
Fate is both educational and revealing. Organized
into themed sections, Tan’s book both elucidates
her fiction and brings disparate aspects of her per-
sonal life into sharp focus.
In the first section, “Fate and Faith,” Tan muses
on the neatly packaged version of her life as pre-
sented by Cliff ’s Notes, her relationship with her
husband, and her predilection for examining the
forces of fate and faith—as well as the differences
and similarities between them. Tan also includes
a tribute to a murdered friend and a eulogy to
her late editor. The second section, “Changing
the Past,” deals with the difficulty of pinning her
mother’s character down, and explains the pro-
cess by which Tan was able to learn and record her
mother’s fascinating life story. It also includes a
tribute to her grandmother, who, by choosing her
own fate, bequeathed to her yet-unknown grand-
daughter a substantial source for her storytelling.
She describes her writing process, discussing the
links between her family history and her creativ-
ity, and corrects various misconceptions about her
own life as an author.
The third section, “American Circumstances
and Chinese Character,” explores the novelist’s
own childhood experiences as she grew up negoti-
ating the two cultures in which she was immersed.
She also devotes an essay to discussing her rea-
sons for joining the rock band “The Rock Bottom
Remainders” as well as several interesting expe-
riences she has had as a singer for the band. She
then writes about a trip to China with her mother
and about the difficulties inherent in being foreign
and speaking a different language in her ancestral
land—including negotiating cultural and culinary
conventions. The last essay in the section describes
both the creative and technical process involved in
bringing her novel The JOY LUCK CLUB to the big
screen.
The fourth section, “Strong Winds, Strong In-
fluences,” includes several short essays about Tan’s
changing relationship with her mother from early
difficult childhood experiences to later-life recon-
ciliations as her mother suffered from Alzheimer’sOpposite of Fate, The 231