I loved fairy tales when I was a kid. Grimm. The grimmer the better. I loved gruesome gothic tales and, in that respect, I liked Bible stories, because to me they were very gothic.

Amy Tan recalls an early appetite for dark, violent, and morally charged narratives—classic Grimm fairy tales and “gruesome gothic” stories—then provocatively places certain Bible stories in the same imaginative category. The remark highlights how a child’s reading can be driven less by doctrine or didactic lessons than by atmosphere: dread, wonder, punishment, sacrifice, and the supernatural. By calling biblical narratives “gothic,” Tan reframes them as literature with dramatic stakes and unsettling imagery, suggesting that her later fiction’s blend of family history, mythic resonance, and emotional intensity may be rooted in formative encounters with stories that are both frightening and compelling.