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Loading... Saving Fish from Drowning: A Novelby Amy Tan
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Interesting..at first I didn't know if I was going to like it or not, but I got into the characters & their adventures on the trip..so by mid book I was enjoying it more! (  ) Ames3473 | Nov 28, 2009 |  A very different novel from Tan’s usual. Not worthless, as some of the reviewers have stated, but definitely not up to her usual standards. I’m glad that Tan stretched her subject area, although I’d be happy reading her stories of Asian/Asian American mothers & daughters forever, but this book really should have been edited heavily before being published. It’s just not that good. Tan’s people have always been where her talents shown, but this novel had almost no one with a developed character. The narrator, a dead woman, fairs best, but even she remains largely a cipher. The other people, an ensemble of travelers in Burma, are more caricature than character. The book revolves around a group of tourists who travel to Burma and how they are abducted by a group hidden in the hills because the tribe thinks that a teenaged boy in the group is their ‘god’ come back to save them from the Burmese government, who wants them all dead. The government hinders rather than helps the rescue effort, the tourists believe the tribe who tells them that they cannot get out due to a fallen bridge (and don’t question it when things like noodles magically appear) and the incident brings the tribe first great good fortune, which is soon snatched away from them. You expect that the characters will grow from this experience, or at least be changed somehow, but this doesn’t seem to happen. No epiphanies, no post traumatic stress disorder. They just go back to their lives. I have the feeling that Tan felt she ‘should’ write a novel with a political message, but wasn’t that into it, and didn’t really know how to fit in-depth characters into it. It’s a shame she couldn’t manage it; it’s a shame that her editor didn’t point out the flaws of this book. Did I feel like giving up reading it halfway? No. Did I feel let down? Yes. (  ) dark_phoenix54 | Nov 20, 2009 | The story begins when we learn that the narrator, Bibi Chen has just died. Was she murdered? Was it an accident ? However the death occurred, we are being told a story by the spirit of a middle aged, asian woman who has just died. Bibi proceeds to move from the story of her life to that of a group of 11 friends for whom she has arranged a sightseeing and cultural tour of China and Berma. Needless to say menace befalls the group and the bulk of the novel is a tall tale of their escapades. I found the storyline to be a bit fantastic but it kept my interest and I listend until the curtain fell. (  ) AstridG | Jul 30, 2009 | The report was a terrible thing to read: “The body of Bibi Chen, 63, retail maven, socialite, and board member of the Asian Art Museum, was found yesterday in the display window of her Union Square store, The Immortals, famed for its chinoiserie ….” - p 2. A terrible end to Bibi Chen and the strange beginning to Saving Fish from Drowning, a novel by Amy Tan. Bibi Chen, a San Francisco art patron, had planned the journey of a lifetime for herself and eleven of her friends. Death was not going to deprive her of this adventure. Her incorporeal spirit accompanies her friends on a prearranged tour through China and Burma. If only her friends had followed her original itinerary, they would not have gone missing. The story is narrated by Bibi Chen. This is an interesting start to the novel; however, it soon becomes tedious as the character seems to drone on and on about everything. The remaining characters were very real, each having several flaws; however, they were overdeveloped to the point that one did not really care about them. Bibi's spirit interacting with the real world was not an aspect that I enjoyed. The mystical fantasy was too much for me and the story lost its' charm; however, the novel was pure Amy Tan, delving into the pot of human nature, discovering our basic insecurities and strengths, and examining our relationships with one another. This would not be my favorite Amy Tan novel. I prefer The Joy Luck Club; however, I would recommend to those who have read Ms. Tan's other novels to judge for themselves. ( ) cathyB00 | Jun 16, 2009 | One of the best books I've read recently, and my favourite of her work so far (replacing Hundred Secret Senses). I've never read anything quite like this, unless it's Canterbury Tales. From the beginning, I had no trouble picturing each character, and their complex motivations and history kept me nose deep in the story. Highly Recommended. (  ) marctic | May 2, 2009 |  no reviews | add a review
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| Book description |
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The title of the book is derived from the practice of Myanmar fishermen who "scoop up the fish and bring them to shore. They say they are saving the fish from drowning. Unfortunately... the fish do not recover," This kind of magical thinking or hypocrisy or mystical attitude or sheer stupidity is a fair metaphor for the entire book. It may be read as a satire, a political statement, a picaresque tale with several "picaros" or simply a story about a tour gone wrong.
Bibi Chen, San Francisco socialite and art vendor to the stars, plans to lead a trip for 12 friends: "My friends, those lovers of art, most of them rich, intelligent, and spoiled, would spend a week in China and arrive in Burma on Christmas Day." Unfortunately, Bibi dies, in very strange circumstances, before the tour begins. After wrangling about it, the group decides to go after all. The leader they choose is indecisive and epileptic, a dangerous combo. Bibi goes along as the disembodied voice-over.
Once in Myanmar, finally, they are noticed by a group of Karen tribesmen who decide that Rupert, the 15-year-old son of a bamboo grower is, in fact, Younger White Brother, or The Lord of the Nats. He can do card tricks and is carrying a Stephen King paperback. These are adjudged to be signs of his deity and ability to save them from marauding soldiers. The group is "kidnapped," although they think they are setting out for a Christmas Day surprise, and taken deep into the jungle where they languish, develop malaria, learn to eat slimy things and wait to be rescued. Nats are "believed to be the spirits of nature--the lake, the trees, the mountains, the snakes and birds. They were numberless ... They were everywhere, as were bad luck and the need to find reasons for it." Philosophy or cynicism? This elusive point of view is found throughout the novel--a bald statement is made and then Tan pulls her punches as if she is unwilling to make a statement that might set a more serious tone.
There are some goofy parts about Harry, the member of the group who is left behind, and his encounter with two newswomen from Global News Network, some slapstick sex scenes and a great deal of dog-loving dialogue. These all contribute to a novel that is silly but not really funny, could have an occasionally serious theme which suddenly disappears, and is about a group of stereotypical characters that it's hard to care about. It was time for Amy Tan to write another book; too bad this was it. --Valerie Ryan
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:55 -0400)
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