Saving Fish from Drowning: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Book review by Jane
I hadn’t read any of Amy Tan’s books before this one. I had heard she was a good author and I was not disappointed, as the book was well written and included quite a bit of detail. With so many characters, there was room for many topics of interest. This story focused on twelve travelers to China and Burma. It was in Burma where 11 of them were kidnapped. This book was actually funny in parts. The experience of reading it was complex, at least emotionally so, because sometimes I was sure I was not supposed to be laughing, but I was. The twelve travelers are rather foolish people anyway in some respects, or maybe they just seemed superficial at first. Then, the eleven meet up with the Lord’s Army, otherwise known as the Karen tribe. It was like a different book, almost, from there on out. The characters started to seem more human, as I guess people tend to seem during crises. But even the character who was left behind seemed to blossom at this point. Although this history is not one I am familiar with, I got the feeling that the story was written around the true political realities facing the Burma peoples and I will have to do more reading on China and Burma.

I feel like I’ve given away the story. There is more I haven’t mentioned, like what saving fish from drowning symbolized in the story. And that the narrator of the story had quite an interesting role. And I didn’t mention how it all ended up, and quite a bit in between. I guess you will have to read it after all.

Jane.