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Saving Fish from Drowning (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

by Amy Tan (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 528 pages
  • Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (26 Sep 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 034546401X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345464019
  • Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.2 x 3.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 146,611 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #7 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > T > Tan, Amy
    #12 in  Books > Fiction > World > American > Asian American
    #35 in  Books > Fiction > Genre > Metaphysical

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Product Description

Review

'An exciting, funny and thought-provoking story!a masterful novel.' The Telegraph 'One can only admire Amy Tan for striking out into unchartered artistic lands.' Sarah Churchwell, Times Literary Supplement 'Sparkling!a very funny book.' Metro 'Tan's compelling portrait of a drowning humanity, pain seeks us out in our hiding places, however far we would run.' Anita Sethi, Observer Praise for 'The Kitchen God's Wife': 'In this remarkable book Tan manages to illuminate the nobility of friendship and the necessity of humour. Give yourself over to the world she creates.' New York Times 'Once again this wonderful novel has extended experience. There is something dizzyingly elemental about Tan's storytelling; it melds the rich simplicities of fairytales with a delicate lyrical style.' Sunday Times 'Tan is a prodigal with her talent. She weaves a dazzling web of unfamiliar colours, smells, tastes and landscapes.' Sunday Telegraph 'Amy Tan writes with passion and humour, making East and West mutually more comprehensible.' Daily Mail Praise for 'The Bonesetter's Daughter': 'Compelling!exotic lands and the past lend themselves to poetry. Tan turns the familiar but harrowing accounts of pre-Communist Chinese women into a romantic and intriguing tale. LuLing is a classic Tan character, a resilient survivor who, like Olivia in "The Hundred Secret Senses", betrays someone close to her with dire consequences.' Times Literary Supplement 'A classic [told with] originality and humourt!this is a delicious page-turner that keeps you guessing, laughing and crying until the end.' Sunday Express --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Sarah Churchwell, TLS

'One can only admire Amy Tan for striking out into unchartered artistic lands' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Rich Karmic Ironies Abound, 12 Jan 2006
By Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: Saving Fish from Drowning (Hardcover)
If you are looking for a "typical" Amy Tan novel about a Chinese mother and daughter, please be aware that this book doesn't follow Ms. Tan's marvelous prior novels into that rich story-telling vein. If you like satirical novels, you will wonder why Ms. Tan takes so long to lay waste to her targets.

But if you like novels rich in cultural and psychological irony, you've found a gem. I emphasize that point because irony is something that many readers avoid or don't enjoy very much. I find that there are too few well-written ironic novels, and I treasure all those that I find.

Like most stories about ironies, this one takes on such a broad theme that it can be easy to miss the message: Unintended consequences cause your purest impulses to backfire on you and on those you want to help. Ms. Tan's choice of a title gives a broad clue, in referring to an anonymous tale about a pious man who "saves" the lives of fish from drowning by catching them. When the fish die, he's disappointed but realizing that one must never waste anything, he sells the dead fishes to buy more nets . . . so he can save more fish from drowning.

Like a good symphony composer, Ms. Tan then endows her major characters with story lines that let them each play out that theme in their own variations. To make sure we get the point, each personal story is imbued with ironies that are both richly developed and humorous.

To be sure we understand that there are other forces at work, Ms. Tan sets as her initial narrator a wealthy patron of the arts who has just died . . . but is still lingering around to observe her own funeral . . . and the actions of the tour group she had organized. Although other such "friendly" spirits do not narrate, we can enjoy their visitations to the living throughout the novel.

One of the beauties of the book is that Ms. Tan takes us into the cultural realities of those from many different nations and backgrounds. Those contrasts make it more obvious how much of what we do is the result of our histories, family circumstances and education.

Enjoy a great read!

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Food for thought, 8 Sep 2006
This review is from: Saving Fish From Drowning (Paperback)
This is a great comic drama. Reading it in public was risky - on the Tube I was on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, unable to look up to check whether I'd reached my stop, then cackling out loud like a mad lady.

It's also interesting to explore the idea that tourism is both necessary and detrimental to the countries visited. And the insensibility of the tourists to the fact that the funny foreigners were real people too, with real hopes and fears and beliefs, made me cringe with guilty recognition.

But I'm not sure why there were so many characters - far too many for them to be easily distinguishable. And the framing story of the narrator's death was silly - rich in symbolism, I'm sure, but it seemed unnecessary. And there was at least one loose end not tied up.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars I prefer previous books, 13 April 2008
By Mr. Stephen Oldfield - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Saving Fish From Drowning (Paperback)
I have read and enjoyed all Amy Tan's previous books and this is not like the others. It seems the author has a need to show off her knowledge of Burma - sorry; Myanmar - which quite frankly is boring, lengthy and irrelevant to the story. If I wanted to read extensively about the landscape, types of hotels, resorts, etc, I would buy a different book. The actual story could have been told in 1/3 of the pages used. I have enjoyed Amy Tans previous books which combine the eastern beliefs and mysticism within the story lines, this book was a disappointment.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars a great read
this is one of the best books I've read. it's interesting, exciting and very well written.
Published 3 months ago by G. M. Higgs

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly entertaining and a really good read
One of Amy Tan's best novels, in my opinion. Very well researched, this is one of those novels which teaches you something about another country at the same time as weaving a... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Alicia Andrews Lazzari

5.0 out of 5 stars Both very funny and very interesting.
I loved that book. I think it is the best Amy Tan novel I have read since the Joy luck club. What is exciting is that it is different from the others. Read more
Published 20 months ago by H. Lacroix

5.0 out of 5 stars The best read I have had for a long time
I have just finished this book and I loved every part of it. It was like going on a journey - one I do not want to end. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mrs. T. Browett

4.0 out of 5 stars An edge of the seat, unusual story
This is a compelling and unusual story. The narrator is a dead woman - an unusual device in itself. The story centers around a group of American tourists on a trip to Burma. Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2007 by A. Hope

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book
I loved reading this book. I loved the humour, and the clever way Amy Tan makes suggestion about countries,cultures and religion in a book of fiction. Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2007 by L. J. Hikmet

3.0 out of 5 stars Misleading beliefs
I've enjoyed Amy Tan's work before and have an inteest and knowledge of the situation in Burma having lived in the region so I bought this hoping there might be some insightful... Read more
Published on 22 Dec 2006 by jpgr44

5.0 out of 5 stars Rich Karmic Ironies Abound
If you are looking for a "typical" Amy Tan novel about a Chinese mother and daughter, please be aware that this book doesn't follow Ms. Read more
Published on 12 Jan 2006 by Professor Donald Mitchell

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