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Saving Fish From Drowning [Hardcover]

Amy Tan
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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Book Description

7 Nov 2005

The highly-anticipated novel from the bestselling author of ‘The Joy Luck Club’ and ‘The Bonesetter’s Daughter’.

On an ill-fated art expedition of the Southern Shan State in Burma, eleven Americans leave their Floating Island Resort for a Christmas morning tour – and disappear. Through the twists of fate, curses, and just plain human error, they find themselves deep in the Burma jungle, where they encounter a tribe awaiting the return of the leader and the mythical book of wisdom that will protect them from the ravages and destruction of the Myanmar military regime.

Filled with Amy Tan’s signature ‘idiosyncratic, sympathetic characters, haunting images, historical complexity, significant contemporary themes, and suspenseful mystery,’ (Los Angeles Times), ‘Saving Fish from Drowning’ seduces the reader with a façade of Buddhist illusions, magician tricks and light comedy, even as the absurd and picaresque spiral into a gripping morality tale about the consequences of intentions – both good and bad – and of the shared responsibility that individuals must accept for the actions of others.



Product details

  • Hardcover: 496 pages
  • Publisher: Fourth Estate; First Printing edition (7 Nov 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0007216157
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007216154
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16 x 4.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,087,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Review

‘An exciting, funny and thought-provoking story…a masterful novel.’ 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.’ Observer

'She is a dazzling storyteller, equally adroit at negotiating the pitfalls of Ruth's freewheeling partnership with Art and recreating traditional family life in rural China, with its superstition, ritual and social hierarchies. The Bonesetter's Daughter celebrates the importance of family history, in particular the stories shared between mother and daughter, and makes an unobtrusive plea for the right of all human beings, however humble or displaced, to an informed, sensitive and patient hearing.' Literary Review

'Could there be a better model for writers today than Amy Tan? She tells great stories with powerful themes: love, belonging, exile, death, compassion. She moves easily between pathos, comedy and joy. She never shows off – the technique is so perfect it is invisible. She is that rare, enviable creature, a literary novelist who writes bestsellers.
This is great tragic writing, looking at the worst of human experience with a compassionate and understanding eye. I doubt if any writer alive is capable of telling such a story.’ Scotland on Sunday

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6 Hours, 5 CDs - Abridged --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Rich Karmic Ironies Abound 12 Jan 2006
By Donald Mitchell HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format: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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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Both very funny and very interesting. 5 Jun 2008
Format:Paperback
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.It is the story of a group of American tourists who embark on a trip to South China and Burma. The woman who should have been their tour group leader, died before the trip in very mysterious circumstances and the trip will not go as smoothly as anticipated.She will be with them, as a ghost, to recount their experiences, both comic and tragic (the group disappears one day in Burma- have they been abducted, killed?- and to tell us lots about the places they are visiting.
Part comedy, part thriller, part detective book... it is unputdownable as you want to know what happened to each of them.... Very entertaining and thought-provoking at the same time.
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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
By Georgie
Format: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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Saving Fish From Drowning
I usually tend to read older books, but Amy Tan is my favourite modern author. This book, as with all her others, is warm, fascinating, funny and a great story.
Published 4 months ago by Judith M Martin
4.0 out of 5 stars Just the book to take to Burma
Now that Burma is opening up to tourism, this is an excellent book to take on your trip (I put it on my Kindle) or to read beforehand. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Marian
2.0 out of 5 stars Love the Author, Disappointed in the Book
I am a massive fan of Amy Tan which is what made this so disappointing. Having savoured her other titles likes wonderful treats, I really struggled with this book. Read more
Published 10 months ago by MaggieAnn
2.0 out of 5 stars Not the best Amy Tan book.
This book was a book club nomination from someone who had read a few Amy Tan novels. I could not get into this book at all. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Jolly Olly
4.0 out of 5 stars Not typical
This book is not what I was expecting from Amy Tan, but definitely not worse. This tale of a group of tourists going missing in Burma is written in an ironic style. Read more
Published on 22 April 2011 by Pattycake
3.0 out of 5 stars not bad but not great either
I'm currently half way through this book and I'm starting to lose interest. I'm just not bonding wiht the characters, I dont care for their anguish's or dilemmas. Read more
Published on 27 May 2010 by Steel Magnolia Girl
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 on 5 Nov 2009 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 on 11 July 2009 by Literature Lady
2.0 out of 5 stars I prefer previous books
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... Read more
Published on 13 April 2008 by M Oldfield
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 on 5 April 2008 by Mrs. T. Browett
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