Book Review: Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan

I usually read at least two books at one time, which is why I finished Saving Fish from Drowning within days of finishing Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. They were both really big books, so finishing them at the same time left me with a sense of accomplishment I don’t normally feel when finishing a single book.

I love Amy Tan’s work. I consider her one of my favorite authors and wait patiently for her books to come out because I know I won’t be disappointed. I was, however, very disappointed with Saving Fish from Drowning. I almost put it back with my library donation books when I’d reached approximately page 100, but I decided to give it a chance and finish. I’m not sure which would have been the right decision. If I hadn’t finished it, my curiosity and belief in Tan’s work would have made me want to finish it and think about it, but in finishing it, I’m not sure I’m happy that I did.

In SFD, twelve Americans set out for a Chinese and Burmese vacation that was supposed to be led by their friend Bibi Chen. Unfortunately, Bibi dies a few days before they were to leave, and the friends rationalize that she would have wanted them to go, so they did. Without much guidance they stumble into trouble after trouble that eventually leads to eleven of them being “kidnapped” by a remote tribe who believes that their savior, in the form of the younger white brother, has arrived.

The characterization of the typical American tourist—who goes into other countries and doesn’t understand what’s going on around them…can’t because of their American blinders—is apt, and her depiction of the horrors that have happened in the Burma/Myanmar wars are haunting. Together these two facets of a story could have made for a very good novel, but SFD fails.

I think the reason why I didn’t like this book is that the narrative voice is too all-knowing and there isn’t the challenge of working through a story, understanding the nuances of things but not knowing with certainty WHY something happened the way it did. I also really missed the magical realism usually so present in Tan’s novels.