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Mar 09, 2009

Ellen rated it:

From reading the back cover of this book, I expected something like The Poisonwood Bible. Some of the elements are similar: group of Americans visit third world country, spend time with the natives, have their preconceptions shattered through hardship and numerous misunderstandings. But this book was unsettlingly lighthearted. I think that Amy Tan was trying to write a book that treats the reader as a tourist, as someone who seeks a story that is exotic and adventurous without being too dist More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2008

Amy rated it:

There is an anonymous quote in the preface that reads, "A pious man explained to his followers: "It is evil to take lives and noble to save them. Each day I pledge to save a hundred lives. I drop my net in the lake and scoop out a hundred fishes. I place the fishes on the bank, where they flop and twirl. "Don't be scared," I tell those fishes. "I am saving you from drowning." Soon enough, the fishes grow calm and lie still. Yet, sad to say, I am always too la More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Kara rated it:

I'm a huge fan of Amy Tan, and this book was a disappointment.
Saving Fish from Drowning was outside of her voice and style, and unlike her previous novels, it took me forever to get into it. I finally finished after forcing myself to do so.
Perhaps it's that I've come to expect her typical style that mixes magic, relationships, lessons learned and insight to Asian cultural. You could argue that Saving Fish from Drowning included those elements. However, I feel those pieces were More...

7 comments like (10 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2007

Sammy rated it:

Unlike others who have read all of Tan's books, I have only had the pleasure of reading The Joy Luck Club. Just going off that book I found Saving Fish from Drowning to be quite different.

While it held true to Tan's brilliant, rich way of writing and continued her analysis of human nature and relationships, she seemed to step outside of her usual comfort zone and the whole tone of the book took on that of a political adventure. One thing that was particularly unique and enjoyable w More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Mel rated it:

Oh Good Lord! What an awful waste of time!

This was a torture to finish, but I was really holding out for an ending that would make the misery worth while. But nay - that was not to be the case.

Here was an opportunity for for a dozen world travelers to have an adventure. And they may have had one, but it HAD to be more interesting than the telling we got from Amy. Even the sexual escapades were boring. How can that be? How were these people so boring AND so gullible?
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0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Mar 03, 2009

Camilla rated it:

It took me awhile to read this novel. Each paragraph holds thoughtful meanings and insight that aren't quickly digested but gradually enjoyed. Human nature, what we are about, what I do and why I do what I do, are some things stirred up. I love all of Amy Tan's writing. Her history of China is right there with Buck's The Good Earth. I would ask one thing of her. To keep writing novels.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 19, 2009

Ndahdien rated it:

Saving Fish From Drowning - Penyelematan Yang Sia-Sia, begitulah judul novel terbaru karya Amy Tan yang gw baca. Saving Fish From Drowning? Bagaimana mungkin ikan bisa tenggelam didalam air? Itu pertanyaan bodoh gw sewaktu melihat buku ini bertengger di Gramed (hmm harusnya nanya dulu sama om samurai dengan koleksi ikannya, iyo to mba'yu...). Ternyata ikan memang bisa mati tenggelam, ketika dia tidak bisa bergerak karena misalnya terjebak di karang makan dia tidak bisa memompa oksigen untuk insa More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 04, 2009

Kate rated it:

this is the first book i read the intro, and i am glad i did. the author was wandering in nyc when rain forced her to seek refuge in the American Psychical Institute. there she found a volume on "automatic writing," in which there was a factual decription of a woman who was experiencing auto writing from a woman Bibi Chen. Bibi Chen was not an imagined person - she was an actual person that Amy Tan knew. The writings are further authenticated because the subject matter was the rece More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2008

Erica rated it:

If Tolstoy and Cecil B. DeMille collaborated on a novel, it would turn out something like this: A cast of thousands of miserable characters.

Saving Fish From Drowning was not a novel, but an endurance test. If I didn't have to facilitate a book group about this novel, I would not have read past the first 50 pages. I've heard great things about Amy Tan, and haven't read her other stuff -- and won't discount it based on this -- but lordy, I have no incentive to read her work now.
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0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 25, 2008

Carissa rated it:

i listened to this on audio, read by the author. i love amy tan, but they really should have found a professional reader. ms. tan has several different characters with british or australian accents and her accents are all over the place and very distracting. that being said, the book was enjoyable. i felt like the ending dragged on a bit long (you know how most of the time, when you’re done reading a book , you sit back and wonder, “and then what? what happens next? well, you don’t have to wonde More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 16, 2008

Pam rated it:

I have waited awhile to post about this book because I like Amy Tan so much that I was hoping that the story would continue to resonate and lead me to learn that I liked the book more than I thought I had...no such luck.

There are many smart devices in the book and I continue to like and enjoy Amy Tan's voice - but I never got to the point where I cared so much about many of the characters in this book - although some were memorable.

I did discover while I was waiting that More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 15, 2008

Catherine rated it:

I put off reading this book for a long time because of the horrible reviews. I can see some of the reviewers points, but overall, I really enjoyed this novel.

This is definitely a departure from Tan's normal novels about the relationships between Chinese-born mothers and their Chinese-American mothers. Although she does a wonderful job capturing the dynamics of those relationships, while weaving in fascinating glimpses of Chinese history, I'm glad to see her trying something new.
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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 07, 2007

Rob rated it:

I really wasn't expecting much from this one, considering how many Amy Tan fans were disappointed in it. I finished reading it this morning, though, and even though I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it yet, I think that it's going to be one of those ones that sticks with me.

I've been a huge fan of Amy Tan for years, and I've read everything she's ever written. I feel uncomfortable comparing this book to her other ones, because it's such a huge departure. As much as I love Amy More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 25, 2007

Agnes rated it:

I was ready for something other than mother-daughter relationships among Chinese and Chinese-Americans from Amy Tan (done very well in "The Kitchen God's Wife" and ok in "The Joy Luck Club"), but this was not it. The novel is narrated by the omniscient ghost of the recently-dead Bibi Chen, Chinese-American San Francisco art dealer, and tells the story of her 12 American friends who undertake a trip shortly after her funeral to China and Burma/Myanmar which she had planned fo More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 18, 2009

Fran rated it:

I think I have read all of Amy Tan's books, but this one was completely different. To really understand it you have to believe that dead people can be channeled, and second you have to know a lot more about the history of Burma/ Myanmar than I do. I could never figure out if this was based on a real case, or whether it was based on a psychic's remembrances, or was just Amy sort of putting her readers on. However quirky and odd it is, and however she came up with the idea for the novel, I enj More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 23, 2011

Jane rated it:

Half spoof and half fairy tale, narrated by Bibi Chen, a San Francisco socialite and art dealer who was supposed to lead a group of high-powered friends on a trip down the Burma Road, starting in Lijiang in China and continuing across the border into Myanmar, appreciating cultural sites and natural beauty along the way. Bibi Chen has died but the group goes off on the trip anyway, and Bibi goes along as a spirit.

The trip is a comedy of errors for the group. The trouble starts in Ch More...

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Aug 06, 2011

Devika rated it:

The book was too long. What I don't like about many novels is that they provide too much detail about trivial things, like the color of a beige wall, or the dust on the window sill. I feel like, let me give it my own picture.

In this case, what disappointed me was something quite grotesque.
I was initially captured by this novel because it was supposed to contain some magical and mythical issues. I also thought that a story about a group of missing tourists would be dramatic a More...

1 comment like

Jul 07, 2011

Pamela rated it:

Hmm, had trouble deciding between a 3 star rating or a 4 star rating.

Let's put it this way: I really had fun reading this. It's very different for Tan, as many have said, and is flawed in many aspects (most notably for me, the characters are not well-nuanced and really are stereotypical, and many of the plot turns, especially toward the end, are quite silly and unbelievable).

Note I didn't find the conceit of a deceased narrator at all problematic; it worked for me. That's More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 05, 2011

Sarah rated it:

This latest novel from Amy Tan is different from her others. While most of them examine issues surrounding second or third generation Asian Americans, or struggles during turbulent times in China – this one centers around a group of Americans who travel to a country with Asian history. The roles are reversed, the Americans are very out of place and severely ignorant of customs and traditions. They completely trust in the infallibility of their nationality and believe that they are capable of tot More...

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Jun 16, 2011

Mary Lou rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Jun 05, 2011

Deb rated it:

I so wanted to love this book.

I loved the idea—a novice ghost follows her museum friends on an ill-fated tour through Myanmar. I loved Tan’s trademark fusing of myth to narrative, particularly the satiric vignette detailing how one goes about saving a fish from drowning. I loved the comforting heft of the book as I settled beneath my Tree of Life quilt and snapped on the bedside lamp.

What I didn't love was the book. The writing lacked both luster and momentum.

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Apr 12, 2011

Rachel Hope rated it:

Amy Tan’s Saving Fish from Drowning is intriguing at most and hard to follow at worst. Tan, within her novel, creates a story which incorporates many elements of mystery; the characters are placed within a series of events that are not fully explained or realized till the end of the novel. The ability to keep the reader guessing is something I appreciate and hope to bring to my own writing as even within poetry, explaining everything (showing NOT telling) allows no realization or personal dept More...

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Mar 11, 2011

Merry rated it:

I picked this up in my library as part of a random assault on the shelves to find people I hadn’t read before. (So far, a rule of thumb seems to be ‘shelves fine, ignore stand on the way in, ignore all free standing round things, round things at end of shelves good, shelf on way out also good. On no account get anything where there are more than 6 things by the same author in one place. This may be another prejudice but I’m still in library rehab, so let me be).

I was quite pleased that More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 07, 2011

Jane rated it:

The book explains clearly the meaning of the title. A pious man hauls in a net full of fish telling them not to be afraid, he is saving them from drowning. Of course the fish die and the man sells them in the market. He is then able to buy more nets in order to save more fish from drowning....

The parallel to the plot of the book becomes clear. The narrator is the ghost of Bibi Chen, a tour guide who dies suddenly right before she was to guide a group of her friends on a tour of C More...

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Jan 01, 2011

Hsingwa rated it:

This book was very different to Tan's usual works in tone - I didn't expect that much satire from her, which this book clearly is, not despite its serious undertones and the heart she at times seems to have for her characters, but all the more because of it.
Written earlier, this book can still be read as an antidote to books like "Eat, Pray, Love" - in the end, the travellers will have found a lot for, or found out a lot about themselves, but the people they met were mostly " More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 29, 2010

Jenny rated it:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/20...

Author Tan back in the swim
'Fish' departs from Chinese-American tales, features Chaucer spin
Jenny Shank, Special to the News
Published October 28, 2005 at midnight

Amy Tan's last book, 2003's nonfiction collection The Opposite of Fate, closed with an essay about her struggle with Lyme disease. Tan described increasingly alarming symptoms, including joint pain, difficulty with organization, and visual hallucinations, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 09, 2010

Elaine rated it:

The worship of the Nats preceded Buddhism in Burma and still exists along with Buddhist practices. Nats are the spirits of the trees, rivers, rocks and ancestors. Among others, they are a mix of rogues, deities and alcoholics.The Burmese say, "Love the Buddha, fear the nats." Almost every temple in Burma has a nat shrine on the ground level. Nats are lower than the Buddha, but still an important part of the religious life of the Burmese.

Aung San Suu Kyi is the Nobel Prize- More...

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Jul 27, 2010

Rowland rated it:

This book has all the ingredients for a wonderful novel. And it almost succeeds. But, alas, it doesn't. It's a fine book, mind you, a page turner once you've gotten half way through, but Tan fails in a few specific ways. First, her characters are cartoonish and never really achieve Pinochian humanism. They are characterizations of generally the worst, shallowest of human characteristics. Granted, a book has only so much room and Tan tries to fill it with many characters but she either tries too More...

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May 16, 2010

Melora rated it:

So this was the second Amy Tan book that I've read, and my only complaint is that I wish I had read it first. Although the author's inspiration for writing this novel (be sure to read the preface) was fascinating, I did not find the characters as sympathetic or the story as compelling as "The Hundred Secret Senses."

This was a premise more interesting than its execution. I really liked the narrator's excuse for being omniscient, an interesting plot device. And I believed t More...

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May 16, 2010

Saskia Marijke rated it:

When I read this book I thought I was reading an account of something that had truly happened. I was mortified about what the characters were going through and yet at the same time the Karma of it made me think it was well deserved for being so blassee about other cultures.

I enjoyed the idea that the narrator was a ghost and thus able to read people's thoughts and feelings. That the ghost was a personal friend of the characters made for some comic relief, and when she tried unsuccess More...

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