Photo "Red and Black Koi" copyright Kyi M. KaungSAVING FISH FROM DROWNING, a book by Amy Tan.
This book was published in 2005. A group of American tourists go to China and Burma. The repressive regimes make you wonder about the wisdom of this trip. The group has two children, a 12 year old girl and a 14 year old boy.
The girl manages to smuggle a puppy across many check points. The boy is thought to be a God who can make people disappear because he does that with card tricks and that is what causes serious trouble.
The group has a secret documentary film maker and a not so secret TV veterinarian. When the group goes off on an excursion and disappears, without this veterinarian they would probably never be heard from again. He is an expert at getting attention. Fortunately he drinks and missed the boat for the excursion because of a hangover.
When the group disappears and the news is broadcast on CNN, 73% of Americans want to invade Burma and a fair number say, “Nuke ‘em.” This is scary.
Amy Tan is knowledgeable about ethnic groups in Burma and the political problems there. The book is rich in so many ways. Tan made her name with THE JOY LUCK CLUB writing about an ethnic group she knows well --- her Chinese family, but SAVING FISH is a quantum leap into a totally different body of knowledge. She writes extremely well. This is her seventh book.
Artist Lila Snow is represented by International Visions Gallery in Washington DC. She is the author of a memoir, WITH A NAME LIKE TUCHMACHER. This book review is published here with Lila Snow's permission.
