Saving Fish from Drowning KINDLE MOBI by Amy Tan

This Amy Tan book is a departure for her. Instead of dealing so specifically with the American-Chinese experience or the mother/daughter and gender issues her novels are famous for, Saving Fish from Drowning is a story told about a group of Americans of differing backgrounds from the point of view of an American-Chinese ghost who is not quite sure how she died. It is perhaps her most humorous novels, and much of the humour is derived from misunderstandings and biased judgements between the characters as well as between them and members of the different cultures they encounter. Set in Myanmar (Burma) it tells of a misbegotten journey the ghost narrator, who had travelled to this area many times, had arranged to take with her friends until her untimely (and completely forgotten by her) violent death prevents her. Unable to cross into the spirit world, she remains bound to earth and so occupies herself by overseeing her friends' travels, and at times, attempts to intervene and prevent the series of errors that lead to their going "missing" not just physically, but in many ways, "culturally" in the jungles of Myanmar.

As usual, Amy Tan displays her immaculate attention to detail and history, the result of the intense research she puts into all of her work. Overall, Saving Fish from Drowning is a very enjoyable book that while veering away from Tan's usual subjects, and despite it's humour, is a somewhat philosophical book that contains more and very imaginative, realistic character studies of a type not seen in other Amy Tan novels. And, of course, it is a long read as Tan books tend to be, but as with all of Amy Tan's novels, it is also a book that by the time you finish, you wish would last forever. (H)