Saving Fish from Drowning (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

A provocative new novel from the bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter's Daughter.

On an ill-fated art expedition into the southern Shan state of Burma, eleven Americans leave their Floating Island Resort for a Christmas-morning tour — and disappear. Through twists of fate, curses, and just plain human error, they find themselves deep in the 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's 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 about the shared responsibility that individuals must accept for the actions of others.

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 late. The fishes expire. And because it is evil to waste anything, I take those dead fishes to market and I sell them for a good price. With the money I receive, I buy more nets so I can save more fishes."

"Tan (The Bonesetter's Daughter) delivers another highly entertaining novel, this one narrated from beyond the grave. San Francisco socialite and art-world doyenne Bibi Chen has planned the vacation of a lifetime along the notorious Burma Road for 12 of her dearest friends. Violently murdered days before takeoff, she's reduced to watching her friends bumble through their travels from the remove of the spirit world. Making the best of it, the 11 friends who aren't hung over depart their Myanmar resort on Christmas morning to boat across a misty lake — and vanish. The tourists find themselves trapped in jungle-covered mountains, held by a refugee tribe that believes Rupert, the group's surly teenager, is the reincarnation of their god Younger White Brother, come to save them from the unstable, militaristic Myanmar government. Tan's travelers, who range from a neurotic hypochondriac to the debonair, self-involved host of a show called The Fido Files, fight and flirt among themselves. While ensemble casting precludes the intimacy that characterizes Tan's mother-daughter stories, the book branches out with a broad plot and dynamic digressions. It's based on a true story, and Tan seems to be having fun with it, indulging in the wry, witty voice of Bibi while still exploring her signature questions of fate, connection, identity and family." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"[Tan's] most politically astute and shrewdly satirical tale to date..." Booklist (Starred Review)

"An extremely funny novel with serious undercurrents." School Library Journal

"The author's research ultimately smothers her story and characters. A pity, because this vividly imagined tale might very well have been her best yet." Kirkus Reviews

"[A] strange and fascinating trip..." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Tan's new book poses many of her familiar questions, but in unfamiliar ways." Houston Chronicle

"Saving Fish from Drowning is a new sort of adventure for Tan, an assured step in a thrilling new direction....[A] grand comic novel...sharp and droll..." Miami Herald

"A hilarious yet politically charged tale....[A] rollicking, adventure-filled story." USA Today

"This is the perfect winter book....Rich with mystery and culture, this is a novel that will put you under its spell — under Tan's spell — and entertain you through a blizzard, a post-holiday escape, or just a long night of R and R." Providence Journal

"[A]ll Tan's trademark strengths — her lush language, her memorable characters, her wide-ranging curiosity about people and history — quickly come to the fore." Baltimore Sun

A rollicking, adventure-filled story . . . packed with the human capacity for love.

-USA Today

A superbly executed, good-hearted farce that is part romance and part mystery . . . With Tan's many talents on display, it's her idiosyncratic wit and sly observations . . . that make this book pure pleasure.

-San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco art patron Bibi Chen has planned a journey of the senses along the famed Burma Road for eleven lucky friends. But after her mysterious death, Bibi watches aghast from her ghostly perch as the travelers veer off her itinerary and embark on a trail paved with cultural gaffes and tribal curses, Buddhist illusions and romantic desires. On Christmas morning, the tourists cruise across a misty lake and disappear.

With picaresque characters and mesmerizing imagery, Saving Fish from Drowning gives us a voice as idiosyncratic, sharp, and affectionate as the mothers of The Joy Luck Club. Bibi is the observant eye of human nature-the witness of good intentions and bad outcomes, of desperate souls and those who wish to save them. In the end, Tan takes her readers to that place in their own heart where hope is found.

Amy Tan is among our great storytellers.

-The New York Times Book Review

Amy Tan has created an almost magical adventure that, page by page, becomes a metaphor for human relationships.

-Isabel Allende

With humor, ruthlessness, and wild imagination, Tan has reaped a fantastic tale of human longings and (of course) their consequences.

-Elle

A book that's easy to read and hard to forget.

-Newsweek

“A rollicking, adventure-filled story . . . packed [with] the human capacity for love.”

-USA Today

“A superbly executed, good-hearted farce that is part romance and part mystery . . . With Tans many talents on display, its her idiosyncratic wit and sly observations . . . that make this book pure pleasure.”

-San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco art patron Bibi Chen has planned a journey of the senses along the famed Burma Road for eleven lucky friends. But after her mysterious death, Bibi watches aghast from her ghostly perch as the travelers veer off her itinerary and embark on a trail paved with cultural gaffes and tribal curses, Buddhist illusions and romantic desires. On Christmas morning, the tourists cruise across a misty lake and disappear.

With picaresque characters and mesmerizing imagery, Saving Fish from Drowning gives us a voice as idiosyncratic, sharp, and affectionate as the mothers of The Joy Luck Club. Bibi is the observant eye of human nature-the witness of good intentions and bad outcomes, of desperate souls and those who wish to save them. In the end, Tan takes her readers to that place in their own heart where hope is found.

“Amy Tan is among our great storytellers.”

-The New York Times Book Review

“Amy Tan has created an almost magical adventure that, page by page, becomes a metaphor for human relationships.”

-Isabel Allende

“With humor, ruthlessness, and wild imagination, Tan has reaped [a] fantastic tale of human longings and (of course) their consequences.”

-Elle

“A book thats easy to read and hard to forget.”

-Newsweek

Amy Tan is the author of The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter's Daughter, The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life, and two children's books, The Moon Lady and Sagwa: the Chinese Siamese Cat. Her work has been translated into thirty-six languages.