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AMY TAN
SAVING is narrated by a ghost, Bibi which is not atypical for Amy Tan, thought this is not by far her best work. Bibi had organized an art expedition down the Burma Road for herself and a group of West Coast tourists, but died in a ‘freak accident’. The tourists end up in the the jungle in Burma where they are kidnapped by tribesmen and end up in No Name Place. The Karen tribe believe the teenage boy in the group is a reincarnation of the teacher that converted them to Christianity. Both humourous and touching, this novel spoke to me because of my connection to Burma and the political terrorism that is still taking place. 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.”

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 7:53 pm and is filed under Comedy, Family, Gay, Mystical, Political. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.