Saving Fish From Drowning

by Amy Tan

Found this awhile ago, probably before Arizona, but just lately got around to reading it. It's been a while since I've read one of Tan's books, but I enjoyed this one. I finished it a few weeks ago, but hadn't gotten around to saying anything about it yet.

It's an interesting structure, having a dead woman for a narrator. It's mostly omniscient (which, in this case includes most characters' points of view delivered through the filter of a narrator)... And it's a travelogue as well. The downside of that is that a significant amount of the book is of the "trip from hell" genre. But there's a lot of scenery and historical detail that makes me want to travel through southern China and Burma. I also like the omniscient part because you can see inside people's thoughts, which is particularly interesting if they're funny and in crisis mode. The only other downside, really, was a wrapping up type of coincidence at the end that kinda left a bad taste in my mouth. But there's a nice lyrical quality about the story, and several quirky funny bits, with some interesting points that kept me up thinking after the book was done, and it was fun to read, so I'd recommend it. Definitely a book that reminds you to throw yourself in, caution to the wind.

"But I ask myself now: Was there ever a true great love? Anyone who became the object of my obsession and not simply my affections? I honestly don't think so. In part, this was my fault. It was my nature, I suppose. I could not let myself become that unmindful. Isn't that what love is - losing your mind? You don't care what people think. You don't see your beloved's faults, the slight stinginess, the bit of carelessness, the occasional streak of meanness. You don't mind that he is beneath you socially, educationally, financially, and morally - that's the worst, I think, deficient morals."

"'If your doggie has your very expensive alligator purse in his mouth,' Harry would say in his seminars, 'offer to trade him for a piece of hot dog. Oh goodie, pant-pant, and he'll drop the purse at your feet. What's the lesson here? Put your overpriced purses and pumps where Pluto can't get to them! Then go and get him a smelly old tennis ball. The game is simple: Ball in your hand, treat in his mouth. Even if he's a basset hound, he'll turn into an impressive retriever if you do enough trades... Dogs are not people in fur coats. No, indeed. They don't speak in the future tense. They live in the moment. And unlike you and me, they'll drink from a toilet. Lucky for us, they are perfect specimens of how operant conditioning and positive reinforcement work, and beautifully so if onlhy we learn how to apply the principles properly. Their human handlers hae got to be absolutely objective about what motivates their poochies - so quash their tendancy to ascribe Muggum-wuggum's barking, growling, and counter-surfing to anthropomorphic motives such as pride, revenge, sneakiness, or betrayal... And if dogs resemble Homo erectus in any respect, it is in those traits of the poorly socialized male. Both do what pleases them: they scratch their balls, sleep on the sofa, and sniff any crotch that comes their way.' In the early days, he went so far as to believe his notions of dog behavior could be applied to anything, from toilet training to international politics. He said so in seminars: 'Which works faster: beating and humiliating a dictatorship, or luring it to follow a better and more rewarding model?: If we call upon the country only to pummel it for being bad, how likely is it ti come seeking our humanitarian advice? Isn't it utterly obvious?' And then Harry would dangle a hundred-dollar bill and bob it up and down so that the people in the front row would nod dutifully in agreement. He was rather cocky in those days."

"He saw that Marlena was staring at him, mesmerized, a look that said to him: You are so incredibly powerful and sexy. If there were a bed right here, I'd jump your bones. Actually, Marlena was wondering why he took so much pleasure in describing how fish die."