Spoiler alert!! Saving Fish is neither tasteful nor erudite. But what an eye-opener! I can't imagine a better book for the armchair traveller, who soon finds himself overwhelmed by the wild adventures of those who dare to go abroad and live to tell about it.
Already, after just a couple of chapters, I can see that this book gives the lie to that other Kipling line: "Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." They do meet among the ancient temples, when a group of modern tourists from the West come on a cultural mission, looking for enlightenment. At the very least, the men are taught where not to piss. The Easterners do not suspect that this function can and does serve both an artistic as well as a practical function in the West. Everyone in the West has seen boys pissing pictures in the newfallen snow. And I well remember the graffiti on the wall in the campground biffy on Cape Hatteras. On the line three feet above the urinal was written: If you can make it this high, the fire department needs you.' My twelve-year-old was eager and willing to try. I had to remind him that coming from Canada, he would also need a greencard.
There's much, much more. Stay tuned. Is Amy Tan practicing a new narrative voice in this book? It doesn't seem at all ghostly. On the other hand, was the author ever in Burma? Everyone knows that the fishes there can fly and don't need saving from drowning.
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