Saving Fish From Drowning Final Event

Last night I attended the gala wrap-up event of One Book One Marin 2008, at Dominican University in San Rafael. What a party! It was held in Alemany Library for delicious food and drink, moving on to Angelico Hall following the Lion Dancers (2 lions and percussion) leading the way.

After speakers gave thanks to all participants: Marin Public Libraries, partners and sponsors of OBOM, author Amy Tan (looking tres chic in black and jade green flowing clothing), and Michael Krasny had a relaxed and lively, seated conversation on-stage about Tan's Saving Fish From Drowning.

This was a rich discussion, touching on Tan's on-going deep relationship with her mother (deceased, whom the character Bibi Chen was modeled after), ghosts, fate, love, curses, karma, politics, travel, and more, and more... It was a satisfying evening, well spent.

The Nature of Happy Endings

We have finished the final chapter of Saving Fish From Drowning, and I'm thinking about the meaning of the title of the book. I think Amy Tan wrote to explore themes such as the unintended consequences of well-meaning actions, the oppression of indigenous peoples by military governments, and the well-meaning but futile efforts to combat it by outsiders. We know that writers create fiction to reveal a greater truth.

I'm thinking about Burma's history as I read a media article about human rights abuses involving the oil pipeline from Burma to Thailand, partly owned by Chevron Corp:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/29/BUIO10D8C0.DTL&hw=burma&sn=004&sc=620

Also news about Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner, the leader of the nonviolent movement for human rights and democracy in Burma, who has been in prison or house arrest for 12 of the last 18 yrs.
http://www.dassk.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi

I liked reading Saving Fish From Drowning as both a political, and travel book. I'm motivated to continue reading Tan's books and look forward to starting on the Bonesetter's Daughter soon...

It's a Miracle!--Chapters 16 and 17

As we near the conclusion, we are watching on two fronts. We see Harry doing his best to find his friends, and we are with the tourists as they survive in the jungle and wonder how to help themselves.

The story may be set in a primitive country filled with myth and superstition, but the heroes turn out to be electronic toys and American television! Black Spot sends Roxanne's camcorder video to Harry, and despite his usual bumbling, the video is broadcast to the world. It reveals the condition of the tourists as well as their thoughts and emotions about what they see. It also brings to public attention the brutality of the Burmese military regime against its own people.

Life becomes a roller coaster ride for the tribe. The news coverage of the Americans' disappearance gives information about them to their enemies. They prepare to die. Then, with the showing of Roxanne's video, they see themselves as TV stars surviving bigger challenges than the contestents on Darwin's Fittest, their favorite show. They will be famous. They are saved; maybe Rupert is their messiah after all!

All is quickly resolved as miracles begin to happen. The bridge is resurrected; the government promises peace and prosperity for the tribe; a telephone appears--the tourists are rescued!

I'm glad that all members of the group are saved without loss of life or physical harm. But I don't trust the government to follow through with its promises to the tribe no matter how much I want to believe. We have heard too many stories about what this regime is capable of. It is shrewd to be generous when the world is watching, but what happens when the kidnapped tourists go back to their privileged lives and Burma is no longer under international scrutiny?

So what was this all about? We have seen ugly Americans, a repressive military dictatorship, and viewed the survival of an oppressed native tribe. We have learned how the power of myth and legend can influence lives. We have begun to question the wisdom of supporting the economy of a repressed country.

The lessons? Appreciate what you've got, respect and learn from those with customs and sensibilities different from your own, don't believe everything you're told, think about who benefits from spending tourist dollars abroad, and always stick with your guide when you travel!

What did you learn? Did you enjoy the trip?

And what really happened to Bibi....?

The Invention Of Noodles and A Promising Lead

I smiled, laughed out loud, and enjoyed Chapter 14 a lot. Amy Tan is clever and amusing as she describes life in the remote rainforest of No Name Place. Our lucky, goofy group recovers from malaria through the herbal medicine and tea remedies of the village people, and they now long for real food (noodles). They go into the rainforest to forage, expanding their cuisine to include fresh bamboo shoots and forest mushrooms, truffles, as instructed by the villagers.

The friends are in a good mood, and are humorous and playful with one another. They learn more skills of self-sufficiency such as making yarn out of pounded-thin strands of bamboo, (go green!) woven into clothing. Heidi and Moff discover strange plants, red, “nearly fluorescent” plants, which turn out to be prized aphrodisiacs, called by the villagers,“Second Life.” (Moff wonders if they’re listed in the reference book “Weird Plant Morphology.”) They discuss the destruction of rainforests worldwide, and the loss of many species feared destroyed for good.

Later, while watching Darwin’s Fittest on the TV in the jungle with the villagers, the group is shocked and excited to see Harry in a news feature talking about where his missing friends can be—who were thought seen being led around by two strange men, as though drugged. A spell cast by Nats enters the discussion. They also learn that Walter is, in fact, not dead but in the hospital with amnesia….

We’re moving right along now, nearing the end of the book and events are happening fast...but how will the group eventually be found?

The World is Watching Survivor, Burmese Edition--Chapters 12 and 13

Darwin's Fittest? This sounds like an episode of Survivor set in a small village in Burma! Will the tourists outwit and outlast their captors? Who will survive? The fate of the group is set against the larger backdrop of the plight of the people of Burma struggling to resist a corrupt and abusive military regime. Both seem to have the odds stacked against them.

While Harry is trying to save his friends by getting worldwide coverage of their disappearance, they are mourning Walter, digesting the fact that they cannot leave the village and, oh yes, fighting off malaria. Since they don't understand the language that they hear, they don't know that they are being lied to--about Walter's death, about the impossibility of rebuilding the bridge and most important, about the real reason they have been taken to No Name Place. Also, with their usual disregard of the customs and ways of other cultures, they refuse to accept herbs which the tribe offers to help them to regain their health.

I was intrigued that the Burmese government is allowing the families to come into the country to look for their loved ones. Bibi tells us that she has convinced them to see this as an opportunity to get some good press for Burma to counteract the prevailing negative international opinion. They know the world is watching.

Is it possible that this will influence them to change some of their abusive policies regarding human rights? Slim chance, but maybe all this media attention focused on the country will have some positive effect on the way they do business. I think that Amy Tan created this fictional tale of a small group in danger in order to shine a spotlight on an entire population in peril. Hopefully this will increase our awarenss of the past history as well as the current situation in Burma.

By the end of Chapter 13, the families and the TV crew have brought the tourists' plight to public attention. With the government's help, the search is on. And the group has finally realized that the "medicine" of the women of the village can indeed help to cure them. Are things looking up? I sure hope so!

No Name Place and They All Stuck Together

The group is led by Black Spot to the Karen tribal villagers after an arduous climb into the remote forested and tropical hill-country of Burma. As they near their destination they cross a deep ravine by means of a handmade rope suspension footbridge, which is then let down and hidden until needed. (The friends are still unaware that they have been kidnapped… what trust!)

They are treated like royalty since the villagers believe that Rupert is the missing “messiah,” returned as promised, with the book of Important Writings to protect them from the violence of military soldiers, who search for them.

I had trouble engaging with these chapters on several levels, which I won’t go into here. What distracted me, though, as a result of the political reading of the book, is the current media news all this March and into April, of Buddhist monks protesting against the Chinese government in Lhasa. The monks have come from Thailand, Tibet, Burma, and within China itself:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/29/MN2KVSAJ5.DTL&hw=Buddhist+monks&sn=004&sc=293
(Go to sfgate.com, enter Buddhist monks in search box, for all continuing coverage.)

What can we do? How can we help? Boycott goods from China? Send money? Find activist groups? It is troubling to be made aware of the violence and suffering of people without participating somehow in support…isn’t it?

Without a Trace--Chapter Nine

Well finally! We've been waiting all this time for the kidnapping, and now it's happening. Just as I thought, Burmese superstition and myth set the tourists up for trouble. When the natives see Rupert doing his magic tricks, they think he is their long-lost leader now returned to them as legend has foretold. I am amazed at how quickly they put a plan together to take him to their village.

I was expecting that the whole group was taken, but after a night of slapstick comedy in his romance with Marlena, Harry is left behind in the morning while the others head off to a sunrise cruise. Will he be able to help in rescuing them?

After the group has a lovely experience on the boat ride, Black Spot persuades them to go on without Walter. It's never a good idea to separate from your tour guide. There will be consequences.

The tourists do have some doubts. They are surprised to see Grease whom they remember from the day before, and astonished when they discover that Black Spot speaks English. But they are excited about the day's activities, so they follow without question. They know that Bibi wouldn't put them in danger, and they think that Walter must have gone on ahead to set up the "Christmas surprise." Not to worry, it's going to be a great adventure.

Don't you think they might have wondered at the hiding of the boats or at the whispered conferences of the drivers? And where is Walter? I think these guys are headed for trouble...