Bibi's Haunting Tale--Chapter One

Unsolved murder, tourists kidnapped, a spirit telling her story through a medium--we are off and running with the first chapter of Amy Tan’s Saving Fish From Drowning. So many characters to meet, so much information to absorb, so many flashbacks and flashes forward! This is going to be a challenging read.

We meet Bibi Chen knowing that she has been mysteriously murdered and is communicating with us from the spirit world. Despite her detailed descriptions and lengthy asides, I find her to be a quirky and engaging narrator. She has survived a dysfunctional childhood and a wicked stepmother, and I am impressed with her drive, determination and resilience. I can’t wait to find out what happened to her and how the trip she researched and planned so carefully turned out so badly.

As the chapter ends, Bibi’s friends agree to go on the China/Burma trip despite her absence, and they hope she will join them in spirit. With her typical undaunted enthusiasm she says, “How could I not?” I think that had she been with them in the flesh, much of what happens to them would not have happened. But then there would be no story!

Onward to Chapter Two....