One Book One Marin 2008

Saving Fish From Drowning Final Event

2008-05-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-28T16:31:00.000-07:00

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...

It Was Not Just A Card Trick

2008-03-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

As I finished reading the chapter I had the sensation of having just visited (or dreamed) a large, sprawling outdoor movie-like set of interacting people, in colorful costumes, all intertwined in a complex plot of illusions. Some of these people have ominous hidden motives, unknown to the others.

Rupert practices his newly-learned card trick illusions on people in a village marketplace and is observed by three tribal Karen boatmen, known by nicknames as: Black Spot, Fishbones and Salt. What they think they see is at the heart of the chapter and, I’m expecting for the rest of the book as well.

The boatmen arrange to pilot the group in their longboats to accommodations in deeper locations along waterways, villages, islands and lakes of inner Burma. Exotic bamboo forests, blooming water plants, and villagers appear, and we learn more of Buddhism, customs, tourism, karma, insurgents, and the plight of the tribal people of Burma. I like these rich descriptions, though bittersweet…

The group shares a sense of earthly Paradise and Shangri-la. We know that this will soon change, having been warned several times as we read the chapter. And then there’s Heinrich… It doesn’t look good, does it?

Nats Can Be Nasty and Nice--Chapter Seven

2008-03-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

In the previous chapter, we were introduced to Nats. They are described as spirits of nature, but to me they sound more like ghosts of dead people. They are believed in by all Burmese people regardless of their religion or tribe. Nats are everywhere, and they are thought to have a direct influence on daily life whether one believes in them or not. They can be helpful or harmful depending on how they are shown respect and courtesy and bribed with gifts. Bibi is shocked to learn that Walter thinks she may be a Nat!

The concept of Nats and their influence is further explored in Chapter 7. Everything that happens is in some way related to "seeing" or believing in Nats and their power.

We're halfway through the book, and still the group has not disappeared as we were told they would in the preface. I'm guessing that Burmese superstitions and myths will affect the fate of the tourists as the story continues. Let's see what happens next...

Saving Fish From Drowning

2008-03-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

Crossing into Burma Bibi comments on the arts, customs, foods, Buddhist religion and military government. Her descriptions are lovely and rich and I’m enjoying learning about life in tribal Burma. Except for the military dictatorship! I read a report last Wednesday, March 5, an update of the protest marches against the military led by Buddhist monks for a week last September in Burma:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/05/MN5RV2LFV.DTL&hw=Burmese+monks&sn=001&sc=1000

So the book has become for me more of a real political travel experience now, than an entertaining, fictitious comedy of assorted bumbling friends traveling together to a very foreign country.

Back to the story… Walter, the new guide, is Burmese and has much to teach the group about life in Burma. He tells the story about “saving fish from drowning.” What does it mean? I like the lively interaction between the friends as they explore the possible meanings of such a “brain twister,” something about moral justifications…

Walter talks about the Burmese belief in “Nats”—little spirits in nature, in fields, trees, and rocks, always tied to disaster, bad luck, or fate. “Beneath this visible surface was an earlier stratum of beliefs, the molton core and shifting plates belonging to animism:
http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/a/animism.htm

We learn that Walter, though highly educated, also believes in Nats and has a little shrine in his family home which is supplied with daily offerings… (shrines for Nats are found especially along roadways where accidents have occurred, and are well-tended… hmmm..) Walter believes that since Bibi Chen was murdered, she is a “distressed spirit.” We can guess that concern for Bibi’s spirit and Nats will appear again somehow. Finally in the chapter, we learn that Walter believes that his family is cursed.

The chapter ends with a large amount of apprehension, foreboding,and dysentery in the wings. How much worse can things get? Probably very…

We All Do What We Must--Chapter Five

2008-02-29T11:33:00.000-08:00

I'm getting more involved as the characters come to life. I love Bibi's comments. They add intimacy and depth to the story. I feel as if an old friend is sharing an adventure with me.

I thought the most interesting story from this chapter was that of the little girl with the cleft palate. Six years ago she was abandoned and left with Lulu. It all turns out well in the end as the child is adopted into a loving family and is thriving today. The group thinks that it is a sad story, but Lulu has a different opinion. She sees the experience as a way of showing that in this life "we all do what we must." Will this philosophy surface later in the story as a moral guide to our group? How will each of them do what they must? I think there may be some foreshadowing here.....

Also in Chapter 5, Bibi finally gets a chance to have some influence on the fortunes of our little group. She has discovered that she can communicate with the living through "dreams, memory and imagination." In this way she smooths their entry into Burma without the difficulties that might have occurred. It is good to see her participate in the tour when things were possibly going to get complicated. What a different adventure it might have been if she had been with them in person!

The chapter ends with the appearance of Walter, the new tour guide. He seems completely competent and capable. After all, he was chosen by Bibi! What could possibly go wrong now......?

How Happiness Found Them

2008-02-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

Having been cursed and promised with lifetime bad karma for their indiscretions, the group votes to leave China as quickly as possible before word gets around Lijiang. Bibi Chen is deeply concerned with this decision saying that she had planned the itinerary carefully so that they would have a “taste of the finest” of the real China.

Bibi reflects: now they would never know “the gnarled pine or touch it -- that is China -- studied by horticulturalists from around the world to try to explain why it grows like a corkscrew…just as no one can adequately explain China. But like that tree, there it is, old, resilient, and oddly magnificent. Within that tree are the elements in nature that have inspired Chinese artists for centuries—qualities of gesture, subtlety, and constant flow.”

Now they would never “ walk in and touch the temples -- that are China. Beneath the layers of paint are the influences of Tibetan Buddhism, Indian Buddhism, Han Buddhism, and also Taoism and animism, producing a lovely shabby elegance that is pure Chinese. Nothing is ever completely thrown away; if one period of influence falls out of favor, it is patched over; the old views still exist. That is the Chinese aesthetic and also its spirit.”

The group gets a competent new guide, Miss Kong, known as Lulu, who speaks several languages and Chinese dialects, (a distinct improvement over Miss Rong), and they bus toward a Chinese border town, near Burma (Myanmar). On the way, Lulu prepares the group for a stop in a Jingpo village, to see “ordinary village life.”

Lulu explains the reality of the existence of fierce tribes in Burma, the Kachin people and the Karens, among other tribes, who are related to the mostly peaceful Jingpos on the borders of China. This is ominous news for the group. These fierce tribes, and others, make insurrections against the military government of Burma, causing fighting and danger, until the repressive government is successful in restoring control.

I was curious at this point in the story where the title of the chapter, “How Happiness Found Them,” was revealed, amid all of the troubling difficulties the group faced, until the visit with the Jingpo villagers occurred…and good karma. But what's next!?

Such Was Their Karma--Chapter Three

2008-02-15T14:31:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness! The trip is really turning into a disaster as our little group is banished from China and cursed with bad karma for generations to come. The situation has come about through the bad luck of having an inept tour guide and because of their own bad behavior.

Any of us who have traveled know the value of a good tour guide. Woe to our group for being led by the aptly named Miss Rong. She speaks only broken English and does not understand the dialect of the area they are visiting. She does correctly explain the Buddhist concept of Karma with the story of the water buffalo, but the group dismisses what she says and what they see as a primitive mistreatment of animals.

But Miss Rong is not the only one at fault. The tourists bring bad fortune upon themselves when they don’t bother to read completely the careful research notes that Bibi had prepared. Then they complain that signs are not in English and ignore them; they wander off from the established paths instead of staying together and generally disregard the fact that they are guests in another country. I am upset that they don't even try to understand the customs and beliefs of the area. If ever there were “ugly Americans,” I think we are meeting them here.

The chapter ends with a curse in which the gods will “give these foreigners…bad karma following them forever [in] this life and next, this country, that country, never can stop.” In spite of their conduct, I have grown fond of some of them. I hope things go better for them in the next chapter, don't you?

My Plans Undone

2008-02-08T11:59:00.000-08:00

As the group arrives in China to begin "following the Buddha's footsteps," then continuing on the Burma Road to experience the "influence of various religious cultures on Buddhist art over a thousand years and a thousand miles," Bibi laments that all her preparations for the trip go awry. The unfortunate change of tour leader and guide, as replacements for Bibi's expert experience, were hopelessly unfit for the task and the group took things into their own hands.

This, in my opinion, is where the fun begins, as the group changes Bibi's well-planned itinerary to suit their own ideas of best travel plans: to experience spontaneity, authentic and un-touristy activities, with no set schedules.

The results are hilarious, as well as painful. I'm eager to see where the story takes us, as well as fearful for the group--of certain ominous signs of events to come...

Bibi's Haunting Tale--Chapter One

2008-02-01T08:26:00.000-08:00

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....

One Book One Marin Launch Party Event

2008-01-26T22:21:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night at Book Passage author Amy Tan was presented with the 2nd One Book award (elegant crystal bookends), kicking off the launch party for One Book One Marin 2008. Ms. Tan's novel, Saving Fish from Drowning, is the selection for the community-wide effort by libraries and partners to promote interest in reading and discussion, as well as participation in special library events and book groups.

Host Michael Krasny was present to introduce Ms. Tan. Describing her book as a political novel (as well as a comedy), he said writers struggle with personal moral questions such as going to a Buddhist country like Burma (now Myanmar) and writing about the repressive regime, or, not to go --as a protest.

Ms. Tan commented that she uses her writing to ask questions of herself: how do things happen? What is our role in the larger world? A larger metaphor for her book is Travel-- seeing and experiencing life elsewhere, the culture, history and politics of a place.

A work of fiction seduces one with a story, weaving a web of fiction and truth.

One Book One Marin Launch Party

2007-12-26T10:53:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, January 23, 2008 you are invited to join the Launch Party for One Book One Marin 2008 featuring beloved local author Amy Tan.

She will be speaking about her book Saving Fish from Drowning. Michael Krasney, author and host of KQED's Forum, will be the emcee for the evening.

The Launch Party is free to all and begins at 7pm at:
Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd.
Corte Madera, CA

for more information on this event, please contact Book Passage at
415-927-0960 ext. 400 or at kwest@bookpassage.com