''Saving Fish from Drowning'' is a 2005 novel written by

Amy Tan Amy Ruth Tan (born February 19, 1952) is an American author best known for her novel '' The Joy Luck Club'' (1989), which was adapted into a 1993 film. She is also known for other novels, short story collections, children's books, and a memoir. ...

. It is her fifth work. The book is about 12 American tourists who travel to China and

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

. The novel received an honorable mention from the

Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature The Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature (APAAL) are a set of literary awards presented annually by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA). The APALA was formed in 1980 "to create an organization that would address the ...

Inspiration

Tan says in her "Note to the Reader" that she drew inspiration for her work from a collection of "

automatic writing Automatic writing, also called psychography, is a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. Practitioners engage in automatic writing by holding a writing instrument and allowing alleged sp ...

... messages from the unseen world". However, in an interview, she recants this explanation and claims that she actually made up the story of Bibi Chen, the protagonist whose story was supposedly passed along through automatic writing.

Plot summary

The story concerns a group of American tourists travelling the

Burma Road The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Lashio, Burma, in the south and Kunming, China, the capital of Yunnan province in the north. It was built in 1937–1938 while Burm ...

from China to Myanmar, and the comic confusions that occur when they are kidnapped by a group of

Karen people The Karen ( ), also known as the Kayin, are an ethnolinguistic group of peoples who speak Karenic languages and are indigenous to southern and southeastern Myanmar, including the Irrawaddy Delta, Irrawaddy delta and Kayin State. The Karen ac ...

who believe one of the American teenagers to be a prophesied savior. The Americans, for their part, are not even aware that they are being kidnapped. The story is told through the omniscient first person narrative of Bibi Chen, the tour leader who unexpectedly dies before the trip takes place and who continues to watch over her friends as they journey towards their fate. The novel explores the hidden strengths of the tourists, set in the uneasy political situation in Burma.

References

{{Authority control Novels by Amy Tan 2005 American novels Novels set in Myanmar Novels set in China American comedy novels Ghost narrator