San Francisco art patron Bibi Chen has planned a journey of the senses
along the famed Burma Road for eleven lucky friends. But after her
mysterious death, Bibi watches aghast from her ghostly perch as the
travelers veer off her itinerary and embark on a trail paved with
cultural gaffes and tribal curses, Buddhist illusions and romantic
desires. On Christmas morning, the tourists cruise across a misty lake
and disappear.
With picaresque characters and mesmerizing imagery, Saving Fish from
Drowning gives us a voice as idiosyncratic, sharp, and affectionate as
the mothers of The Joy Luck Club. Bibi is the observant eye of human
nature--the witness of good intentions and bad outcomes, of desperate
souls and those who wish to save them. In the end, Tan takes her readers
to that place in their own heart where hope is found.