Saving Fish from Drowning
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Narrated by:
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Amy Tan
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By:
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Amy Tan
About this listen
But after the mysterious death of their tour leader, the carefully laid plans fall apart, and disharmony breaks out among the pleasure-seekers as they come to discover that the Burma Road is paved with less-than-honorable intentions, questionable food, and tribal curses. Then, on Christmas morning, eleven of the travelers boat across a misty lake for a sunrise cruise - and disappear.
Drawing from the current political reality in Burma and woven with pure confabulation, Amy Tan's picaresque novel poses the question: How can we discern what is real and what is fiction, in everything we see? How do we know what to believe?
Saving Fish from Drowning finds sly truth in the absurd: a reality TV show called Darwin's Fittest, a repressive regime known as SLORC, two cheroot-smoking twin children hailed as divinities, and a ragtag tribe hiding in the jungle - where the sprites of disaster known as Nats lurk, as do the specters of the fabled Younger White Brother and a British illusionist who was not who he was worshipped to be.
With her signature "idiosyncratic, sympathetic characters, haunting images, historical complexity, significant contemporary themes, and suspenseful mystery" (Los Angeles Times), Amy Tan spins a provocative and mesmerizing tale about the mind and the heart of the individual, the actions we choose, the moral questions we might ask ourselves, and above all, the deeply personal answers we seek when happy endings are seemingly impossible.
©2005 Amy Tan (P)2005 Brilliance Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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- Narrated by: Barack Obama
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a Black African father and a White American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a Black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father - a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man - has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey - first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family.
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Powerful
- By Gene R. on 10-26-21
By: Barack Obama
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Flame Tree Road
- By: Shona Patel
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
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India, 1870s. In a tiny village where society is ruled by a caste system and women are defined solely by marriage, young Biren Roy dreams of forging a new destiny. When his mother suffers the fate of widowhood - shunned by her loved ones and forced to live in solitary penance - Biren devotes his life to effecting change.
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Riveting Love Story
- By Granny on 01-15-20
By: Shona Patel
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The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
- A Novel
- By: Deborah Moggach
- Narrated by: Juliet Mills
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
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When Ravi Kapoor, an overworked London doctor, reaches the breaking point with his difficult father-in-law, he asks his wife: “Can’t we just send him away somewhere? Somewhere far, far away.” His prayer is seemingly answered when Ravi’s entrepreneurial cousin sets up a retirement home in India, hoping to re-create in Bangalore an elegant lost corner of England. Several retirees are enticed by the promise of indulgent living at a bargain price, but upon arriving, they are dismayed to find that restoration of the once sophisiticated hotel has stalled....
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Screenwriters Changed it for the Better
- By Carole T. on 06-05-12
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Lost in Translation
- By: Nicole Mones
- Narrated by: Angela Lin
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
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A novel of searing intelligence and startling originality, Lost in Translation heralds the debut of a unique new voice on the literary landscape. Nicole Mones creates an unforgettable story of love and desire, of family ties and human conflict, and of one woman's struggle to lose herself in a foreign land - only to discover her home, her heart, herself.
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Absolutely fascinating!
- By Brendan on 10-16-10
By: Nicole Mones
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Summer at Willow Lake
- The Lakeshore Chronicles, Book 1
- By: Susan Wiggs
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
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Real estate expert Olivia Bellamy reluctantly trades a trendy Manhattan summer for her family's old resort camp in the Catskills, where her primary task will be renovating the bungalow colony for her grandparents, who want one last summer together filled with fun, friends and family. A posh resort in its heyday, the camp is now in disarray and Olivia is forced to hire contractor Connor Davis - a still-smoldering flame from her own summers at camp.
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Finding Love at Summer Camp
- By Pamela Dale Foster on 02-13-15
By: Susan Wiggs
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Honor
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An honor killing shatters and transforms the lives of Turkish immigrants in 1970s London. Internationally best-selling Turkish author Elif Shafak’s new novel is a dramatic tale of families, love, and misunderstandings that follows the destinies of twin sisters born in a Kurdish village. While Jamila stays to become a midwife, Pembe follows her Turkish husband, Adem, to London, where they hope to make new lives for themselves and their children. In London, they face a choice: stay loyal to the old traditions or try their best to fit in.
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Complex but Compelling
- By Cariola on 04-14-13
By: Elif Shafak
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King Peggy
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- By: Eleanor Herman, Peggielene Bartels
- Narrated by: J. Karen Thomas
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King Peggy chronicles the astonishing journey of an American secretary who suddenly finds herself king to a town of 7,000 souls on Ghana's central coast, half a world away. Upon arriving for her crowning ceremony in beautiful Otuam, she discovers the dire reality: there's no running water, no doctor, and no high school, and many of the village elders are stealing the town's funds. To make matters worse, her uncle (the late king) sits in a morgue awaiting a proper funeral in the royal palace, which is in ruins.
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Love King Peggy!
- By Monica on 05-01-13
By: Eleanor Herman, and others
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All the Lives We Never Lived
- By: Anuradha Roy
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From the Man Booker Prize-nominated author of Sleeping on Jupiter, The Folded Earth, and An Atlas of Impossible Longing, a poignant and sweeping novel set in India during World War II and the present day about a son’s quest to uncover the truth about his mother....
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Beautiful book
- By Sonia S. on 12-13-19
By: Anuradha Roy
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Wife of the Gods
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- By: Kwei Quartey
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- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
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Detective Inspector Darko Dawson, a good family man and a remarkably intuitive sleuth, is sent to the village of Ketanu---the site of his mother's disappearance many years ago---to solve the murder of an accomplished young AIDS worker. While battling his own anger issues and concerns for his ailing son, Darko explores the motivations and secrets of the residents of Ketanu.
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Engrossing Mystery in a Fascinating Setting
- By Tracey Rains on 04-19-10
By: Kwei Quartey
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The Ground Beneath Her Feet
- By: Salman Rushdie
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 27 hrs and 18 mins
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Salman Rushdie is widely considered one of a handful of truly great living writers. The internationally acclaimed, Booker Prize-winning author's storytelling shines in this epic love story, a modern retelling of the myth of Orpheus.
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Okay, Salmon, We get that you're a genious already
- By Julie A Quinn on 04-23-09
By: Salman Rushdie
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Loved it - oh so briefly!
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Holds your attention through out
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Joy Luck - abridged
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Japan, 1957. Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura’s prearranged marriage to the son of her father’s business associate would secure her family’s status in their traditional Japanese community, but Naoko has fallen for another man - an American sailor, a gaijin - and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family. When it’s learned Naoko carries the sailor’s child, she’s cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with consequences that will ripple across generations.
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Few books have had such an impact as Wild Swans: a popular best seller and a critically acclaimed history of China that opened up the country to the world. Through the story of three generations of women in her own family - the grandmother given to the warlord as a concubine, the Communist mother, and the daughter herself - Jung Chang reveals the epic history of China's twentieth century. Breathtaking in its scope, unforgettable in its descriptions, this is a masterpiece that is extraordinary in every way.
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Listen to this version!
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Memoirs of a Geisha
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In a voice both haunting and startlingly immediate, Nitta Sayuri describes her life as a geisha. Taken from her home at the age of nine, she is sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. Witness her transformation as you enter a world where appearances are paramount, virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder, women beguile powerful men, and love is scorned as illusion.
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Perfect ---- in every way
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What listeners say about Saving Fish from Drowning
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- rhonda
- 11-12-08
Slow Read
Decent story, but takes too long for anything to happen, and it goes on forever. There are other, better stories by this author.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Donna
- 03-20-10
Not Pleased
I love Amy Tan books, but this was a disappointment. It is hard to stay with and just sort of off. I'll always continue to follow Amy Tan, but I wish I had not bought this audio book.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 07-16-09
The Importance of the Narrator
This audiobook makes you appreciate professional narrators. Ms. Tan's accent, though slight, drops some consonants, which makes it hard to follow. In addition, her voice level rises and falls in a way that a professional's would not do, and it's hard to follow her when her voice fades off.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Val Cummings
- 10-27-09
She's no Ron McLarty!
Amy Tan has a good and timely story to tell. It's just too bad she told it in her own voice. A good agent, manager, publisher or even friend should have told her that her gift is writing, not narrating. Not everyone can be a whiz at both - like Ron McLarty!!!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Babette
- 02-02-11
I Love Amy Tan
I couldn't wait to start listening to this book. I am a huge Amy Tan fan. It was a good book but I didn't like it as much as her other novels. I found the characters to be a little boring and I didn't really understand the psychic interpretation, but its worth a credit. I recommend this book.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Peggy
- 08-02-10
Great Idea, execution -- not so much.
I am an Amy Tan fan, however this book was not one of her best. The plot was unusual, and had great potential, but the end result was less than satisfying. I liken it to a puddle rathan than a lake -- a thousand miles wide and an inch deep. None of the characters were developed sufficiently to cause me to care much about them (or even remember which was which). The three stars are for the innovative plot, and the information gained about Burma that I didn't have before.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Gerald B. Johnson
- 06-19-10
A struggle to get through
I almost gave up a couple of times, but my miserly ways got the best of me and I managed to finish it. The biggest problem with this book is the reader. I thought that having the author read her own work would be a plus instead of a minus, but it all comes down to competence. If you want a good audio book you need a skilled and experienced reader. A good reader brings life and believability to the story. They have to be able to create multiple personalities, both male and female, with different voices and different accents. Ms Tan unfortunately does not have this talent. She's especially bad at doing the male voices (no surprise). The story itself is also pretty bizarre and hard to get into. At the end of it all I found that I was glad I finished it, but it would have been so much better with a professional reader.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- S. Taylor
- 06-03-14
Too many words
Would you try another book from Amy Tan and/or Amy Tan?
I'm an ardent Tan fan.
What was most disappointing about Amy Tan’s story?
Too many words at times, not enough magic. A touch of cultural empathy, but not so much as to enlighten. A bit repetitive on the political theme.
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
Perhaps this audio, read by Tan, didn't work for me- whatever the words. Tan's voice is lovely, but monotonous after awhile. Often too sweet, cloying.
Did Saving Fish from Drowning inspire you to do anything?
no.
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Overall
- Karen Campbell
- 07-21-08
Great book, shame about the narrator
This well written book is intriguing from the start and promises to be an absorbing read. However, as an audio book it is very disappointing. Amy Tan is a wonderful writer but her narrating skills are not so developed. In addition to reading in a monotone, she eats her words and her sentences trail off to an almost inaudible point. I gave up on trying to listen to it when I realised I was getting tense with straining to hear her properly. If the only audio version of this book has Amy Tan as the narrator, I recommend full enjoyment of the story in print.
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26 people found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Anonymous User
- 06-08-18
bus of fools (I read this online)
This is not for those who are not interested in details. Ms. Tan is most insightful of human nature. I have a deeper understanding of people and Asian culture.
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