Not for the miserable

I remembered that I loved this book the first time I read it, so it seemed time to read it again. The writing is exquisite. I love the rotating voices and how clearly each character's voice was separated from the others. The story is heartbreakingly beautiful and haunting. I had forgotten how difficult it was to realize how little thing have changed, or really, how much worse off we are, in terms of world politics. It ends on a hopeful note, but the state of today's world, I think, can no longer support that hope.

Never ending.

This started so well and then about halfway through just became, in a word, dull. I liked the characters but got bored with them; there wasn't enough happening to keep the book from dragging. I usually like Amy Tan, but Saving Fish From Drowning really wasn't worth the interminable time that it took me to read it.

All Saints

Finished this one a couple of weeks ago and forgot to post it. I liked the characters -- they are still memorable, even weeks later. The story was interesting and odd. I felt in some ways, though, that I wasn't getting the deeper meaning, but I was also wondering if that meaning really existed.