One of my 2025 "work related resolutions" was to write read 13 books and write 3 detailed book reviews. So far, I have finished reading Nine Women One Dress, Saving Fish from Drowning, 1/5th into City of Girls and 888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers. I decided, for my first detailed book review here, I'd do a book comparison with the two pertained to the Asian cultures,--Saving Fish from Drowning and 888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers:
In terms of premise, they are both Asian American authors that wrote about the 80s and 90s. In Saving Fish from Drowning, author Amy Tan is literally an omniscient voice but not a 3rd POV. Kind of like Lovely Bones, killed and watching from "heaven" what's happening next in San Francisco US and a group of friends trip to China and Myanmar gone wrong 1st person non restricted POV. Whereas, 888 was circa 80s 90s coming-of-age of a Taiwanese American boy in New York.
Saving Fish From Drowning : Narration was at first interesting to paint out the setting and characters, but towards the end I felt like the end didn't hit believable about how she died and suddenly recalls. The main part about Myanmar's very unique political and religious culture with a mix of tourism theme made a good nuanced discussion and that part I liked and hence found the title to make sense.
888: Although it seems like a lot of pages hardcover book "heavy reading" it wasn't. It was pretty light and breezy and hence a page turner. I liked the interesting voice and structure. The "chapters" go back and forth from 80s when Young was a young kid and the 90s when he was in college. There are also chapters that are punctuated by letters from his Uncle as he tours around US as a single middle aged man, preaching his niece how to lead a teenage life in the land of the free. Although I wasn't quite familiar with some of the pop references like 60s punk rock etc but it was fun to learn about it. And the mood was never too serious to be deterred by it. I actually quite liked the character Erena. She's very much unlike me but I like that. She is a badass. I like how she didn't quite care what people think of her. She had a very particular taste in music and movies. She's very very blunt and sharp and witty. Almost the opposite of what Young was like. (Perhaps opposites really do compliment each other and work). I also found his first love to be very cute. I think it's partly because I'm also from Hong Kong and love all things Hello Kitty, but I also think first loves are very special and this one didn't disappoint. I also found the fixation on numbers to be interesting. I was never a superstitious person but my paternal grandma and to a smaller extent my mom is superstitious. So 8 is always great and 4 is not so. Plus a million other variations that dictate what numbers are good which this book detailed. I was never great at Math either but perhaps because I was neither superstitious nor mathematically acute, I needed to come up with ways to remember their meanings and make meanings for myself. For instance, (although a bit of a spin from Gossip Girl with an Asian twist) I (1 letter) love (4 letters) you (3 letters) = 8 letters and perfect. And that 8 was not just about money but also about infinity. I loved how he and Eden had a secret language. It was the most nerdy but romantic thing I ever read. Even the dream scene with Wayne Wang, Ang Lee and John Woo was partly random and partly funny. I also loved the part that referred to the scriptures. Although the quotes are a bit of a cliche itself Love is patient, love is kind, true to the book's theme with Asian numbers: it was till the 8th--Love never fails, and is therefore perfect. I mean what a way to weave things together.
I think the two books definitely both have their own merits. But you can tell because Tan has already established herself as a writer, the writing was less bold and risk taking. 888 was more of a risk taking book with it's details in that specific subgenre. There's also a sense of the debut novel and I-want-to-say-something-different kind of feel to it which in execution was done quite well. I prefer Tan's Joy Luck Club and Kitchen God's Wife. But this is not one of my favorites.
I think in the end I might give Saving Fish From Drowning 3.5/5 stars and 888 4/5 stars. If you are interested in that subgenre, go ahead and read it. It's quite intriguing.
No comments:
Post a Comment