About this title: Amy Tan's fifth novel takes a group of travelers and strands them in the jungles of Myanmar when a bridge they are crossing collapses. There, they tangle with a local tribe who declare one of their party a god who can save them from the ruthless militarist regime. The tourists include an expert on tropical plants, a famous dog trainer, a teenage boy, and the narrator--the ghost of a woman who was prevented from joining the tour by her sudden death.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: 10/2005
ISBN-13:9780399153013ISBN:0399153012
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 474 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: 10/2005
ISBN-13:9780399153013ISBN:0399153012
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 474 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: 10/2005
ISBN-13:9780399153013ISBN:0399153012
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 474 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: 10/2005
ISBN-13:9780399153013ISBN:0399153012
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 474 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: 10/2005
ISBN-13:9780399153013ISBN:0399153012
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 474 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: 10/2005
ISBN-13:9780399153013ISBN:0399153012
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 474 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: 10/2005
ISBN-13:9780399153013ISBN:0399153012
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 474 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: 10/2005
ISBN-13:9780399153013ISBN:0399153012
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 474 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: 10/2005
ISBN-13:9780399153013ISBN:0399153012
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 474 p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: 10/2005
ISBN-13:9780399153013ISBN:0399153012
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 474 p. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books, New York
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780345464019ISBN:034546401X
Description: Fine. No Jacket. Illustrated front cover, clean, corners sharp, no crease at hinge or spine, text clean as new, 472 pages, extra nice copy, looks new. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780399153013ISBN:0399153012
Description: New in very good dust jacket. Excellent condition! Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 474 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780345464019ISBN:034546401X
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 496 p. Ballantine Reader's Circle. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780345464019ISBN:034546401X
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Clean pages, no marks or tears, section of pgs in middle of book have stiff upper pages, pg corners slightly turned up, light dirt soiling to outer pg edges, corners/edges bumped/chipped, tight binding, solid. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 496 p. Ballantine Reader's Circle (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 2006
ISBN-13:9780345464019ISBN:034546401X
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Ex-library. Stickers gently removed, library stamp/acquisition date & price in pen on front endpaper. Clean text, no folds. No spine creases. Cover some edge/corner wear. Ship daily (carefully wrapped + free domestic dc). Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 496 p. Ballantine Reader's Circle. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780399153013ISBN:0399153012
Description: Fine in good dust jacket. Very nice copy. DJ shows some rubbing and slight edgewear. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 474 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
"This book snared me from the beginning. Of all Amy Tan's novels, this is the one I have enjoyed the most. The central character is a ghost. In some other novels, this has seemed very contrived, but in this story it feels appropriate and believable. Ms. Tan also pokes a bit of fun at tourists, but in a loving way."
"I loved this book! A complete turn-about for Amy Tan - this was not a dramatic Chinese family saga; rather the tale of a group of American tourists who disappear mysteriously in the jungles of Burma ("a 3-hour tour....a 3-hour tour") As a traveller and a former travel agent, the escapades and descriptions of the tourists, various expatriates, tour guides, local population, are positively hilarious.
The book is narrated by Bibi Chen, a San Francisco socialite, art dealer, patron of arts, charities, etc., etc. - she has arranged an exquisite guided tour to Southeast Asia for her friends/clients, whose purpose is to see for themselves the various temples, artifacts, of Burma, Thailand, and Laos.
However, Bibi is not on this trip except in spirit - several weeks prior to departure, she was found dead in her store window, and as she explains in the beginning "It was not my fault..."
One minute she's alive, the next she is dead and cannot recall any details of her death - police treat her demise as a homicide.
Bibi's narrative is interspersed with that of a third-person, detailing the adventures of the various tourists -
This was a real page turner - when I find a novel like this I have to force myself to slow down to enjoy the book. But I just can't wait to get to the end..
"From reading the back cover of this book, I expected something like The Poisonwood Bible. Some of the elements are similar: group of Americans visit third world country, spend time with the natives, have their preconceptions shattered through hardship and numerous misunderstandings. But this book was unsettlingly lighthearted. I think that Amy Tan was trying to write a book that treats the reader as a tourist, as someone who seeks a story that is exotic and adventurous without being too disturbing. At one point the narrator discusses the difficulty of writing a book about the troubled world of Burma that will actually appeal to readers. Just as tourists hear about the atrocities committed by the military government and then forget about them in an isolated resort, readers hear horrible tales of murder and torture, only to have them buried in silly scenes like the visit to the temple in China, where the tourists conduct themselves in with shockingly bad behavior. It's an interesting idea, but it didn't work for me. The combination of tragedy and farce was too jarring.
The book was narrated by a ghost who had insight into everyone's thoughts and feelings. I did enjoy this aspect of the book. Although the characters were often irritating and self-centered, I felt that they were fairly real. Who wouldn't look a bit more ugly and self-important if presented through their private thoughts, rather than their more careful, calculated actions?"
"In a note to the reader, Amy Tan says she got the idea for this book when a rain storm drove her to the door of the American Society for Psychical Research where she ended up reading about "automatic writing" (psychics in a trance-like state writing words provided by a spirit). Inspired by a story of automatic writing, Tan tracked down a psychic who provided her with the basis of the book. And the result is one of those truly bizarre stories that feels so unbelievable it has to be fiction, yet contains some details are too strange to be made up. The book feels like a caricature of reality, skewering American culture and "ugly" American tourists, while making some valid points about our embarrassingly over-sized sense of entitlement. Because an almost-all-knowing spirit is narrating the story, the reader gets a voyeuristic peak into each character's self-absorbed thoughts -- it's better than a night of reality television. Once I started this one, I had a hard time putting it down."
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