Amy Tan's story about a group of 11 American tourists kidnapped by Burmese tribesmen and narrated by a ghost is not as gripping as it should be. In fact at times it really drags. The tourists are superficial, self-absorbed, materialistic cliches. The tribesmen are innocent, naive cliches. The kidnapping takes place well into the book and Tan leads us down too many paths on the way there. I couldn't seem to care about any of the characters other than the little puppy one of the children adopted and smuggled into Burma. They got malaria- I didn't care. They were treated with great respect while in captivity. I think I may have secretly wanted them to suffer a little more so I could feel their pain. As it turns out I'm left feeling like I spent too much time reading a book that leaves me shrugging and saying, "meh".
No comments:
Post a Comment