Saving Fish From Drowning

I recently finished Amy Tan's novel, Saving Fish From Drowning. There were about 75 pages or so that captured my attention but other than that I had a really hard time getting through the book. I couldn't relate to the characters and felt like the ending was pretty anti-climactic. The following two quotes were on the very first page of reading (before the chapter actually started). The first one (which obviously inspired the title of the novel) just seemed silly to me, ignorance at it's best.

A pious man explained to his followers: "It is evil to take lives and noble to save them. Each day I pledge to save a hundred lives. I drop my net in the lake and scoop out a hundred fishes. I place the fishes on the bank, where they flop and twirl. 'Don't be scared,' I tell those fishes. 'I am saving you from drowning.' Soon enough, the fishes grow calm and lie still. Yet, sad to say, I am always too late. The fishes expire. And because it is evil to waste anything, I take those dead fishes to market and I sell them for a good price. With the money I receive, I buy more nets so I can save more fishes. (author anonymous)

"The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding." ~ Albert Camus

By the end of the book, Tan had made her point:

Good intentions + Ignorance = Bad Outcome

And the above first quote made a lot more sense to me. I'm not sure if Tan was trying to make a religious or political statement with this book? I won't even go there. But the quote has stuck with me and I wonder if (in a much subtler way) I've ever been a part of a saving-fish-from-drowning excursion. I hope not, but regardless the book did make me think a lot more about the elements of ignorance.