Reviews with content warning for Child death - Swimming Back to Trout River

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Swimming Back to Trout River by Linda Rui Feng

11 reviews

kaneebli's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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maggies's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I regret that I found this book unbearably boring. It did not keep me engaged and I found my mind wandering often. The characters felt real, but I couldn't bring myself to love them, so I wasn't particularly interested in what happened to them. Ah well, can't win them all.

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

My second to last of the 2022 Aspen Words longlist books! I brought this one on a trip with me and almost finished it on a single flight from Denver to Raleigh; once I started it, I just couldn't stop. Also, if we're keeping track, this is another one (which at this point is at least half of the reads) that I would not have picked up without them appearing on this longlist. So, my gratitude to the exposure this reading challenge is giving me remains strong.

In Swimming Back to Trout River, we follow a few main characters as they navigate recent history in China (including survival of the Cultural Revolution) and immigration to the United States in a variety of ways. Dawn is a musician who must give up the violin to survive the attack on arts and the bourgeois within China. Momo embraces the changes communism brings, at least to start, which causes a lifelong rift between himself and his college friend, Dawn. Cassia is struggling to deal with a traumatic personal experience, leaving Beijing to get away from the memories as soon as she could. Junie is Momo and Cassia' daughter, born in the late 1970s and mostly raised by her grandparents, after her parents' immigration to the United States. But Junie's life faces some major (unwanted) changes when a letter arrives informing her that her family will be brought together again, in America, to celebrate her 12th birthday. This novel unfolds these four stories, interwoven together, until the conclusion where we see how they all, in finale, intersect.

So first, like I said, once I got into this book, the story-telling just carried me along with it. I was swept up by the characters and their individual developments, which all felt very fully dimensional, considering that this isn't a very long novel. Momo and Cassia take center stage, as they are developed both as individuals and as parents, but Dawn is almost equally central, and Junie holds as much space as a sheltered 12-year-old can. Basically, my point is, the character development is wonderful. Along with that, I was subtly blown away by the story itself. As I was reading, I was just moving along with the storytelling, which had a very understated vibe to it. But after finishing, and sitting with my immediate thoughts/reactions, I realized that there was a very impressive depth of humanity in these pages, unearthed and brought to the light, that I didn't even fully register until after it was over. The intermingling of memories of the past, the choices in the present, and the interplay of those realities on the way a life unfolds, is an affecting framework of this story.

I loved the look at the power of art (specifically music) and the way that it inspires and gives purpose and connects people in a way that nothing else can imitate. It is a touchstone, a cornerstone, of culture across generations and space and I love the way it endured throughout this novel, even in the places where all efforts were put not only into ignoring it, but actively quashing it. As my partner always says, the art is what is remembered about past civilizations, more than anything else it is what leaves an indelible mark. I also loved, and this harkens back to my earlier point about the understated tone of the writing, the many kinds of courage and following dreams that don’t make always make as big a splash as far as a dramatic telling, but still are life-changing, routine shattering, extraordinary, for those who act on them. Feng writes, so meticulously, the way these decisions render the characters both recognizable and completely foreign unto themselves, their ideas of who they are and their expectations of who they would be. This is such a universal pattern/ truth and it's so recognizable, despite how different these characters' lives may seem.

I have a few other random thoughts that I'm just gonna collect here at the end. There was physical disability rep that I have never seen on-page before, with a really interesting way of adapting, based on the setting (rural China). A beautiful take, one that I am going to work to internalize, that Feng wrote on this topic, was along these lines: without the rest of us (looking differently from her), she’d never know anything was missing. I mean, what a way to reframe disability (a deeply needed and necessary way). This was also the second AAPI-authored novel that mentions the idea of "yuanfen," the sort of universe-guided connections between people, that I've read in the past couple months. The other, if I am remembering correctly, was Beasts of a Little Land. And it's a concept that I really appreciate because truly there are so many times in real life that connections appear that would almost seem overdone/cheesy in fiction, so reading examples of this cultural explanation for it was really cool. Finally, my two iffy spots. First, I can't decide how I felt about the foreshadowing of Junie's (seemingly big) future, without ever getting any fulfillment on details. I'm not against it, I just can't decide if I'm unsatisfied in a good literary way or in an actually unfinished way. Second, the end of Momo and Cassia’s story. I won't give spoilers, becasue it's a big one, but I just felt like it was too fast/abrupt for the rest of the writing style. I wish a similar endpoint could have been reached with a plot point that better fit the vibe.

Overall, this was such a quietly and tenderly handled telling, considering the amount of grief and trauma that it covered (on this note, I have to mention the content warnings for loss of a child and accidental-injury death, as well as the generall repressive regime of Mao's China). I sped through the compelling and nicely paced story and, while it's not a favorite of the 2022 longlist bunch, it is a very solid addition and deserved the spot and recognition. If you are looking for a well-balanced, multi-POV, character-developed novel, with an insight into finding your place in unforgiving/unaccepting worlds, the connective power of music, and a bit of family drama, then I would definitely recommend this one.

“After all, wasn't it true that to love someone is to figure out how to tell yourself their story?” (I noted this one right away, when I started reading and then it was actually especially mentioned in the author's acknowledgements.)

“It didn’t occur to her that he might have been lonely, and that sometimes the lonely used things to fill up the space vacated by people.”

“In physics, there were always boundary conditions, and you could understand a great deal about a problem by thinking of its two extremes. Music, it seemed to him, lacked such boundaries. One could go on and on in any one direction without ever coming back.”

“He was impatient for time to pass, so that in his life, there would be less yearning and more having, less becoming and more being.”

“It’s in our nature to give things value, and there are times [...] when we have to give these things up in order to stay whole, in order to keep going.”

“But there are certain decisions that seem so right in retrospect that they irreversibly erase thoughts that any alternatives ever existed.”

“She knew that the universe had a way of surprising you with its murkier logic. In this logic, you could give birth to one child and end up raising another. As atonement. Or remuneration. Or however that otherworldly accounting worked.”

“Vocabularies we’re simply impoverished when it came to obscure sorrows.”

“How strange was the ebb and flow of resilience in the space between two people!”

“He knew he was sometimes driven to hopes that were the wrong size for this world.”

Content Warnings

bookishcori's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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alyon's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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keatynbergsten's review

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The first book for the #aspenwordsbookclub is in the bag, and it was a good one. Swimming Back to Trout River examines the impact of China’s Cultural Revolution and the impact of immigration through four key characters, Momo, Dawn, Cassia and Junie. Momo and Dawn meet at university. He is training to be an engineer but is drawn to music when he hears Dawn, a violinist and composer, playing. He eventually marries Cassia. Their daughter Junie is born without lower legs. When her parents migrate to the United States she is left in the care of her grandparents until her parents get established.

The writing quickly drew me in and I appreciated the four main characters in very different ways. Each had their own back story with individual hardships to overcome. Seeing the impact of the Cultural Revolution and migration through four different perspectives contributed to a more complete and nuanced picture than any one would have alone. The settings were also deftly handled, with the village of Trout River being especially vividly depicted.

I especially loved the way Chinese culture in the form of language was woven into this novel, almost as a key theme. Yuanfen and zaohua are introduced and an understanding of these words provides an invaluable lens through which to view the characters and their interactions.

Music, and art more generally, was a key thread throughout the novel, often bringing people together and providing solace at crucial junctures. The contrast in attitudes to the arts in China during the Cultural Revolution and in America was stark.

Janie’s disability and the reaction of others to her was another aspect of the novel I found interesting. While some people were unable to see a future for her, Momo was always optimistic and Junie focussed on what she could do.

While I enjoyed my reading experience I did have some reservations. I would have liked the novel to be a little longer so that we could see more of Junie and also of Dawn’s journey. The ending left me a little unsatisfied because it brought two characters together without any explanation. It just felt too coincidental and convenient.

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sjanke2's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I did not know much about the Chinese Cultural Revolution before reading this book, and enjoyed learning about the Maoist regime through this family saga. Rui Feng does a great job foiling out each character's flawed history so that we meet them each with compassion. The ending was so sad!

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deedireads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Swimming Back to Trout River is an absolutely beautiful novel with quiet, stunning prose and characters. who hop off the page. I’m shocked that it’s a debut.

For you if: You like emotional stories that travel across borders and characters.

FULL REVIEW:

First: Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the gifted copy of this book. It’s really beautiful, both outside (textured cover! deckled edges!) and inside.

Garth Greenwell called this novel “one of the most beautiful debuts I’ve read in years,” and I completely agree. I read it over the course of just two days, but it felt like time stretched gloriously and endlessly as I did so — I was completely engrossed, savoring every word. Linda Rui Feng’s prose is gorgeous. Did I even breathe as I read her words? I’m not sure.

The story features four characters — Junie, a 10-year-old girl who was born without feet and lives with her grandparents in China; her parents, Momo and Cassia, who are estranged from one another in the United States; and Dawn, a violinist and composer who knew Momo when they were students. It spans decades, coming to life during Momo and Dawn’s university days during China’s Cultural Revolution, and continuing through the 1980s, when Momo promises Junie that they’ll spend her special 12th birthday together as a family in America.

These characters are complex, layered, and so compelling. I loved each of them and rooted hard for them to get what they wanted, even when that stood in opposition to what other characters wanted. I just felt so deeply for all of them. And the ending — oh, my heart.

I also really, really loved how Linda Rui Feng brought music into all the corners of the book, from major plot points to tiny little metaphors to the way the writing sings. Truly, if you love music (especially classical), you’ll love this book.

Anyway, this will be on my list of favorites for the year. Read it!

Content Warnings

drawmeabookreview's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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