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Swimming Back to Trout River
Swimming Back to Trout River | Linda Rui Feng
7 posts | 3 read | 1 reading | 6 to read
A lyrical novel set against the backdrop of Chinas Cultural Revolution that follows a fathers quest to reunite his family before his precocious daughters momentous birthday, which Garth Greenwell calls one of the most beautiful debuts Ive read in years. How many times in life can we start over without losing ourselves? In the summer of 1986 in a small Chinese village, ten-year-old Junie receives a momentous letter from her parents, who had left for America years ago: her father promises to return home and collect her by her twelfth birthday. But Junies growing determination to stay put in the idyllic countryside with her beloved grandparents threatens to derail her familys shared future. What Junie doesnt know is that her parents, Momo and Cassia, are newly estranged from one another in their adopted country, each holding close private tragedies and histories from the tumultuous years of their youth during Chinas Cultural Revolution. While Momo grapples anew with his deferred musical ambitions and dreams for Junies future in America, Cassia finally begins to wrestle with a shocking act of brutality from years ago. In order for Momo to fulfill his promise, he must make one last desperate attempt to reunite all three members of the family before Junies birthdayeven if it means bringing painful family secrets to light. A beautifully written, poignant exploration of family, art, culture, immigration, and most of all, love, (Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee) Swimming Back to Trout River weaves together the stories of Junie, Momo, Cassia, and Dawna talented violinist from Momos pastwhile depicting their heartbreak and resilience, tenderly revealing the hope, compromises, and abiding ingenuity that make up the lives of immigrants.
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kwmg40
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Pickpick

This story follows the paths of several people living in China during the Cultural Revolution who eventually make their way to America. There were some weaknesses in the writing, but the characters and strong storytelling, along with the interesting historical details, more than made up for the deficiencies.

@BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 3y
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review
Lindy
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Pickpick

The writing style annoyed me, but that‘s a matter of taste and I liked this well enough otherwise to call it a pick. I cared about the characters who are subject to the vagaries of chance & circumstance. The setting—China‘s cultural revolution plus its aftermath—is also fascinating & clearly portrayed without lengthy elaboration. Music has a central role & I can actually imagine this story adapted into a wonderful opera. #CanLit #shadowgiller2021

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Lindy
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Littens, here‘s another sex scene to evaluate. Yay or nay?

Tonton Nay for me. Not enough languorous sensuality or breathless excitement. 3y
Ruthiella No thank you! 🙈 3y
batsy Not sure of the context but that reads pretty awkward and cringe! 3y
See All 15 Comments
SamAnne Ugh. 3y
TrishB I‘d just read past that. Just a bit cringy as @batsy says! 3y
ravenlee Nay, definitely nay. Is he a vampire? Because this sounds like a sex scene in a vampire romance circa 2000. 3y
Mrs_B Nope. Does not sound like she's having a good time. 3y
Lindy @ravenlee 😂🧛‍♂️😂 3y
Lindy @batsy Context: it‘s her first sexual experience and the two are engaged to be married but she‘s conflicted about the wedding. 3y
fredthemoose 😟Oh, lord, no. 3y
Lindy @Tonton Yes, it‘s more of a “wham, bam, thank you mam” 3y
Lindy @Ruthiella @SamAnne @TrishB @Mrs_B @fredthemoose Thanks for weighing in, y‘all. 🤗 3y
SamAnne @Lindy I‘m having flashbacks to the HBO show True Blood. 😂😬😂😬. Which, for the record, I loved. 3y
Lindy @SamAnne Ha! You and @ravenlee are on the same wavelength 3y
batsy @Lindy Ah, OK! The writing is a bit clunky but I guess it makes more sense why there's that underlying sense of anxiety/dread 3y
21 likes15 comments
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Lindy
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Usually when I flag a bunch of passages in a book, it‘s because I like how something is expressed, or because I take notice of the content. With this novel, however, I kept marking passages that exemplify why I find the writing style clunky & annoying. Information dumping is one of the things that bug me.

Ruthiella Info dumps don‘t always bother me...it depends on the context, I think. 3y
ravenlee This is very clunky. As a musician, passages like this are very annoying, because that doesn‘t even make sense as a description of playing a violin. 3y
Lindy @Ruthiella For me, I suppose it depends on how the information is imparted. I do like learning things from novels, but not in a way that brings me right out of the narrative flow. 3y
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Lindy @ravenlee Thanks for weighing in. I hadn‘t even thought about it from the perspective of a musician. 3y
Lcsmcat @ravenlee I agree. (Also a musician here.) it reads like an extraterrestrial being is trying to describe music. 3y
Lindy @Lcsmcat 😂👽🎵 3y
Reggie I think I‘m with ya‘ll because as a musician that makes no sense but what if a physicist was reading this, maybe they would say-Ah, yes, exactly. I think it‘s mostly to inform us about him and not her violin playing even though it‘s starts out that way? 🤔 (edited) 3y
Lindy @Reggie I think you are right that this passage is about how a physicist reacts to hearing a violin for the first time. But it‘s still clunky. 3y
21 likes8 comments
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Lindy
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Okay Littens, tell me what you think: is this cheesy writing or a lovely description of intimacy?

slategreyskies I think the part before the comma is a bit over the top, but I like the part after the comma. :) 3y
Cathythoughts I think it‘s good 3y
Lindy @slategreyskies @Cathythoughts Thanks for your viewpoints. I tend to be in the minority whenever romance slips into my reading; I don‘t care for it, so I‘m not a good judge. 3y
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Megabooks Cheesy 3y
Cathythoughts I don‘t see it as particularly romantic.. 3y
Lindy @Cathythoughts The romance happens before this passage, then the pinnacle and drowning. 3y
Cathythoughts Maybe bringing him down from his high horse … no one needs to drown here 😁 3y
Ruthiella Too cheesy for me personally. 😬 3y
Tonton Cheese! 3y
ravenlee Cheesy - and I enjoy romance reading! But there‘s a fine line, and this passed it. 3y
Reggie Yeah, it‘s a bit much. Lol 3y
Reggie @Cathythoughts Lololol ❤️ 3y
Lindy @Reggie 😁 3y
23 likes16 comments
blurb
Lindy
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I‘m finding the writing in this Giller longlisted novel unpleasantly awkward, as in this passage that imparts information about cultural differences in a clunky way.

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Lindy
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They came to the paddock enclosing one of the most popular animals in the zoo, a species nicknamed “Quadruple-Not-Look-Alike.” The placard said its formal name was Elaphurus davidianus or Père David‘s deer, and that the animal had the hooves of a cow, the neck of a camel, the antlers of a deer, and the tail of a donkey, but was none of those things.
(Internet photo)

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