love me like Amy Tan

I was in Boston this weekend visiting my friend Bannie (as I just this moment started calling her in my head) who was starring in a play. She would probably correct me and say it was an ensemble piece but clearly, she was the star. And I'm not just saying that because I'm her friend. Actually, I found myself being exceptionally critical watching her specifically because she's my friend. Is she funny as this character? Is she funny because she's Bannie? Am I just having fun because I know her outside this context? And this is why HL will never voluntarily let me read one of his plays. Understandable.

Bannie and I went out to dinner before the show but overestimated how much time we would spend eating. Since we were eating before the show we couldn't order wine or any sort of alcohol and really enjoy ourselves (I guess I could have but I didn't want to be that drunk friend) plus the restaurant's heating was broken. All they had were a bunch of space heaters sitting around and instead of going somewhere else (the theater was right across the street) we just hurried through our meal. This left me with about an hour and 45 minutes before the play started. Bannie went backstage and I went to a coffee-type house next door to, what else, knit. I plopped myself down on a couch next to the fireplace and took out my bag. There was an awful singer doing his thing about 15 feet away but I just concentrated on my work and made smug remarks in my head. About 10 minutes before I was going to leave a late 50s-something woman came up to me. When I raised my head she said, "Excuse me, I just wanted to say: to know you is to love you. That's beautiful."

And it is and you should.

I've noticed that almost all the books I've read lately start with a quote or poem by someone other than the author. I usually read them and think, that's nice, or, why do I need an introduction by a different artist, or, do I really want to read this book? I'm probably not really that harsh. I just opened the new book by Amy Tan, Saving Fish from Drowning, and here's how she started:

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

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 received, I buy more nets so I can save more fishes.
--Anonymous

I not only think these are wonderful quotes but that they succinctly set a tone that the novel can then follow. The second quote expounds on the first and the novel can be viewed as an even greater expansion. I feel that these quotes also act as a kind of guywire for the novel that the reader can hold onto if they ever feel lost. So far I'm not as absorbed in this book as I have been in others by Amy Tan but I'm still excited.