Salt Fish Girl

Salt Fish Girl

Larissa Lai

Are you a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction with woven plots and references to Chinese culture? You are! Then you’re going to love “Salt Fish Girl.” But you don’t even have to be a fan of all those things, really you just have to like post-apocalyptic environments and novels that get under your skin and make you think (but not think in the way that makes you feel bad, think in the way that makes you feel empowered).

I am a sucker for woven plotlines. They’re hard to pull off but exceptionally rewarding when done well, as they are in “Salt Fish Girl.” One strand of the story follows Nu Wa, the goddess/human whose story begins with her creating humans and flows into her becoming one. On the other strand we have Miranda, a young woman of Asian decent, living in a post-apocalyptic Vancouver.

Miranda is stinky. Really really stinky. No one likes her. She smells like the durian fruit because her parents ate it while conceiving her. Miranda’s father is in deep in the government and eventually they get kicked out of their suburban paradise and passed beyond the wall into the impoverished area where a lot of other Chinese people are living.

While living here Miranda meets Evie who is a clone! The government is creating a clone workforce that they don’t have treat like humans because their DNA contains 0.03% freshwater caro. Any good science fiction acts as a reflection of modern issues, with that in mind you can really see what’s going on with this carp fish thing. Anyway, Evie shows Miranda that she is just as human as anyone else and they take on the man together. Awesome awesome.

Meanwhile Nu Wa’s story get’s super confusing as she’s living in old school China and being lured away from her love, which we only know was Salt Fish Girl. A lot of other stuff happens in the story but it’ll just get crazy confusing if I try to lay it all out.

SPOILER ALERT

The ending is amazing. Turns out Nu Wa and Miranda are kind of the same person and Evie is a reincarnation of the Salt Fish Girl, but Miranda doesn’t know it! And now Miranda can do right by Evie to try and make amends for Nu Was abandoning the Salt Fish Girl. But it’s about a thousand times more confusing than that. When you’re in this world reading these two stories come together it all makes sense, everything connects.

OK YOU CAN COME BACK

The main thing I have to gush about is how Lai manages to address so much in such a short book. Evie is clearly a representation of how Asian immigrants have been seen as different or less than the European immigrants, but she isn’t trying to point fingers and say, “all you people, you are all the worst.” She’s just providing readers with a perspective they may not have. That’s what good science fiction does, it makes you think without making you feel bad for living.

Lai gets four and a half lightning bolts for “Salt Fish Girl” it’s very smart and you should go find yourself a copy of it right now!

Reviewed by: Meg!