May 9

May 9 Swimming Back to Trout River

Author: Linda Rui Feng
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Goodreads | The StoryGraph

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Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the full review.

Cover Description

A lyrical novel set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution that follows a father’s quest to reunite his family before his precocious daughter’s momentous birthday, which Garth Greenwell calls “one of the most beautiful debuts I’ve 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 Junie’s growing determination to stay put in the idyllic countryside with her beloved grandparents threatens to derail her family’s shared future.

What Junie doesn’t 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 China’s Cultural Revolution. While Momo grapples anew with his deferred musical ambitions and dreams for Junie’s 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 Junie’s birthday — even if it means bringing painful family secrets to light.

Swimming Back to Trout River weaves together the stories of Junie, Momo, Cassia, and Dawn — a talented violinist from Momo’s past — while depicting their heartbreak and resilience, tenderly revealing the hope, compromises, and abiding ingenuity that make up the lives of immigrants.

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!