By Carolina Moriello
Linda Rui Feng’s debut novel Swimming Back to Trout River tells the interwoven stories of Junie, Momo, Cassia, and Dawn. The story begins with Junie’s journey to the small Chinese village of Trout River, where she will be living with her grandparents after her mother Cassia leaves for America to be with her husband, and Junie’s father, Momo. Junie adjusts effortlessly to her life in Trout River, despite the distance between herself and her parents. However, Junie is saddened when she receives a letter from her father with the news that she will be moving to the United States to live with her parents when she turns twelve years old. It is Momo’s mission to reunite his family, but Junie and Cassia may not be on the same page. It is at this point in the novel when we learn about the past struggles and hardships Cassia, Momo, and his friend Dawn had to face, all while living through China’s Cultural Revolution.
Although this novel ultimately begins and ends with Junie’s story, the majority of the book revolves around Dawn and the newly separated couple Momo and Cassia. We learn about their hardships growing up during an intense time in China’s history, their misfortunes and experiences with grief and loss, and Dawn and Momo’s love for and connection to classical music. We also learn of their individual journeys and struggles as immigrants in America, and how they evolve and flourish as individuals, all while living in a foreign country that promises them a better future. Each of their stories are unique, diverse, and interesting in their own regard, but they ultimately felt choppy and hard to follow. The novel often jumped from one perspective to another, and at times included details that did not lend themselves to the actual plot of the novel.
Overall, Linda Rui Feng is a beautiful writer and the words felt poetic and lyrical. She was able to write about heavy and morose topics such as love, loss, and tragedy in a beautiful and effective way. It was also interesting to learn more about Chinese culture and conflict. However, as beautiful as the writing was, the storytelling could have been more consistent and less erratic. Junie was an important character in this novel, but we rarely read about her life and connection to her grandparents. This relationship and connection was probably the most important one in the novel, yet the reader was unable to learn more about it. It was hard to connect to any of the characters because we never got to know them on a deeper level. Oftentimes I was left wondering why a certain memory was being shared, making it difficult to find its importance and contribution to the overall plot. This book had much potential, but ultimately fell flat.