Swimming Back to Trout River, Linda Rui Feng’s debut novel, was not what I expected. I though it would be the story of a young Girl, Junie, living with her grandparents in a small Chinese village who receives word from her parents in the United States that they plan to have her join them there by her 12th birthday, and her reluctance to leave the only home she’s ever known. It was about this, but also not at all about this. 

Junie’s parents, Cassia and Momo, meet in 1973 during China’s cultural revolution. Prior to meeting, they were both deeply impacted by yuanfen (the relationship between two people brought together in ways large and small for minutes or decades) and by zaohua (the insignificance of the individual in a world indifferent to human pain). 

Momo was deeply impacted by a Dawn, a fellow student and gifted violinist who went on to pursue her dreams despite China’s commitment to proletariat ideals. Cassia similarly impacted by the gruesome death of the first man she loved at the hands of the revolutionary vanguard. They both later experience the birth of their daughter, who was born without legs below the knees, very differently. Momo is hopeful and optimistic for Junie’s future while Cassia is plagued with guilt. 

Momo leaves for the US to attend grad school when Junie is 5 years old and Cassia follows shortly after, leaving Junie with her doting grandparents. 

The novel doesn’t focus on the present as much as it does Momo and Cassia’s past. However their past informs the present in surprising ways as Momo and Cassia grapple with their experiences and struggle to fix their present relationships. 

I don’t 100% know how I feel about this one. The prose was lovely and I felt very attached to the characters, but I was also underwhelmed with the conclusion. I felt like this book needed a few more chapters to have a cohesive ending. But maybe that was the point.