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Formats
paperback and e-book Details
  • 07/2021
  • 1647421284 B08F79TC1K
  • 320 pages
  • $16.95
Lindsey Salatka
Author
Fish Heads and Duck Skin

Adult; General Fiction (including literary and historical); (Market)

On the advice of a five-dollar psychic, Tina Martin, a zany, overworked mother of two, quits her high-powered job and moves her family to Shanghai. Tina yearns for this new setting to bring her the zen-like inner peace she’s always heard about on infomercials. Instead, she becomes a totally exasperated fish out of water, doing wacky things like stealing the shoes of a shifty delivery man, spraying local women with a bidet hose, and contemplating the murder of her new pet cricket. It takes the friendship of an elderly tai chi instructor, a hot Mandarin tutor, and several mah-jongg-tile-slinging expats to bring Tina closer to a culture she doesn’t understand, the dream job she never knew existed, and the self she has always sought. Fish Heads and Duck Skin will resonate with anyone who has ever wondered who they are, why they were put here, and how they ever lived before eating pan-fried pork buns.
Plot/Idea: 9 out of 10
Originality: 8 out of 10
Prose: 9 out of 10
Character/Execution: 8 out of 10
Overall: 8.50 out of 10

Assessment:

Plot: Well-paced and continuously engaging, Salatka’s fictitious story pulls the reader through time and the emotional growth of the main character skillfully and earnestly.

Prose/Style: Salatka’s journalistic training pays off in her true-life-inspired story. Told in the first person, Salatka’s detail is on point and her voice is evident as characterized. At once, the book reads like a memoir and a piece of fiction.

Originality: Salatka’s fictionalized story of her journey from being a tense salesperson to a world-traveling, enlightened mom is familiar, inspiring, and brave. Her sincerity while being immersed in a new culture is balanced with raw emotion and grace.

Character Development/Execution: Protagonist Tina is depicted as painfully harsh or insensitive to those around her, but fully embodied descriptions allow for her hard shell to be thoughtfully softened with time and humility.

Blurb: Covering two years of a new life in Shanghai, Salatka describes one woman and her family’s transition in beautiful detail with utter honesty. The challenges and adjustments the family faces range from typical culture shock to common human experiences.

Date Submitted: August 06, 2021

Formats
paperback and e-book Details
  • 07/2021
  • 1647421284 B08F79TC1K
  • 320 pages
  • $16.95
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