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ambershelf's Reviews (1.3k)
4.25/5
A sparse yet powerful novel about an injured Syrian soldier and the moments before his flee to safety, or perhaps death. The writing has a dream-like quality with no chapters or breaks at all. The author/translator seamlessly blends the current state of Ali’s injury with his past life, evoking a deep sense of loss as his situation worsens.
While there is violence and poverty as Syria becomes increasingly authoritarian, the writing never feels over sensationalized, and we experience love and gratitude through Ali’s eyes.
Great for readers who appreciate poetic and rhythmic prose that pack a punch!
A sparse yet powerful novel about an injured Syrian soldier and the moments before his flee to safety, or perhaps death. The writing has a dream-like quality with no chapters or breaks at all. The author/translator seamlessly blends the current state of Ali’s injury with his past life, evoking a deep sense of loss as his situation worsens.
While there is violence and poverty as Syria becomes increasingly authoritarian, the writing never feels over sensationalized, and we experience love and gratitude through Ali’s eyes.
Great for readers who appreciate poetic and rhythmic prose that pack a punch!
I read this book first in Mandarin. And then I read the English translation (ARC kindly gifted by the publisher) very slowly while comparing to the mandarin version.
This is a brilliant, if not somewhat confusing (in the best way), metafiction. If you’d prefer to figure out the structure of what is real or not yourself, please don’t read the following. From my discussions with fellow readers who’ve read the English translation, I feel it might be helpful to explain the structure of the book, if not at the expense of potentially spoiling the fun.
TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE is metafiction at its finest. In the original mandarin version, it’s disguised as a lost Japanese novel set pre WW2 in Taiwan during Japanese colonization that is retranslated into Mandarin by a Taiwanese author. Therefore, there is a foreword and multiple “translator’s notes”—which again, are all fake and written by Yang alone. In the English version, the last translator’s notes penned by Lin King is the only actual translator’s notes (as she’s the one who translated the texts from mandarin to English).
So why the layers of disguise? Apparently in the first edition published in Taiwan, there’s quite an uproar as some people purchased TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE thinking it’s nonfiction translated from Japanese. And the fact that it’s fictional makes things feel “less genuine.” Yang brilliantly uses this meta fictional structure to ask the readers to confront their biases. Why would one consider a travelogue written through the eyes of the colonizer more “authentic”? In the later (fake) “translator’s notes”, Yang also incorporates the changing Taiwanese political landscape as yet another layer of why some texts might be left out. This raises the question of what is real and what is not. And perhaps the most important perspective that books, regardless of fictional or not, is always written through some biases.
Another aspect of TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE I absolutely adore is the discussions about power dynamics that digs deeper beyond the overwritten tropes of colonization vs subjugation through physical violence. Yang writes a beautiful and delicate tale about two good natured women who want to form a deep friendship through food and adventures. Can they be true friends? This sentence beautifully sums up how subtle and delicate power imbalances can be, “There is nothing in the world more difficult to refuse than self-righteous goodwill.” If there can never be true friendship between the oppressed and oppressor, what else can there be? Yang doesn’t give us a direct answer, but encourages the readers to consider other possibilities than an us vs them binary.
One can tell how much research Yang did in incorporating historical Taiwanese food and culture. The immersive food writing evokes a deep sense of nostalgia in me, and made me so incredibly hungry! If you’re a foodie, TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE will for sure make your mouth water. I read an interview of Yang where she mentioned the title of each chapter—Taiwanese food—can still all be found in present day Taiwan. I love the considerations she gives to such details, and can’t wait to embark on my own Taiwan food tour.
You can read more about the interview in mandarin here: https://www.openbook.org.tw/article/p-63419
This is a brilliantly profound work of literature that I think will suit any reader. Those who just want to have fun time reading about historical Taiwan, those who enjoy food writing, those who love books that play with structure and make you doubt what you’ve read, those who love themes of power imbalance in relationships but are a tad tired of the white man x woman of color tropes
This is a brilliant, if not somewhat confusing (in the best way), metafiction. If you’d prefer to figure out the structure of what is real or not yourself, please don’t read the following. From my discussions with fellow readers who’ve read the English translation, I feel it might be helpful to explain the structure of the book, if not at the expense of potentially spoiling the fun.
TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE is metafiction at its finest. In the original mandarin version, it’s disguised as a lost Japanese novel set pre WW2 in Taiwan during Japanese colonization that is retranslated into Mandarin by a Taiwanese author. Therefore, there is a foreword and multiple “translator’s notes”—which again, are all fake and written by Yang alone. In the English version, the last translator’s notes penned by Lin King is the only actual translator’s notes (as she’s the one who translated the texts from mandarin to English).
So why the layers of disguise? Apparently in the first edition published in Taiwan, there’s quite an uproar as some people purchased TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE thinking it’s nonfiction translated from Japanese. And the fact that it’s fictional makes things feel “less genuine.” Yang brilliantly uses this meta fictional structure to ask the readers to confront their biases. Why would one consider a travelogue written through the eyes of the colonizer more “authentic”? In the later (fake) “translator’s notes”, Yang also incorporates the changing Taiwanese political landscape as yet another layer of why some texts might be left out. This raises the question of what is real and what is not. And perhaps the most important perspective that books, regardless of fictional or not, is always written through some biases.
Another aspect of TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE I absolutely adore is the discussions about power dynamics that digs deeper beyond the overwritten tropes of colonization vs subjugation through physical violence. Yang writes a beautiful and delicate tale about two good natured women who want to form a deep friendship through food and adventures. Can they be true friends? This sentence beautifully sums up how subtle and delicate power imbalances can be, “There is nothing in the world more difficult to refuse than self-righteous goodwill.” If there can never be true friendship between the oppressed and oppressor, what else can there be? Yang doesn’t give us a direct answer, but encourages the readers to consider other possibilities than an us vs them binary.
One can tell how much research Yang did in incorporating historical Taiwanese food and culture. The immersive food writing evokes a deep sense of nostalgia in me, and made me so incredibly hungry! If you’re a foodie, TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE will for sure make your mouth water. I read an interview of Yang where she mentioned the title of each chapter—Taiwanese food—can still all be found in present day Taiwan. I love the considerations she gives to such details, and can’t wait to embark on my own Taiwan food tour.
You can read more about the interview in mandarin here: https://www.openbook.org.tw/article/p-63419
This is a brilliantly profound work of literature that I think will suit any reader. Those who just want to have fun time reading about historical Taiwan, those who enjoy food writing, those who love books that play with structure and make you doubt what you’ve read, those who love themes of power imbalance in relationships but are a tad tired of the white man x woman of color tropes
3.5/5 ARC gifted by the publisher
A character-driven story of a woman stuck in a time loop in Nov 18th. While the premise sounds very sci-fi-y, the book is more about the interiority of a woman who goes through stages of doubt, despair, hope when forced to relive one day over and over again.
I enjoyed the rich character, where the time loop can be interpreted as a one’s endless grind, or maybe doubt about one’s ability to change. I feel a bit frustrated that the FMC seems passive and doesn’t really experiment to see how to break out of the time loop, even though I know it’s not that kind of novel
A character-driven story of a woman stuck in a time loop in Nov 18th. While the premise sounds very sci-fi-y, the book is more about the interiority of a woman who goes through stages of doubt, despair, hope when forced to relive one day over and over again.
I enjoyed the rich character, where the time loop can be interpreted as a one’s endless grind, or maybe doubt about one’s ability to change. I feel a bit frustrated that the FMC seems passive and doesn’t really experiment to see how to break out of the time loop, even though I know it’s not that kind of novel
3.75/5
An eerie horror-light story of a house that traps women in a family inside. I really liked the embrace of angry women exacting their revenge. I was worried at first it would be too scary for me, but I think the overall vibe is more psychologically dark than horror. An entertaining and unputdownable read
An eerie horror-light story of a house that traps women in a family inside. I really liked the embrace of angry women exacting their revenge. I was worried at first it would be too scary for me, but I think the overall vibe is more psychologically dark than horror. An entertaining and unputdownable read
MATER 2-10 is both a labor of love and a love letter to the laborers forgotten by Korean history. I loved the comprehensive historical context following railroad workers and the four generations in one family through early Japanese colonization until modern day South Korea.
The author mentioned that this book took him 30 years to write, evident in the expansive historical details and documents in MATER. For readers not as familiar with Korean history, this book provides ample background. Even as a reader who’s more well-versed in Asian history, I still learned a lot from MATER, especially the labor activists and communist movements during Japanese occupation.
However, MATER is at times too didactic in including historical events and sacrifices character/plot. The author tends to include a lot of details, and sometimes after reading those long paragraphs, I forgot where the characters are at with their journey. I also feel the characters are more vectors to convey different ideologies or to demonstrate historical events, rather than being fully-fleshed out individuals. MATER reads like 70% history and 30% fiction—I did find myself dosing off when the writing gets too wiki-like
The author mentioned that this book took him 30 years to write, evident in the expansive historical details and documents in MATER. For readers not as familiar with Korean history, this book provides ample background. Even as a reader who’s more well-versed in Asian history, I still learned a lot from MATER, especially the labor activists and communist movements during Japanese occupation.
However, MATER is at times too didactic in including historical events and sacrifices character/plot. The author tends to include a lot of details, and sometimes after reading those long paragraphs, I forgot where the characters are at with their journey. I also feel the characters are more vectors to convey different ideologies or to demonstrate historical events, rather than being fully-fleshed out individuals. MATER reads like 70% history and 30% fiction—I did find myself dosing off when the writing gets too wiki-like
4.75/5 shout out to my library for giving finished copies away
3.75/5
What I liked
- the historical setting of Zaire as a civil war breaks out
- the rhythmic writing that mirrors jazz music
- the blend of serious themes of poverty, violence and dark humor of the characters’ lives through funny dialogues
What I struggled with
- I’d encourage readers unfamiliar with the history of Zaire and Angola to first read about it. Or at least read the author’s notes first!
- there are quite a lot of characters and I feel like none of them are fully realized. I wonder if the purpose is more to paint a picture of what life is like for the “street kids” during the 90s
What I liked
- the historical setting of Zaire as a civil war breaks out
- the rhythmic writing that mirrors jazz music
- the blend of serious themes of poverty, violence and dark humor of the characters’ lives through funny dialogues
What I struggled with
- I’d encourage readers unfamiliar with the history of Zaire and Angola to first read about it. Or at least read the author’s notes first!
- there are quite a lot of characters and I feel like none of them are fully realized. I wonder if the purpose is more to paint a picture of what life is like for the “street kids” during the 90s
