Reviews and Comments

This is one of my favourite books I've read this year.

It's a kind of meta-fiction centered around the history of bicycles in Taiwan, and covers the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the Second World War in British Malaya, and especially the role of bicycles (and, more upsettingly, elephants) in the war.

Wu Ming-yi himself seems a bit of a renaissance man (writer, artist, environmental activist and more) and a fascinating person. Sadly only two of his books have so far been translated into English.

If you're interested in Taiwan, its history, WWII in SE Asia, bicycles (of course), the nature of Taiwan (especially butterflies), and love elephants, then you'll probably love this.

Really enjoyed this. A sharp political satire, in the form of a series of interconnected stories set in Beanstalk, a 674-story skyscraper and sovereign nation. It mostly concerns itself with matters of (visible and invisible) power, mass media and information and hype, but is both touching (the elephant Buddha story) and funny (the dog as important power broker) as well as smart.

And the Appendix is fantastic: consisting of the full length versions of some of the stories and pieces of writing that were mentioned in the plot of a number of the stories in the "main" part of the book.

Really enjoyed this. A sharp political satire, in the form of a series of interconnected stories set in Beanstalk, a 674-story skyscraper and sovereign nation. It mostly concerns itself with matters of (visible and invisible) power, mass media and information and hype, but is both touching (the elephant Buddha story) and funny (the dog as important power broker) as well as smart.

And the Appendix is fantastic: consisting of the full length versions of some of the stories and pieces of writing that were mentioned in the plot of a number of the stories in the "main" part of the book.

Really enjoyed this - a very twisty, clever crime drama involving a vigilante serial killer, set in Chengdu. I came across is by chance in a charity shop, and as it's the first of a trilogy, I've already bought the second book (not sure the third one has been translated into English yet).

I couldn't stop reading this. A brilliant, totally captivating story set in mostly in 1940s Malaya. It's a mix of fact and fiction (even though I've been to Malaysia and the Batu Caves outside KL, I never knew about the Batu Caves Massacre, where most of the leaders of the communist Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPSJA) were betrayed and killed). But more than anything, it's a story of love and a more personal kind of betrayal - the story of one man told from three very different perspectives.

This is probably one of the strangest books I've ever read, in a good way - but not for the faint-hearted.

Poetic, highly surreal, visceral, violent, explicit about everything bodily, shocking, but also very funny at the same time. I think (but could be wrong) a lot of the often gruesome violence has its origins in the Tayan (Taiwan's indigenous people) myths that pervade the storytelling.