Taipei Story
By R.F. Kuang ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 8/10 ""All you could see were the ways in which the Chinese kids were better than you: poreless, sweatless, excellent at math, skilled at weaving their bikes in and out of traffic. How cruel it was to..."
By R.F. Kuang
★★★★★★★★☆☆ 8/10
279 pages
What’s it about?
Lily Chen is an American college student traveling to Taiwan to attend an immersive Chinese language school. Lily is a diligent, successful student who is looking forward to improving her Chinese. Her summer is filled with unforeseen challenges. Taiwan is both illuminating and disappointing.
What did it make me think about?
Culture and language.
Should I read it?
This is my third book by R.F. Kuang, and they all three fall into very different genres. Taipei Story is a coming-of-age story that falls squarely in the literary fiction category. Ms. Kuang explores language and how it shapes how you think and see the world. Does she view the world differently while immersing herself in the Chinese language for 8 weeks?
I really enjoy the writing in all R. F. Kuang's books. She is a great storyteller. I did have some trouble relating to Lily. She kind of had a flat affect to me. It was like she was an impartial observer of her own life. I warmed up to her more by the end of the book- but not enough to LOVE this book. If you appreciate good writing and you are interested in languages, then you will enjoy this story. If you like science fiction, try Babel. Or if you want a page-turner with some good moral questions, I would pick up Yellowface. What will Ms. Kuang try next?
A passage I marked
"All you could see were the ways in which the Chinese kids were better than you: poreless, sweatless, excellent at math, skilled at weaving their bikes in and out of traffic. How cruel it was to throw a steak-fed, butter-creamy American child into Asia and ask: Could you survive here? Could you fit in?"
