Taipei Story by R.F. KuangMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Kuang continues her contemporary phase with a deep exploration of Chinese/Taiwanese identity all in the middle of a college trip for intensive language learning.
Naturally, being Kuang, this book went viral well in advance of its publication for all the wrong reasons - specifically, for its brief mention of a performance by an Israeli pianist, angering the anti-Zionist contingent just for mentioning the country they hate so much. (For what it’s worth, I understand Kuang is anti-Zionist herself, but then another scene following up on the piano concert goes to a bookstore full of pro-democracy and anti-war slogans for Taiwan, Ukraine, etc. and “Free Palestine” is absent. Maybe Kuang’s views have come to shift?…but I digress.)
This book is short, but slow moving with its string of vignettes as a plot. Most of Lily’s classmates are annoying as hell, but it’s her family story that makes this one more compelling, as well as her unexpected reaction to life in Taiwan as a member of the diaspora. The marketing promised that the book would explore the surprising truths of Lily’s forebears and their connections to recent Asian history, but even that wound up traveling down seriously unexpected roads, in countries beyond China and Taiwan, showing just how interconnected the nations of this continent are.
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