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Taiwan Travelogue

A Novel

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Taiwan Travelogue

By: Yang Shuang-Zi, Lin King - Translator - translator
Narrated by: Sarah Mariè Skaer
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Summary
 WINNER OF THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE



May 1938. The young novelist Aoyama Chizuko has sailed from her home in Nagasaki, Japan, and arrived in Taiwan. She's been invited there by the Japanese government ruling the island, though she has no interest in their official banquets or imperialist agenda. Instead, Chizuko longs to experience real island life and to taste its authentic cuisine.



Soon a Taiwanese woman—who is younger than she is, and who shares the characters of her name—is hired as her interpreter and makes her dreams come true. Chizuru arranges Chizuko's travels and proves to be an exceptional cook. Chizuko grows infatuated with her companion and intent on drawing her closer. But something causes Chizuru to keep her distance. It's only after a heartbreaking separation that Chizuko begins to grasp what the "something" is.



Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer, this novel was a sensation on its first publication in Mandarin Chinese in 2020 and won Taiwan's highest literary honor, the Golden Tripod Award. Taiwan Travelogue unburies lost colonial histories and reveals how power dynamics inflect our most intimate relationships.©2020 SpringHill Publishing Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction World Literature
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This is a subtle, nuanced tale of the relationship between two women, and two cultures at an important time in Taiwanese history.

Eye-opening tale

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At first glance, this is all about food and a year in Taiwan, but its more about power, people's status and the cost of "equality".
I really enjoyed this.
The food does sound amazing, though.

And now I'm hungry...

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Don't be fooled by the light-hearted culinary descriptions — Taiwan Travelogue is a clever Trojan horse, using food and travel to explore the unequal power dynamics between colonisers and the colonised. It works beautifully as both an atmospheric leisure listen and a profound historical critique.

While some listeners found Chizuru’s voice too 'childlike', I thought the narrator captured brilliantly the polite, precise and cautious tone of a colonised woman navigating a strict social hierarchy.

Much more than just a food and travel guide

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While the detailed descriptions might appeal to some, they didn't work for me. The mix of poetic prose, menu details, history, and romance is interesting, but the book ultimately struggles to define its identity.

In-depth detailed descriptions

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The storyline about two young women is captivating but the end endless passages on Taiwanese food - just spellbinding! Excellent performance, too!

Makes you crave for Taiwanese food so much

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