Taiwan Travelogue

by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ

translated by Lin King

Where to purchase: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Libro.fm

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I had a feeling about this book before I even opened it. So I waited until I could give it my full attention. I am so glad I did.

Taiwan Travelogue is now in my favorites. Full stop.

What It's About

The book is structured as the travel diary of a Japanese woman visiting 1930s Taiwan. It is vivid, sensory, deeply observed. The food. The way jōgashi and dagashi carry an entire class system inside them, the way every meal is also a map of who has power and who does not. I am a foodie at heart. When I travel I take cooking classes, food tours, I get lost looking for the real thing. This book fed that part of me completely. I wished I could write about travel the way this book does.

But underneath all of that beauty is something far more complicated.

Much of the book centers on the relationship between the author and her Taiwanese translator: a sharp, educated, fiercely capable woman who anticipates everything, prepares everything, and works quietly to make the author's experience seamless. The author believes herself to be without prejudice. She is warm, generous, well-meaning. She loves her translator, genuinely. And yet. She makes small comments without thinking, without understanding. She gives gifts that are not appropriate or appreciated.  She tries to take care of someone who does not want to be taken care of.

The translator absorbs all of it. She softens it. She protects the relationship.

There is a moment of clarity in this book that I did not see coming, and the way it is delivered. I will be thinking about it for a long time.

What I Loved

"There is nothing in the world more difficult to refuse than self-righteous goodwill."

I have been sensitive to this dynamic my entire traveling life. I grew up in Hawaii watching it. I have felt it more and more through the books I read. I never want to be the traveler who mistakes appreciation for understanding, or enthusiasm for respect. This book held a mirror up in the most generous and devastating way possible.

I will be in Taipei later this year for a few days. I know the city is very different now, and that much of what is described in these pages may be difficult or impossible to find in the same form. But I will be walking through it with a completely different lens because of this book. That is what great literature does.

I want to read it again. I may actually study it.

One note: please read the translator's notes. They are part of the story. Lin King's work here is extraordinary and deserves your full attention.

Where to purchase

Bookshop.org | Amazon | Libro.fm

If you liked this

Lyn Liao Butler's The Fourth Daughter shares the same Taiwanese history, the same food at the center of everything, and the same women holding it all together quietly. Another deeply satisfying read.