Review: The Old Capital: A Novel of Taipei

The Old Capital: A Novel of Taipei by Chu Tien-hsin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

4 stories and a novella. The stories were very hit or miss. The first one was probably my favorite.

As for the novella, I feel like only a Waishengren （外省人）would really appreciate it. And even then, only one who grew up between the 60's and 80's (or thereabouts, I guess). On the other hand, I think it could be of great interest to historians interested in recent Taipei history. She seems to go through the changes of Taipei, from post Japanese conquest to post-Chiang Kai shek (or thereabouts) in great detail. I tried to follow some of the addresses mentioned, but nothing seems to resemble her description anymore. The style seems to be very stream of consciousness / Mrs. Dalloway-style, although much of it is in the 2nd person, which always strikes me as odd.

Also, I just wanted to point out that Lane 10, Section 3 of Zhongxiao East Road is NOT parallel to Jinan road!


http://4201mass.blogspot.com/

Also also, and this is probably just because my family is from Florence. But the church in Florence with the Brunelleschi dome isn't the "St. Florence Church", and the Arno river isn't outside the city.

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