Shawna’s writing in this book is lyrical. they fight for their own freedom and taiwan is a country, not a province of china. to be honest, this is the first time that I knew the history of taiwan. the narrator, whose name wasn’t told, tells the story of her childhood– how her father was taken during martial law in taiwan and up to the time when she had her own family. Green island is an amazing story that tackles patriotism, love, family, and friendship. i had it for a long time and i didn’t regret reading this book at my current age (which is 24 year-old).

This is the second book that i read for #stanasianauthor this month of may. The beauty of orphanhood is the blank slate.” Eventually, orphans must choose their own names and write their own stories. But, above all, Green Island is a lush and lyrical story of a family and a nation grappling with the nuances of complicity and survival, raising the question: how far would you be willing to go for the ones you love? Book Review:

His return, after more than a decade, is marked by alienation from his loved ones and paranoia among his community - conflicts that loom over the growing bond he forms with his youngest daughter. Years later, this troubled past follows her to the United States, where, as a mother and a wife, she too is forced to decide between what is right and what might save her family - the same choice she witnessed her father make many years before.Īs the novel sweeps across six decades and two continents, the life of the narrator shadows the course of Taiwan’s history from the end of Japanese colonial rule to the decades under martial law and, finally, to Taiwan’s transformation into a democracy. Tsai becomes one of the many thousands of people dragged away from their families and thrown into prison. In the following weeks, as the Chinese Nationalists act to crush the opposition, Dr. Tsai delivers his youngest daughter, the unnamed narrator of Green Island, just after midnight as the city is plunged into martial law. A stunning story of love, betrayal, and family, set against the backdrop of a changing Taiwan over the course of the twentieth century.įebruary 28, 1947: Trapped inside the family home amid an uprising that has rocked Taipei, Dr.

Green island novel