小說/散文

Green Island*
出版社： Random House, Inc. (International Division)
書林書號：
20198633
作者：
Ryan, Shawna Yang
定價：
630
會員價：
$536
ISBN：
9780451493149
出版年份：
2016
裝訂：
平裝
  • 本書介紹
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亞馬遜2016年2月選書！
《綠島》
一場228浩劫，影響兩代，催化出一個痛苦的問題：你會為你摯愛的人，付出多少？
作者楊小娜以小說文體，嚴謹而有力的描繪出，有關台灣近代政治史228事件造成對台灣部份人群生命中的暴力陰影。《Green Island》刻畫了一個感情豐沛的家庭，以及一個民族在複雜環境中生存拼搏的故事，一場228浩劫，影響兩代，催化出一個痛苦的問題：你會為你摯愛的人，付出多少？

A stunning story of love, betrayal, and family, set against the backdrop of a changing Taiwan over the course of the twentieth century.
 
　　February 28, 1947: Trapped inside the family home amid an uprising that has rocked Taipei, Dr. Tsai delivers his youngest daughter, the unnamed narrator of Green Island, just after midnight as the city is plunged into martial law. In the following weeks, as the Chinese Nationalists act to crush the opposition, Dr. Tsai becomes one of the many thousands of people dragged away from their families and thrown into prison. 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.  
 
　　As 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. 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?
美籍華裔作家楊小娜（Shawna Yang Ryan）發表新作《Green Island 綠島》。主角誕生於228事件當日午夜，追溯家族60年起伏，宛如華美文學的《午夜之子》。本書為亞馬遜2016年2月選書，也獲《紐約時報》佳評。

BOOK LIST

“[An] engrossing epic. . . Absorbing and affecting, this powerful tale explores the bond between a father and daughter, the compromises they are forced to make, and the prices they pay in their quest for freedom.” —Kristine Huntley, Booklist (starred)

University of Nottingham  > China Policy Institute Blog

WAYS OF REMEMBERING – Green Island
“She has created her own Taiwan story using the exacting literary discipline of the novel, writing with force, compassion and the higher truth available to the novelist about the violence wrought on individual lives in Taiwan’s modern political history, as well as with a wary optimism about acknowledging and reconciling with those truths in a democratic Taiwan.”
A really wonderful and insightful piece by Dr. Mark Harrison from the University of Tasmania. Link to the full article here: http://ht.ly/Wmdok

BOOK PASSAGE

“February 28, 1947. Trapped inside their home due to an uprising that has rocked Taipei, Dr. Tsai delivers his youngest daughter, the unnamed narrator of Green Island. A few days later, he is one of the many thousands of people dragged away from their families. Missing for a decade, he eventually returns a haunted man. Feeling a stranger in the midst of his family, who have carried on with their lives, he connects with his youngest daughter and unwittingly brings her into an uneasy political scene where neighbors are set against neighbors to survive. Eventually, she makes her way to Berkeley, California, a married woman and a student, but her past and history follow her. She is ultimately forced to decide between right and what might save her family . . . a choice she witnessed her father make many years before. 

As 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 the period Japanese colonial rule to its decades under martial law administered by the Chinese nationalists, and finally to its transformation into a democracy. But above all, Green Island is a lush and lyrical story of a family and a nation caught up in these events, all the while exploring the nuances of complicity and survival, and asking the question: How far would you be willing to go for the ones you love?”

http://www.bookpassage.com/event/shawna-yang-ryan-green-island

KIRKUS REVIEW

An epic political novel focusing on post–World War II dissidents in Taiwan and especially on its repressive government.

The narrator, never named, is born in February 1947, at a time of political upheaval in Taiwan. Two weeks after her birth, Chinese nationalists under the helm of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek respond brutally to an uprising. Caught in the political chaos is Dr. Tsai, the narrator's mild-mannered father, who makes a brief speech in favor of democracy at a community meeting…and disappears. He’s gone for a decade—imprisoned, interrogated, and broken. When he’s finally released, he’s scarcely recognizable and is unable to work as a physician, instead taking on a few menial jobs, overseeing the narrator’s education, and spending a lot of time in his room. Ryan skips over great chunks of time to keep the focus on Tsai’s family, as the narrator lives her life within the context of political dissidence and the possible effects her father’s incarceration might have on the family. For example, the narrator’s brother is worried he won’t get promoted in the army if it becomes known that his father was a political prisoner. The narrator eventually marries Wei, a Chinese-American, and moves to Berkeley, where her husband is a professor. They get into difficulty when they give refuge to Tang Jia Bao, a Taiwanese pro-democracy dissident who was smuggled out of the country, and this difficulty is exacerbated when the narrator and her husband visit Taiwan to see family.

The narrative works movingly on many different levels but especially on the personal and the political.

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/shawna-yang-ryan/green-island/

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