Skip to main content

The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi: book review



The Man with theCompound Eyes (2014) was first published in Taiwan in 2011 as Fuyanren. Set in modern-day Taiwan, it commences with an earthquake and tsunami.

Detlef Boldt is a Danish tunnel-boring machine consultant in a mountain cave in Taiwan with his colleague Jung-hsiang Li when the earthquake strikes.

Professor Alice Shih’s Danish husband, Thom Jakobsen, a mountain climber, had taken their 10-year-old son Toto to the mountains. There was an accident and Thom was killed, but Toto was never found. She had wanted to be a writer, but was teaching at the university instead. She couldn’t live like this anymore; she resigned, and now she just wantd to die. But then the earthquake struck, and she needed to survive. Her house was by the sea and the rising ocean made her home dangerous to live in, but she was not leaving it in case Toto returned.

On an island, Wayo Wayo, far from Taiwan, the inhabitants never knew any other island existed. It was so small that residents could walk all the way around the island by lunchtime. On the island was a youth called Lau Kiyadimanu Atile’i. All the girls loved him, even the most beautiful girl on the island, Rasula. The custom was that the second son had to be sacrificed to the Sea Gods on his 15th birthday to ensure abundance for the family. He would be put to sea, never to return.

The tsunami waves save Atile’i. Instead of drifting out to sea, he was washed up in Taiwan, right into Alice’s place. Alice tries writing fiction again: she begins with the first sentence. Atile’i tries to understand his new home – he has never seen chairs, tables, or even pens before, and there are foods he doesn’t know, nor does he speak the same language as Alice. As they come to know and trust each other, Alice and Atile’i set out to the mountains to find her son Toto.

What happened to Detlef and his colleague in the cave during the earthquake? Does Alice, with her 15-year-old companion, find Toto? And who is the man with the compound eyes?


The novel is written primarily in the third person. When Atile’i and Alice connect, the novel changes, briefly, to the first person – both Atile’i and Alice become narrators. The stories of Detlef, the island boy, Alice, and the two men in her life – Thom and Toto – all have their own separate stories, each of them intertwined until the ending reveals the outcome. Beautifully written with exquisite imagery, it is a tale that keeps the reader intrigued throughout.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...
1 comment
Read more

Shindi: the Georgian Cornelian cherry

The Cornelian cherry – shindi in Georgian – is a fruit with medicinal and decorative properties. It was grown from ancient times, according to the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS). It is also commonly called the European cornel. It is native to southern Europe from France to Ukraine as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. The Cornelian cherry tree ( Cornus mas ) can be grown in orchards, but it is often seen in the forests of Georgia where it grows up to 1,350 metres above sea level. It is a medium to large deciduous tree, growing from 5-12 metres tall. The flowers are small with four yellow petals in clusters, which flower in February and March. The Cornus mas has three botanical varieties: (1) var. typica Sanadze with cylindrical red fruits, (2) var. pyriformis Sanadze with pear-shaped red fruits, and (3) var. flava vest with yellow fruits. The fruits are oblong red drupes about 2 centimetres ...
Post a Comment
Read more