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A review by elle_reads
The Stolen Bicycle by Wu Ming-Yi
4.0
(Instagram @elle_reads)
BOOK REVIEW
[The Stolen Bicycle] A man searches for his lost father by following a missing bicycle’s trail.
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WHAT I LIKED
I love stories with different mediums imbedded into the narration. The Stolen Bicycle is primarily a story of a boy searching for his father’s bicycle, but it becomes an observation of war, butterflies, and elephants through other character’s bicycle clues. Not only are the other narratives material for the son to find his father’s bike, they are also holes for reads to reach into the nonfictional world of Taiwanese history.
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Taiwan’s history is a mix of Taiwanese aborigines and Taiwanese people relations, occupation by different powers, and the balance of environment and men. The language says it all. The characters have to deal with translating four different languages to form the narrative of the bike. It shows how Taiwan is ~secretly~ a very global little island country. I enjoyed the translator, Darryl Sterk, notes describing his different choices between character names, place spellings, and dialogue based on the connotations each can give the Taiwanese or English reader. Of the approximately 26 known aboriginal languages, at least 10 are now extinct.
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WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
My favorite part of The Stolen Bicycle is a small caveat into the world of the butterfly industry. It is introduced to the novel as a short story written by a side character. I wish the entire novel had this character’s writing voice. The main character’s narration slowed the overall pace. I read his words as a story frame - impatient to get to the next part when another character said something interesting. In this sense, at times I felt the work was an almost random collection of jewels. ?almost stream of consciousness? However, this book is also slightly submersed the Wu Ming-Yi’s actual journey. Sometimes wild goose chases have the answer Sometimes the answer is in front of you. Desperate people will look everywhere.
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The Stolen Bicycle (by Wu Ming-Yi) ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️4/5
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BOOK REVIEW
[The Stolen Bicycle] A man searches for his lost father by following a missing bicycle’s trail.
//
WHAT I LIKED
I love stories with different mediums imbedded into the narration. The Stolen Bicycle is primarily a story of a boy searching for his father’s bicycle, but it becomes an observation of war, butterflies, and elephants through other character’s bicycle clues. Not only are the other narratives material for the son to find his father’s bike, they are also holes for reads to reach into the nonfictional world of Taiwanese history.
//
Taiwan’s history is a mix of Taiwanese aborigines and Taiwanese people relations, occupation by different powers, and the balance of environment and men. The language says it all. The characters have to deal with translating four different languages to form the narrative of the bike. It shows how Taiwan is ~secretly~ a very global little island country. I enjoyed the translator, Darryl Sterk, notes describing his different choices between character names, place spellings, and dialogue based on the connotations each can give the Taiwanese or English reader. Of the approximately 26 known aboriginal languages, at least 10 are now extinct.
//
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
My favorite part of The Stolen Bicycle is a small caveat into the world of the butterfly industry. It is introduced to the novel as a short story written by a side character. I wish the entire novel had this character’s writing voice. The main character’s narration slowed the overall pace. I read his words as a story frame - impatient to get to the next part when another character said something interesting. In this sense, at times I felt the work was an almost random collection of jewels. ?almost stream of consciousness? However, this book is also slightly submersed the Wu Ming-Yi’s actual journey. Sometimes wild goose chases have the answer Sometimes the answer is in front of you. Desperate people will look everywhere.
//
The Stolen Bicycle (by Wu Ming-Yi) ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️4/5
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