亞細亞的孤兒

by 吳濁流

　　四百年孤兒般的流浪，在不同名號的霸權裡，一切聽憑命運，台灣、台灣人的宿命沈溺性格真可謂「萬般皆是命，半點不由人」這句古諺的最佳寫照。然而命運之不測，是不堪想像的，隨波逐流、自怨自艾終究於事無補。

　　本書主人翁胡太明猶疑的一生，和日本統治下的台灣交織成一部台灣人清醒的史話，唯有依照自己的意志去發展生命，方能舒暢的伸展壯大，《亞細亞的孤兒》把日本統治下的台灣，所有沈澱在下層的污泥殘渣，一一揭露出來–吳濁流的期許、幻滅、覺悟，就台灣的歷史與文學而言，都是一份珍貴的見證，就時代的意義而言，則象徵了理想家投入的先驅精神。

Genres: Fiction, China, Novels

330 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1946

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in Mandarin

A phenomenal story and one of the first books about “Taiwanese consciousness”. What does it mean to live in Taiwan? A region twice colonized (by the Dutch and Japan); a country that is not a country; the orphan of Asia.

[Daisy Hoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

漂泊在陸地上，划著船，船陷於泥，窒礙難行，好心人幫推船，唉，大哥怎麼在這划船。無應答。唉，大哥怎麼稱呼。只見大哥張嘴又閉嘴支吾半天也沒出一字。好心人微笑點點頭。隔天，鎮上傳開來了個划船的啞巴，鎮人有閒便上前觀望，有的給予食物，有的給予打罵，有的就只是路過。大哥尷尬的流了淚，人們這時稱他瘋子。

[珮君 蔣 · Rating 5 out of 5]

作者把日治時期台灣人的掙扎描寫的很深刻，看到太明一開始像旁觀者一樣只是默默的憤怒著當局者的暴戾與掙扎著自己的身分，有無數的因為血統無法成為真正的皇民，也有到了中國卻不被認同的痛苦。
太明的遭遇就是那個時代的台灣人的悲歌，但今天看完也讓我有種和現在時代相連結的感覺，台灣現在也是有人或許因為母親是大陸人而掙折著自己的統獨問題，也讓我了解到台灣到現在依舊是那個會讓太明發瘋的環境。

[Jacob Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in Chinese rather than the Japanese original as my Chinese is better and it seemed fitting. This book is in many ways the story of Taiwan from 1900 to 1945. It is a fantastic book from the historical prospective and is even more impressive when one takes into account that it was drafted during the Japanese period. This book could have definitely gotten the author killed or imprisoned.

The story itself is good but at times a little repetitive. The ending was a nice surprise. This is definitely one of the essential books for understanding Taiwanese identity. I would be interested to see what good ol 太明 would have had to say about the KMT period and all that entailed. It must be kept in mind that the horrors of what the Taiwanese went through did not end, where this book ends, at the end of the Japanese period.

[Yc Liao · Rating 5 out of 5]

時空的大背景下, 一個變動的時代, 有學識與道德, 看到現實中的矛盾, 卻連好好的生活都困難, 台灣人都應該讀的一本書, 老一輩所經歷過的事情, 並沒有距離我們那們遠, 不了解過去就無法反思現在。

[Chilly Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely love this book.

[Rex Wu · Rating 4 out of 5]

政治性大於文學性的小說，故事很全面的描述了台灣人獨特的困境，但是讀起來像是胡太明的日記