Bound feet: Stories of contemporary Taiwan

by Catherine Dai

Book by Catherine DAI

242 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Christine Homa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was living in rural Taiwan, teaching ESL and exploring the Beautiful Island when someone handed me this book. As soon as I started, I couldn't put it down. It was beautifully written and had a dark, kind of haunting feel to the stories. I loved how all of the characters were so different, but were all facing such complex challenges. It takes place in the 80's and 90's, but that fact made it even more interesting to read; to see how different the country has become and also how it's changed. After 10 years there, I recognized some of those characters, their issues, and a lot of the traditions that still remain. Also, my personal favorite god is Ji Gong (haha). I recommend this book to people ALL THE TIME. So happy to see it again, I'll have to find my copy to re-read now.

[Gnuehc Ecnerwal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vignettes of Taiwan, with a slight lean towards expats and locals who were caught between the old and the new. The characters are a bit on the cookie cutter variety, but the details about day-to-day experiences are rich. The sudden but frequent downpour, the lethargy-inducing heat, the food and the way people ate them, the night-club, the temple and how locals behaved in those places, all of which helped place the reader in the environment. If only the interactions between the main characters are not so cliché, it would have been worthy of more stars.

[Ocean G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories taking place in the '70s and '80s. Almost all of them dealing with Taiwanese who went abroad, foreigners who came to Taiwan, Vietnamese refugees, 外省人, etc. I enjoy her style quite a bit.

[Trista · Rating 5 out of 5]

This and 'Under the Phoenix Tree' are superb works. Here's my book review on The Wild East magazine:

http://www.thewildeast.net/2012/06/ca...