A novel that combines science fiction, fantasy, poetry and sadness
2015 Time Out Beijing: The Best Chinese Novel of the Past Century
2014 French Island Literature Prize Novel Award
2012 Taipei International Book Fair Fiction Award
2011 China Times Book of the Year
A story about memory and longing, and the interdependence between man and nature
The people of Wayou Wayou Island believe that the world is just an island.
It will drift around in the sea with the tide.
Unless the eldest son dies young, the second son of the island of Wayou rarely gets married.
Because on the 180th full moon after they were born,
You will be given the responsibility of a one-way voyage.
Atreus' fate was to be the second son.
Even if he is the best at building ships and swimming,
Even if he is loved by all the girls on the island,
When he was fifteen, he still sailed towards the ocean, never to return.
The ship ran aground on an island filled with strange smells.
The ghosts of the second sons transform into sperm whales during the day to guard the island.
But they could not help Atreus,
Even if you notice that he is about to drift beyond the "edge", you can't do anything about it.
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Alice, who lost her husband and son, decided to commit suicide.
She quietly made decisions and arrangements.
Unexpectedly, a cat was rescued during the seawater backflow caused by the earthquake.
In order to protect the cat, her survival instinct reflexively appeared.
／
There was a lot of news about the garbage vortex about to hit the east coast of Taiwan.
The town was also in an uncoordinated commotion as a large number of reporters flocked in.
The development benefits and news value judgments pursued by civilized society,
Rudely disturbing the originally quiet town,
And the feeling of people finally settling down after going through so much vicissitudes.
The vortex of garbage that hit the coast destroyed the entire coast.
Disrupting the peaceful life,
But it brought great worry to the young man.
／
Alice who lost her son and Atrei who lost his relatives,
Two people who were going to die and did not speak the same language met in the mountains.
Atreus was busy understanding the new world,
Alice, through writing and conversations with Atreus,
Sorting out the grief of losing a son.
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Readers will not know the truth until the people with compound eyes appear.
／
How does Ateli face the sadness of his people who insist on forgetting him?
Li Rongxiang, an engineer who was ordered to dig through the mountain for more than ten years to open a tunnel,
After experiencing the "inner side" of the mountain, how do you view "worth it"?
Where will the readers turn their eyes after closing the novel?
Unanimous praise from Taiwan and around the world
I have never read a novel like it, ever. South America gave us magical realism, and now Taiwan has given us a whole new way of describing the world, without any pretense, but also without any cruelty. Wu Mingyi writes about the fragility of human nature and the fragility of the world with fearless tenderness.
——Ursula. Ursula K. Le Guin
It straddles the lines of stark realism and exquisite fantasy, hovering on the precipice of wild imagination... It is a novel of sincere emotion, reflection on national policy, firmly tied to ecological concerns and Taiwanese identity.
—— The Guardian book review, Tash Aw
A brilliant blend of science fiction, fantasy, topographical legends and magical realism, the author creates a whole new genre for this outstanding and fascinating work. --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
This is a wonderful story. I couldn't help crying when I read the paragraphs about the dying whales and the tsunami heading towards them. I have always lamented the passing of a few omniscient storytellers in the literary world, whose works were powerful, imaginative, and full of imagination, like this book, which I feel is bound to become a classic. The author tells these unforgettable and memorable legends in a beautiful and moving way.
——Hugh, author of "The Wool Notes". Hugh Howey
Wu Ming-Yi's roller-coaster book tells a story of wisdom, wildness, wonder and love. Once you open it, you can't put it down. I spent many days immersed in the adventure in the unknown territory created by this dreamer from Taipei. A little bit of South American magical realism, a little bit of Margaret. Atwood's roller coaster-like fantasy... "The Man with Compound Eyes" is probably the best Taiwanese novel I have read so far.
——Taipei Times
About the Author
Wu Mingyi
Sometimes I write, draw, photograph, and farm. He is currently a professor in the Department of Chinese Literature at National Dong Hwa University.
He has written the essay collections "The Butterfly Diary", "The Butterfly Road", "Home is So Close to the Water", and "Floating Light"; the short story collections "Closed Today", "Tiger Lord", "The Magician on the Overpass", and "The Land of Bitter Rain"; the novels "The Route of Sleep", "The Man with Compound Eyes", and "The Stolen Bicycle"; and the three-volume essay series "Liberating Nature through Writing".
His works have been translated into more than 20 languages and have won the French Prix du Livre Insulaire for novels and third place in the Japanese Honya Prize for Translation. He was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in the UK and the Emile Marie Claire in France. Guimet Prize for Asian Literature (Prix Émile Guimet de littérature asiatique), Books at Berlinale (Berlinale - Berlin International Film Festival), candidate for the overseas feature category of Japan's Seiun Awards (Seiun Awards Nominees), the best Chinese novel of the past century by Time Out Beijing, one of the top ten Chinese novels of the year by Asia Weekly, and the Hong Kong Baptist University's Dream of the Red Chamber Expert Recommendation Award.
In China, he has won the Taipei International Book Fair Novel Award, the Taiwan Literature Award for Novel, the United Daily News Literature Award, the Golden Tripod Award for Best Book of the Year, the "Kaijuan" Book of the Year, and many other annual book selections.