Reviews

臺北人 by Pai Hsien-yung

chanelson's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

jerryw's review

5.0

...back from a slump (hopefully)

天啊，我只能感叹。

<台北人>是一部短篇小说集，叙述着从大陆逃亡的行行色色在台北的故事。其实，严格来讲<台北人>中的人物并不是台北人。他们是从华南，广东，北平来到台北的人；他们是被一海峡隔开回不到家的人。他们在异地感到迷失，在当下的生活感到迷失。虽然痴迷着过去，他们却逃不出当下。作为一位常年离开家的人，白先勇将他自己在社会上的排挤和内心对自己的挤压淋漓尽致的注入了他的人物中。

台北的人们是骄傲的，惭愧的，坚强的，脆弱的。有多少荣的人总是有着虚的一面。经岁月沧桑，这些和命作斗争的却又想保命的人时时惦记着过去。他们打牌，算命，赌博，喝酒，淫乱着逃避现实。但最终如何逃避也逃避不过时间。

每个故事都非常感动 但印象最深刻的莫过<冬夜>。如果只有时间看一篇，且建议这篇。会感到热泪盈眶的。

郎呀，采花儿要趁早哪--

天色已经沉暗下来，各家的灯火，都提早亮了起来，好像在把这一刻残剩的岁月加紧催走，预备去迎接另一个新年似的。

¨隔的那样近吗? ¨他吃惊的望着我，不肯置信的样子。

vivian_munich's review against another edition

4.0

白先勇先生是一位台湾作家，出生于1937年，祖籍广西桂林。父亲白崇禧是国民党名将，1951年携眷撤退到台湾。于是不难想到白先勇笔下的故事多少有些自传的成分。《台北人》首出版于1971年，收集了十四个短篇小说。故事里的角色形形色色，有舞女、上流仕女和官太太们；有追忆往年英雄事迹的将领和官员；也有老兵、佣人、空军遗孀，一群小老百姓。然而他们都有一个共同点 - 他们都出身大陆，年轻时随国民政府撤退到台湾，以为只是避居一时，改日从头再来，却不想这一走就是永别。于是他们紧紧抓住“现在仍是过去”的幻觉，在自我欺骗中寻找生活的意义。 而白先勇的描述又是充满了怜惜与悲悯的，一个个小故事描述得细致入微又在高潮处戛然而止，留给了读者无限愁绪。

这本书读得我对台湾历史产生了浓厚的兴趣，原住民的生活在国民党抵台后发生了怎样的变化，大陆人在台湾后代的身份感如何演化，需要找本书来读一读。

spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition

3.0

《臺北人》 by Pai Hsien-Yung (白先勇 Bai Xianyong). English translation by Patia Yasin.

laurikas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

It took a while to get into this book, in part because the style of writing is so unusual for me, but I have to say I enjoyed it a lot.

Some stories more so than others, but it was all very soothing, calming and full of nostalgia.

My favourite short stories was A Sea of Blood-Red Azaleas, Lover's Lone Flower and Winter Night.

They sure broke my heart.

 

jlewr's review against another edition

4.0

A really quite remarkable collection of stories. In every story there is a great deal of pain from lost memories, lost lovers, lost families - so much human suffering following the Civil War in China.

While quite a few stories run through the staunch military culture that harkens back to great victories, Pai also covers the cosmopolitan lives of former great taxi-dancers of Shanghai and the politics played out across mah-jong tables.

If you want to just get an inkling of the many stories interwoven into some of Taiwan and China’s histories, this isn’t a bad place to start.

anna1476's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

grahamiam's review against another edition

4.0

Nice slice of life stories. Lots of variety among the stories, but they all invoke a sort of nostalgic longing among the characters.

alisonwong's review against another edition

4.0

A varied collection of stories quietly exploring the Taiwanese context. Sometimes difficult to relate to, but that is my shortcoming, not the book’s.