2026 Int Booker Winner - Taiwan Travelogue > Likes and Comments

Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ translated by Lin King (And Other Stories), Mandarin Chinese

I gave this a 5 star rating when I read it which will seem a bit confusing when you read it. I found the author's approach of enveloping social, political, and relationship content in the context of food and travel, very subtle, unique, and entertaining and the translator's ability to convey this noteworthy. This warranted four stars which I rounded up. But the actual writing is plain, repetitive and mundane. I will be interested to see if any appreciate this book as we read the longlist.

I almost bought this a couple of weeks ago but talked myself out of an impulse buy. I take this listing as permission to go back for it.

Emmeline wrote: "I almost bought this a couple of weeks ago but talked myself out of an impulse buy. I take this listing as permission to go back for it."

You might want to wait on some other comments!

National Book Award winner 2024

I loved this book, for many of the same reasons Sam shared. I don't think it will be for everyone. But I found it a delight to read and it's stuck with me.

I also agree with the comment re 'plain' writing, though I don't know if I would use that description. It is very accessible and direct. It's really hard to pigeonhole this book, it's unique.

I read it in December, and it was a pleasant book - I agree with Jen about the writing, not so much plain as accessible. And also very appropriate to the main character. My only problem was that too much time and space was given to what felt like thousands of names and descriptions of food. It all became too much and I wound up skimming those paragraphs. But I'm not a foodie, so YMMV.

Nadine in California wrote: "thousands of names and descriptions of food..."

This makes me want to read it. Haha! Thank you.

US readers have the advantage here - it's not published yet in the UK

Paul wrote: "US readers have the advantage here - it's not published yet in the UK"

I bought it on Audible this evening if listening counts?

I loved it when I read it, too. It was simple, yet complex and nuanced.

Nadine in California wrote: " My only problem was that to..."

I'm having the same problem - really bogged down with all the food descriptions. Also I find the voice of the audio narrator annoying. I think if it shortlists I may try the print version.

- How much food talk can there be, I thought to my self.
15% into the book.
- Too much, I decided.
DNF.

Ann wrote: "- How much food talk can there be, I thought to my self.
15% into the book.
- Too much, I decided.
DNF."

Hahaha! I can't wait for my library copy to come in. I need to see how I feel about this :D

Ann wrote: "- How much food talk can there be, I thought to my self.
15% into the book.
- Too much, I decided.
DNF."

Exactly!!

I was already excited about this one but your complaints about food descriptions make me even more eager :)

but I really like reading them eating and talking... 😂😂 I gave this book. 5 stars!!

Ruben wrote: "I was already excited about this one but your complaints about food descriptions make me even more eager :)"
I consider my self as a foodie so I also looked forward to this book 🤷🏼‍♀️ I am reading Babette’s Feast just now, and there are food books and food books, is all I can say.

Rather liking the metafictional aspects of this.

Though haven’t read the actual underlying book yet just the forewords and afterwords both actual and fictional.

Indeed I’d happily stop there as it would be a great novella just with those.

I am starting to have sympathy for Ann: there is a LOT of food...

Best not to read straight after lunch or dinner.

Absolutely love this in the to-English translator’s note:

Surely Aoyama and Chi- chan would be tickled by this: a Taiwanese translator, while bringing the book to the ultimate colonial language of English, has struggled to determine how the Japanese colonial government would have pronounced Taiwanese terms and therefore consulted the Japanese translation of a Taiwanese novel that claims to be a Taiwanese translation of a Japanese novel. Oh dear oh dear oh dear!

I loved this one - not quite 5 stars but will definitely be on my shortlist. Best read while sipping a Taiwanese oolong as I did.

Paul wrote: "I loved this one - not quite 5 stars but will definitely be on my shortlist. Best read while sipping a Taiwanese oolong as I did."

Glad to see we agreed on this.

I also loved this one! Thoroughly enjoyed all the food talk.

I think all that gluttony served as a metaphor for the colonizer suffering from a severe case of munchies. As someone who loves traveling and eating, it also made me question whether the modern "foodie"—viewing a culture primarily through its service to one's palate—might not be another iteration of the colonial gaze.

The metafictional layers are cleverly crafted—they work! The language is plain, but I think it is dangerous to make both language and structure complex; that is a feat reserved for a very few, super-talented writers.

Given the translation aspects (both within the metafictional novel and the English translation itself), I think it would be a very worthy winner of the International Booker. The translator actually added a new layer to the novel!

Yes - that is all very well put

I just finished this and am not sure how I feel about it. I found myself pretty bored throughout the first half of the novel and struggled to find the motivation to continue. I ended up listening to it on audio, which helped a bit. I think I just didn't have much interest in the food descriptions, and the metafictional aspects didn't come through as strongly as I would have liked.

Thinking back on the book after completing it, I think the use of exploration through food as a way to show how we "consume" cultures without really experiencing them was very clever. The message was more nuanced than I expected going in, and I think it's extremely relevant to the consumption of culture through social media.

It probably ends up at the bottom of the pile for me personally just because I didn't enjoy the process of reading it that much, but I think it would be a worthy winner and I would recommend it to others (i.e. read the first chapter and if you aren't put off by food descriptions, you'll probs love it).

Edit: I wonder how much I missed of the metafictional aspects by listening to the audiobook. Just saw Paul's comment, and I'm not sure the audiobook included a foreword or afterward.

I am around 2/3 though this.

I really like the whole metafictional piece included the added English translators notes and it’s best it’s about an author and wannabe translator / but that’s only a relatively small part of the novel (especially the metafictional parts which are entirely irrelevant to the main “original” novel I feel so far)

And the novel itself is pretty straightforward - to be honest I would categorise it as a women’s prize book (and even there on the accessible side of the criteria) - and the food descriptions just get boring, I have started skim-readjng them

But once I started doing that I have found it a very enjoyable read

I don’t think it merits so many last places on the rankings but I equally think this does not merit winning.

Wow, now I feel like the audiobook is completely missing all of the metafictional elements. Wondering how important those are to the book cause it seems like I had a totally different experience.

Not that important at all in many ways - it’s more like a great amuse bouche and some exquisite petite fours with an otherwise pretty plain meal.

I'd say the metafictional elements are key.

But the food descriptions alone would put this high up the list for me, particularly the way it weaves in colonialism and culture.

Can see why this won the US prize equivalent and a double is possible.

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Not that important at all in many ways - it’s more like a great amuse bouche and some exquisite petite fours with an otherwise pretty plain meal."

Hmm, that's annoying. I didn't see any indication that the audiobook was abridged. I just put a physical copy of the US release on hold at my library to see what I missed.

Ann captures it perfectly with her “there are food books, and there are food books”

It is very interesting to see this love-hate relationship with the book's approach to food.

In my case, I knew most of the Japanese dishes used as comparisons to the Taiwanese food that the protagonist indulges in throughout the novel. Seeing how the protagonist looked at the Taiwanese dishes as a form of tropicalized or more exotic version of the Japanese dishes was fun! That's what I probably would have done (that would be a very colonizer thing to do).

I wonder whether one would need some minimal familiarity with Japanese, Chinese, or Taiwanese dishes to enjoy the lengthy food comparisons and descriptions.

What I really liked - as Forrest describes - was precisely how the book satirised an outsider’s view of food - colonial cuisine consumption in the book but I think in today’s world easily maps to the type of Western tourists or business travellers who like to miss all the big tourist sites and instead go out of their way to see the “real country”, to eat at authentic local restaurants, read up on cooking techniques and other customs, maybe drop in a few names in local dialect when ordering and think this means they completely understand and are attuned to the local people (ignoring their own privilege).

So every time I thought oh yes I have eaten something like that (or drank that) I then realised I was actually the subject of the satire

Reminds me of these

From swag.on.the.beat
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPApJo...

From Tom Nestor
https://x.com/tomnestorcomic/status/2...

Paul wrote: "Reminds me of these

From swag.on.the.beat
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPApJo...

From Tom Nestor
https://x.com/tomnestorcomic/status/2......"

haha, I had a good laugh with these. Reminded me of the now classic Flight of the Conchords song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5hrU...

Hadn't seen that song - also very good

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "What I really liked - as Forrest describes - was precisely how the book satirised an outsider’s view of food … So every time I thought oh yes I have eaten something like that (or drank that) I then realised I was actually the subject of the satire."

Exactly this! This is what I’m enjoying about the book most, the subtle satire. It’s so subtle at times that I wonder if it’s intentional or if we’re just giving it a generous reading. I lean towards intentional.

Another thing: this book is reading very old-fashioned to me. There’s something about the dynamic between the women and the language that feels very dated. I know the metafictional conceit is that the travelogue was first published in the 1950s, and I’m getting that feeling from the writing. That’s an amazing accomplishment, I think—i.e. to write a book in the 2020s that “feels” like it was written in the 1950s in a very natural, non-contrived way. Especially impressive to pull that off in translation.

Still, this one isn’t as good as the two others I’ve read on this list (The Director and On Earth as it is Beneath).

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "What I really liked - as Forrest describes - was precisely how the book satirised an outsider’s view of food - colonial cuisine consumption in the book but I think in today’s world easily maps to t..."

Yeah, I think that was very well done. Though I still didn't find the process of reading 75% of the book all that enjoyable. But perhaps that's also because I listened on audiobook and couldn't easily fast forward through the food description portions.

I love all the layers of translation in this book. Even though it's not my personal favorite, I feel it would be a worthy winner for a prize of a book in translation. I enjoyed analyzing it afterward (as my longer-than-usual review shows) more than the experience of reading it, but I think it is very creative and I admired the skill it took to put all those nuances in the paratext. I am not a foodie but managed the food parts by viewing it as a metaphor for the colonial power devouring the culture of the oppressed. I couldn't quite get to 5, but ended up at 4.5 stars.

My Review

This is a wonderful review, Joy.

A magnificent combination of: meta-fictional conceit; a many-food cornucopia of micro-fusion cuisine; and matri-fileal communication - in a multifaceted examination of colonialism.
 

Gwendolyn wrote: "This is a wonderful review, Joy."
Thanks, Gwendolyn!

This should have worked for me: metafiction, translated, examining colonizer/colonized relationships. Instead I am finding it tedious & obvious. DNF at 18%.

Just past halfway and this is heading for the top of my rankings with only The Director to come

Hooray - great winner.

Agreed. 22 years a long wait.

I agree. I think this was a very good and deserving choice. As I reflect the book was the only book to which I gave five stars when I first read it. The book begs us to expand our definition of what good literature is.

I agree on that: the importance of Rice and an emphasis on set piece scenes