Reviews

Taipéi by Tao Lin

elmo2's review against another edition

funny sad fast-paced

4.0

Like a literary photograph. A photograph your dad takes on his phone. So dry, so real that it's funny. Laughed out loud at a park at the part where they pretend to be reporters and interview people about a Harry Potter movie. My paperback copy was second hand and already falling apart when I got it and it also smells like soil. 

kyt's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

karenbrooke's review against another edition

1.0

This is the best review of this book, or maybe any book, I have ever read:

http://www.themillions.com/2013/06/modern-life-is-rubbish-tao-lins-taipei.html

breadandmushrooms's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

ssulpiride's review

2.0

Tremenda verborrea aburrida e insustancial. Me ha costado muchísimo terminarlo y las últimas 100 páginas casi que las he leído en diagonal para acabar con ella cual mero trámite. Y lo peor es esa sensación constante que transmite de ínfulas de grandeza y alta literatura. Uf. No sé su poesía, pero no puedo con la narrativa de Tao Lin.

bryce1234's review against another edition

1.0

Garbage. No real plot line, no immersion, jarring prose, weakly depends on the novelty factor of consuming a huge amount of drugs and capturing the online centric lifestyle of the 2010s

truittclark's review against another edition

1.0

Yeah I really didn't like this. The characters are socially awkward and vapid, do mundane things, are on drugs near constantly (with zero negative consequences), and apparently never learned you can make a facial expression other than a grin. Apart from a few rare passages where Lin shows that he maybe could be a good writer if he wanted, nothing about this was worth my time.

voara's review against another edition

5.0

A book I'd easily recommend to my friends and peers. I found the writing style a little distracting but I also wasn't bored for a second. I think this novel comments on something quite specific, but my resonance with it speaks to the fact that it is somewhat the voice of a generation: the internet, boredom, our weird and specific social codes and stuff, and like just being a young person? I think. I was anxious to read each page because there is sometimes so much stimulation (the impersonal tone makes it worse) but it was also strangely serene because things feel so familiar at the same time. I weirdly enjoyed the parts where he really amps up the 'internal monologue' and goes into almost-incomprehensible rants about thoughts so specific and personal and his efforts to try and put them into words borders on almost poetic (but also like, deranged I guess)

deelisabeth's review against another edition

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

1.0

rosafiona's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0