Reviews

Taipei by Tao Lin

monicalewinsky6969666420's review against another edition

3.0

okay this is a quick easy read and yes you are supposed to hate the narrator but tbh i did feel like a lot of the allegations against this author were true after reading this. This book is definitely a testament to the fact that we live in a post DFW literary world but the experimental prose partnered with an uncompelling and stereotypical plot made it just meh for me personally. What is intended to be accomplished narratively is accomplished but you're left at the end wondering, who cares?

emilycully's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

oraclebykittie's review against another edition

4.0

reread. i like other works by him more but autofiction is autofiction is good. bumping from 3 to 4 out of spite bc the way people talk about tao lin is really disheartening. to me, the aspects of taipei that are difficult are what make it striking

demonslayer5000's review against another edition

Not the vibe

carly276's review against another edition

1.0

This book is unreadable. The prose style is absolutely horrible and the main character is both inaccessible and unlikable. The sentences are unfailingly long, convoluted, and aggressively pretentious. As an example: "He listened to the layered murmur of wind against leaves, familiarly and gently disorienting as a terrestrial sound track, reminding people of their own lives, then opened his MacBook– sideways, like a hardcover book– and looked at the internet, lying on his side, with his right ear pressed into his pillow, as if, unable to return to sleep, at least in position to hear what, in his absence, might be happening there." It is all like that and therefore becomes incredibly monotonous and dull. There is very little plot, and what there is gets lost in the terrible writing style so that the pacing is awful and there is no reason to care about any of the characters or what is happening. A scene where the main character goes out for burritos with acquaintances is given the same treatment as a pivotal breakup and gives the impression of a robotic, uninteresting main character. Save yourself and skip this.

sangsara's review against another edition

I'm cutting my losses after 20 pages. Somewhat annoying and pointless.

sashosho's review against another edition

2.0

61/288 pages

I couldn't bring myself to finish it, and it's just not my style of writing. Perhaps it would be better as a short story.

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