Môo-Sîn-á: Mystery of The Invisible Tribe by Wang ChashungTranslated by Grace Tong En Hui & Tew YiQian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I finally got round to reading this! Received a complimentary copy during GTLF last year, and well, you know the TBR.
This English translation of Môo-Sîn-á was published in 2023 but mostly reads a little like early English sci-fi works from the 1950s or so. It's slightly meandering and quite deeply reflective, and while not exactly epistolic, reads more like a letter or diary than a modern narrative novel.
Set in 1990s in Taiwan, the novel follows Wang as he journeys into the interior jungles of Taiwan to reconnect with Hei, an old friend from his army days. It's also something of an escape or an exploration of midlife crisis - he's recently separated from his wife and has left his job, and the only thing that's piquing his interest is looking for Hei. Several times during his journey, aided only by a magical hand-drawn map, Wang admits to himself that he's really looking to discover himself.
There isn't much of a "fantasy" or "magic" structure in place - these are myths, intertwined with spirituality/religion, with a strong folklore base. Primary is the Taiwanese myth of the Môo-Sîn-á, a dark-skinned people with magical powers) with a strange connection to Bornean tribes. Including time-travelling Japanese! Unfortunately, this does colour it with a colonial lens, with the impression of "civilised" people trying to connect with the "primitive" people in the mountains. However, since it's Taiwanese, there's less of a " discovering savage barbarians" feel and more of a cautious exploration of supernatural mystique overlaid with fear of ghosts. I'm curious to know if there really is some connection between the Taiwan aborigines and Borneo natives, or if this is something Wang made up.
Wang sometimes makes very strange detours and ruminations even in the midst of an ongoing conversation which I found a little annoying. Maybe it works better in the original writing, if that's some form of writing convention in Chinese.
I guess to summarise, I did enjoy the story, but I also had a lot of questions about editing choices. Though I don't really know how that is supposed to work with translations.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I finally got round to reading this! Received a complimentary copy during GTLF last year, and well, you know the TBR.
This English translation of Môo-Sîn-á was published in 2023 but mostly reads a little like early English sci-fi works from the 1950s or so. It's slightly meandering and quite deeply reflective, and while not exactly epistolic, reads more like a letter or diary than a modern narrative novel.
Set in 1990s in Taiwan, the novel follows Wang as he journeys into the interior jungles of Taiwan to reconnect with Hei, an old friend from his army days. It's also something of an escape or an exploration of midlife crisis - he's recently separated from his wife and has left his job, and the only thing that's piquing his interest is looking for Hei. Several times during his journey, aided only by a magical hand-drawn map, Wang admits to himself that he's really looking to discover himself.
There isn't much of a "fantasy" or "magic" structure in place - these are myths, intertwined with spirituality/religion, with a strong folklore base. Primary is the Taiwanese myth of the Môo-Sîn-á, a dark-skinned people with magical powers) with a strange connection to Bornean tribes. Including time-travelling Japanese! Unfortunately, this does colour it with a colonial lens, with the impression of "civilised" people trying to connect with the "primitive" people in the mountains. However, since it's Taiwanese, there's less of a " discovering savage barbarians" feel and more of a cautious exploration of supernatural mystique overlaid with fear of ghosts. I'm curious to know if there really is some connection between the Taiwan aborigines and Borneo natives, or if this is something Wang made up.
Wang sometimes makes very strange detours and ruminations even in the midst of an ongoing conversation which I found a little annoying. Maybe it works better in the original writing, if that's some form of writing convention in Chinese.
I guess to summarise, I did enjoy the story, but I also had a lot of questions about editing choices. Though I don't really know how that is supposed to work with translations.
View all my reviews
