No Spoiler Review
BACKSTORY (MINE)
i heard of taolin years ago from some kid who sold coke in the tenderloin, back then it was eee eee ee, which was silly and fine, and a small sized book which i always enjoy. then it was Shoplifting from American Apparel which i didnt read, but for all i cared could have been his crown as he ascended the throne as queen of the literary hipsters. so what i judge people. its a thing. look it up. then TAIPEI comes out, and im like, OH THIS GUY'S TAIWNANESE??
I'm Taiwanese! and i never shut the fuck up about it!. I ♥ ♥ Taiwan. And even though this was before i lived there, i was still visiting quite a bit and nevertheless i was stoked, im thinking '
finally someone is going to translate for western folks what makes it so sick' (the best ive ever come up with is If Japan was SF, Taiwan would be Oakland* circa 2008).
BUT IT WAS FUCKING BORING!. Oh wow, you do drugs and have observations about everyone being on their cellphones? Too cool Tao Lin, TOO COOL. is what i thought about this person i had never met. i usually dont have strong negative feelings after not enjoying a book, but something about its connection to taiwan left me utterly disappointed, if not kinda pissed. cuz here's the thing, every taiwanese-american i've met that does something creative, is usually insanely good at what they do. when i find out (which i can almost always tell before asking) someone is Taiwanese, it is always a delight and an honor to be in this club (see: James Jean- he doesnt need me to link him,
Sachin Teng,
Karen Hsiao), and yeah i never met the guy but it felt like he broke the chain.
PRESENT ERA
so towards the end of last year, on the eve before christmas eve, Im killing time at one of the many malls i had been to that day, trying to wrangle all the family's xmas gifts, waiting while I get a nameplate and pen engraved for my brother's wife's father.
They say its going to take about 90 minutes to finish and ive already done a tour of Target, so i double back to the bookstore i already got goods from earlier. And since im there to make minutes pass rather than rack, im kind of just sauntering about and i see TAO LIN on a book spine. I pick it up, now that the bitterness i once felt has faded to just a bad impression, and right away i like it. while written in third person is coming off as blatantly autobiographical. the opening is set in taiwan and feels more like it, but moreover, it seems like dude has done A LOT of drugs since the last book i read, and boy it shows. his self insert character is having trouble keeping the edges of reality and his thoughts corralled and I kinda dig it. So i took it home and tossed it on a shelf thinking i would start it for reals after i finished the book i was currently on, but.. Ive been watching a lot of youtube and smoking cigarettes a whole lot less, meaning the little downtimes i typically use for reading had waned significantly. which is all to say that it was going to be a long time before that would happen, and I was under no obligation to wait. So i didnt. Im not exactly blazing through it, but im continuing to pick it up and its offering something i didnt get the last time, and something else i dont see too often. so, fuck it. i am willing to man up and say, tao lin i am sorry for writing your writing off entirely.
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