The Stolen Bicycle

by ,

416 pages

English language

Published Nov. 3, 2017 by Text Publishing Company.

ISBN:
978-1-925498-55-4
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4 stars (3 reviews)

On a quest to explain how and why his father mysteriously disappeared twenty years ago, a writer embarks on an epic journey in search of a stolen bicycle and soon finds himself immersed in the strangely overlapping histories of the Japanese military during World War II, Lin Wang, the oldest elephant who ever lived, and the secret world of antique bicycle collectors in Taiwan. The result is a surprising and moving meditation on memory, loss, and the bonds of family.

Award-winning novelist Wu Ming-Yi is also an artist, designer, photographer, literary professor, butterfly scholar, environmental activist, traveller and blogger, and is widely considered the leading writer of his generation in his native Taiwan.

4 editions

reviewed The Stolen Bicycle by Wu Ming-Yi

One of my favourite books I've read this year

5 stars

This is one of my favourite books I've read this year.

It's a kind of meta-fiction centered around the history of bicycles in Taiwan, and covers the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the Second World War in British Malaya, and especially the role of bicycles (and, more upsettingly, elephants) in the war.

Wu Ming-yi himself seems a bit of a renaissance man (writer, artist, environmental activist and more) and a fascinating person. Sadly only two of his books have so far been translated into English.

If you're interested in Taiwan, its history, WWII in SE Asia, bicycles (of course), the nature of Taiwan (especially butterflies), and love elephants, then you'll probably love this.

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rated it

4 stars
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rated it

2 stars

Subjects

  • Fiction, general