Description
In Taiwanese writer Lo Yi-Chin's Faraway, a fictionalized version of the author finds himself stranded in mainland China attempting to bring his comatose father home. Lo's father had fled decades ago, abandoning his first family to start a new life in Taiwan. After travel between the two countries becomes politically possible, he returns to visit the son he left behind, only to suffer a stroke. The middle-aged protagonist ventures to China, where he embarks on a protracted struggle with the byzantine hospital regulations while dealing with relatives he barely knows. Meanwhile, back in Taiwan, his wife is about to give birth to their second child. Isolated in a foreign country, Lo mulls over his life, dwelling on his difficult relationship with his father and how becoming a father himself has changed him.
Faraway is a powerful meditation on the nature of family and the many ways blood can both unite and divide us. Lo's depiction of family dynamics and fraught politics contains a keen sense of irony and sensitivity to everyday absurdity. He offers a deft portrayal of the rift between China and Taiwan through an intimate view of a father-son relationship that bridges this divide. One of the most celebrated writers in Taiwan, Lo has been greatly influential throughout the Chinese-speaking world, but his work has not previously been translated into English. Jeremy Tiang's translation captures Lo's distinctive voice, mordant wit, and nuanced portrayal of Taiwanese culture.
About the Author
Lo Yi-chin is an acclaimed Taiwanese writer, the recipient of numerous honors including the Hong Lou Meng Award and Taiwan Literary Award. His novels include Kuang Chaoren, Daughter, Western Xia Hotel, Surname of the Moon, and The Third Dancer.
Jeremy Tiang has translated works by writers including Yeng Pway Ngon, Su Wei-Chen, Yan Ge, Zhang Yueran, Chan Ho-Kei, and Li Er. He is the author of the short story collection It Never Rains on National Day (2015) and the novel State of Emergency (2017).
Reviews
Lo's language, beautifully translated by Jeremy Tiang, is a life raft in the chaos, images burned in the mind . . . * New York Times Book Review *
Lo is a clever, resourceful writer. He finds humor in his [narrator's] struggles with mainland customs and red tape while tapping into a rich vein of memories and emotions stirred when history or crisis makes the challenges of family life even gnarlier. Thematically rich and intriguing. * Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review *
[Lo] is a superb writer. * The Modern Novel *
Situated somewhere between autofiction and cultural criticism (think Ali Smith's Artful), Faraway doesn't lack for massive subjects to tackle. Within its pages, you'll find everything from the weight of history to the anxiety of parenthood, along with a wholly immersive and frequently nightmarish account of medical treatment gone awry. The result is unpredictable and often gripping. * Words Without Borders *
Faraway is a work of deep introspection and sometimes overflowing imagery, a meditation on ageing and family, a memoir or novel of the wearing forces of illness, duty and bureaucracy. * South China Morning Post Magazine *
Faraway is a wonderful novel of the personal and the national, by a man examining his roles as a writer, a son and a father. * Tony's Reading List *
Lo Yi-Chin is the most remarkable and creative writer Taiwan has produced in recent decades, and what's more, he is the most inventive writer in the entire Chinese-speaking world. -- David Der-wei Wang, author of Why Fiction Matters in Contemporary China
A poignant, beautiful work by an important author, Faraway: A Novel should be on every bookshelf. Jeremy Tiang's subtle and sensitive translation brings a level of transparency to the text that allows you to immerse fully in its world. The novel will resonate long after you've put it down. -- Ari Larissa Heinrich, translator of Qiu Miaojin's Last Words from Montmartre and Chi Ta-wei's The Membranes
As Lo Yi-Chin narrates and contemplates three generations of often strained relationships with places and people now and then, here and there, on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Jeremy Tiang makes a monumentally challenging task look easy in a translation that is accurate and affecting, on point and poignant. -- Darryl Sterk, translator of Wu Ming-Yi's The Stolen Bicycle
A very dense narrative, a paper river overflowing with a tremendous number of tedious details upon the waves of which glitter sudden bursts of simple and breathtaking literary beauty, confidently and delicately translated by Tiang...Rather than spelling out the emotional responses of the main characters, the narrative expresses the feelings of abandonment, meaninglessness, and Kafkaesque bewilderment through painstakingly detailed accounts of everyday consumption and bureaucracy. -- Astrid Moller-Olsen * Xiaoshuo Blog *
Awards
Commended for PEN Translation Prize, PEN America 2022.
Book Information
ISBN 9780231193955
Author Jeremy Tiang
Format Paperback
Page Count 328
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press
Faraway is a powerful meditation on the nature of family and the many ways blood can both unite and divide us. Lo's depiction of family dynamics and fraught politics contains a keen sense of irony and sensitivity to everyday absurdity. He offers a deft portrayal of the rift between China and Taiwan through an intimate view of a father-son relationship that bridges this divide. One of the most celebrated writers in Taiwan, Lo has been greatly influential throughout the Chinese-speaking world, but his work has not previously been translated into English. Jeremy Tiang's translation captures Lo's distinctive voice, mordant wit, and nuanced portrayal of Taiwanese culture.
About the Author
Lo Yi-chin is an acclaimed Taiwanese writer, the recipient of numerous honors including the Hong Lou Meng Award and Taiwan Literary Award. His novels include Kuang Chaoren, Daughter, Western Xia Hotel, Surname of the Moon, and The Third Dancer.
Jeremy Tiang has translated works by writers including Yeng Pway Ngon, Su Wei-Chen, Yan Ge, Zhang Yueran, Chan Ho-Kei, and Li Er. He is the author of the short story collection It Never Rains on National Day (2015) and the novel State of Emergency (2017).
Reviews
Lo's language, beautifully translated by Jeremy Tiang, is a life raft in the chaos, images burned in the mind . . . * New York Times Book Review *
Lo is a clever, resourceful writer. He finds humor in his [narrator's] struggles with mainland customs and red tape while tapping into a rich vein of memories and emotions stirred when history or crisis makes the challenges of family life even gnarlier. Thematically rich and intriguing. * Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review *
[Lo] is a superb writer. * The Modern Novel *
Situated somewhere between autofiction and cultural criticism (think Ali Smith's Artful), Faraway doesn't lack for massive subjects to tackle. Within its pages, you'll find everything from the weight of history to the anxiety of parenthood, along with a wholly immersive and frequently nightmarish account of medical treatment gone awry. The result is unpredictable and often gripping. * Words Without Borders *
Faraway is a work of deep introspection and sometimes overflowing imagery, a meditation on ageing and family, a memoir or novel of the wearing forces of illness, duty and bureaucracy. * South China Morning Post Magazine *
Faraway is a wonderful novel of the personal and the national, by a man examining his roles as a writer, a son and a father. * Tony's Reading List *
Lo Yi-Chin is the most remarkable and creative writer Taiwan has produced in recent decades, and what's more, he is the most inventive writer in the entire Chinese-speaking world. -- David Der-wei Wang, author of Why Fiction Matters in Contemporary China
A poignant, beautiful work by an important author, Faraway: A Novel should be on every bookshelf. Jeremy Tiang's subtle and sensitive translation brings a level of transparency to the text that allows you to immerse fully in its world. The novel will resonate long after you've put it down. -- Ari Larissa Heinrich, translator of Qiu Miaojin's Last Words from Montmartre and Chi Ta-wei's The Membranes
As Lo Yi-Chin narrates and contemplates three generations of often strained relationships with places and people now and then, here and there, on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Jeremy Tiang makes a monumentally challenging task look easy in a translation that is accurate and affecting, on point and poignant. -- Darryl Sterk, translator of Wu Ming-Yi's The Stolen Bicycle
A very dense narrative, a paper river overflowing with a tremendous number of tedious details upon the waves of which glitter sudden bursts of simple and breathtaking literary beauty, confidently and delicately translated by Tiang...Rather than spelling out the emotional responses of the main characters, the narrative expresses the feelings of abandonment, meaninglessness, and Kafkaesque bewilderment through painstakingly detailed accounts of everyday consumption and bureaucracy. -- Astrid Moller-Olsen * Xiaoshuo Blog *
Awards
Commended for PEN Translation Prize, PEN America 2022.
Book Information
ISBN 9780231193955
Author Jeremy Tiang
Format Paperback
Page Count 328
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press
