The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi

As it hits the shore, it also is accompanied by a huge wave which permanently destroys Alice's sea house and the only other structure along the shore, the nearby cafe the Seventh Sisid. Initially planning to kill herself, Alice decides to live after she rescues a kitten as it floats by her house.Ī news report announces that a part of the trash vortex is about to break free and come in contact with the coast of Taiwan. Alice lives in a house built by her husband that was initially built near the sea, but because of erosion is now almost completely flooded. In the coast town of Haven, in Taiwan, a professor Alice Shih has become suicidal after her Danish husband and their son disappeared during a hike.

Atile'i survives on the island though he notices that animals who eat from it die, and he begins to think he is trapped in hell. Atile'i goes out, but as his boat sinks, he is able to swim to an 'island' which is actually a trash vortex. Because resources are scarce, second sons are sent out in boats as teenagers to die. ĭescribed as an ecological parable the novel details the lives of several characters living in and around the Taiwanese coastal town of Haven whose lives have been impacted by climate change.Ītile'i is a teenage boy and a member of the Wayo Wayo who inhabit a small island and have almost no contact with the outside world. Before publication an extract of the novel was published in the online literary journal Asymptote. by Darryl Sterk) and was released simultaneously in the UK and in the USA. In 2013 it became Wu's first novel to be translated into English (trans. The novel was first published in Taiwan in 2011 by Summer Festival Press. The Man with the Compound Eyes is a Taiwanese novel by Wu Ming-Yi (Title 複眼人).

The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi