這是我生平第一次閱讀英文長篇小說.
只因為它是我甥女的處女作,小說的背景又是我所熟悉的
台灣及美國. 所以特別勤查字典,
利用罹患蕁麻疹的”封關”時期,定神的完成閱讀.
我分兩次閱讀;
第一次,我不查生字,只追蹤劇情的發展
(這是以前READING COMPREHENSION老師的良好建議,)
這類充滿懸疑的,驚悚的 ”動作片”小說,只會讓你欲罷不能,
一頁頁的翻下去,急欲知道結局如何.無法顧及作者的文字及寫作技巧.
第二次,我逐字翻查字典 ,心想她是哈佛大學英國文學系畢業的
專欄作家, 使用的絕不是口語化的文字,所以我對書中描寫場景
及人性刻劃所使用的措詞文字及隱喻,…等等的領略是有限的.
這本小說,影射她成長過程中, 經歷中西文化衝擊的無奈 :
她以一個移民子女的角度,藉主角Emerson與母親的對白,
表達她對”中西觀念衝突”的立場；
她以短期遊學所看到的台灣社會、藉著Emerson母親骨灰的安置,
描述台灣的廟會及家族文化；
藉著層出不窮的社會事件,描寫台灣社會小角落的黑暗面,
黑道圈的生態.(我不太喜歡這部份) 藉箸Emerson與台灣唯一血脈相連的流氓弟弟赤膊相對時,
表達著她內心的掙扎與最後的抉擇.
有一篇書評曾這樣描述: The Foreigner has an ambition that extends
well beyond the confines of the genre. It is at its most intense
and most beguiling in its examination of conscience,
of family ties and of being "other", a stranger in a strange land.
我覺得小說的佈局緊湊,情節曲折離奇,有些誇張,令讀者急想探一究竟.
她對台灣黑社會的描寫,大概僅限於搜集資料或參考其他動作片電影
再加想像而寫.
我佩服她竟能將陋巷夜店、麻將桌、妓女走私、廟會、骨灰塔及
選舉醜聞等描寫相當深刻,至於她所表達的政治立場其實是人言亦言,
並非她的本意罷!
但是陌生者寫陌生地的故事,只有台灣人明白其意所指.
至於不知作者背景的美國人看這本書,看法與我自是迴然不同.
我們欣賞她的寫作技巧,但不太喜歡打殺的”動作片”題材”
以下是這本書的簡介：Emerson Chang is a mild mannered
bachelor on the cusp of forty, a financial analyst in a
neatly pressed suit, a child of Taiwanese immigrants
who doesn't speak a word of Chinese, and, well, a virgin.
His only real family is his mother,
whose subtle manipulations have kept him close--
all in the name of preserving an obscure idea of
family and culture.
But when his mother suddenly dies, Emerson sets out
for Taipei to scatter her ashes, and to convey a
surprising inheritance to his younger brother,
Little P. Now enmeshed in the Taiwanese criminal
underworld, Little P seems to be running some very
shady business out of his uncle's karaoke bar,
and he conceals a secret--a crime that has not only
severed him from his family, but may have annihilated
his conscience. Hoping to appease both the living
and the dead, Emerson isn’t about to give up the
inheritance until he uncovers Little P's past, and
saves what is left of his family.
這是書評: http://www.curledup.com/flforner.htm
日文版 (2010年) 書名不及原版貼切
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