‘taipei’ by tao lin // vintage contemporaries, 2013

79.9

review by j. spilker.

***ed note: more ‘i am alt lit’ contributors will read this book, will probably concentrate on different elements, etc. thankks.***

read this book & fell asleep approx. 2-3x

read this book & ate gyros approx 1-2x

read this book & ate a hamburger i made myself 1x

read this book & spilled water on it 2x

read this book at lunch approx. 4x

read this book at home approx. the rest of the times

read this book & alternated b/w don delillo’s ‘underworld’

//

what is style over substance?

seems ok to ask this question now, this far into tao lin’s ‘oeuvre’

i am somewhat confident that ‘nothing is happening’ is a valid criticism

of course exactly that–’nothing is happening’– is something–and we are often ok with that

are we also ok with that in our novels

how much of life do we want to see reflected vs. life change

read this book & thought about ‘nihilism’ vs. ‘existentialism’ approx. 3x

main character ‘paul’ often presents a ‘somewhat’ nihilistic view on whether drugs are good/bad

except seems like ‘society’ has entered ‘social contract’ in the arena of drugs being good/bad especially in america where most of this story ‘takes’ place

of course good/bad doesn’t mean that b/c it’s against the law or within the law means that it’s bad or good, just that our society has taken some (often faint/half-hearted) efforts towards making it seem bad/good

(((SOME1 CURRENTLY IN ‘UNDERGRAD’ PLS CRITIQUE ME, PREFERABLY SOME1 IN A FRESHMAN COURSE, THANKKS)))

there can be ‘good’ / ‘bad’ things b/c actions have consequences, often negative consequences, especially to ppl that you ‘care’

i don’t really care abt paul

not sure where he came from or why i should care

except i know exactly where he came from

he came from tao lin and is ‘modeled’ after tao lin in many ways, i’m assuming based on interviews, etc., tao lin’s actual life

this is a peculiar way to always ‘write’

is it an act of ‘hubris’ to think the world is that interested in you?

is it an act of extreme ‘ego’ to think that you are that interesting?

is all of this validated by the fact that i wrote an early ‘review’

is all of this validated by the fact that ((SOME)) ppl ((SOME BEING ME)) are generally ‘excited’ about a tao lin book?

is all of this validated if ppl are only interested in tao lin for his ‘style’ rather than the substance of his ‘story’ ie he can’t tell a good ‘story’, he can only write ‘well’

idk this seems like a larger ‘systemic’ problem

i have read ‘critiques’ that writing programs only prepare ppl for ‘writing short stories’

not sure of tao’s ‘exact’ writing training

idk who prepares ppl to draw hamster and koala drawings

probably long ‘exposure’ to hamsters & koalas

back to the ‘point’

can tao lin be a good stylist w/o being a ‘good writer’

can tao lin be a good stylist w/o being a good storyteller’

this is what i’m trying to figure out

i recently read ‘revolutionary road’ by richard yates, obviously some1 tao lin enjoys, b/c of the name of his last novel

was ‘captivated’ by the small moments in ‘revolutionary road’ more so than in the small moments of ‘taipei’ though i would say i’ve been ‘captivated’ in the past by the small moments of SFAA & RICHARD YATES (the novel)

can you become a good enough ‘stylist’ to overcome the plot-driven devices?

arguably more ‘happens’ in this book than in past tao lin books, there is travel, even travel to another country

there is filming, etc.

seems to be more ‘drug use’ in this novel than in previous, perhaps i am mistaken

would enjoy more ‘backstory’ on the main character paul

we don’t even know what he’s written previously (BUT WE DO KNOW NOW DON’T WE)

we are thrown in the moment ‘in media res’ even tho the character goes on a ‘book tour’ for a book that is not mentioned

//

somewhat struck by the more metaphorical use of language in this novel

many good metaphors in here, i underlined quite a few of them

many seemed ‘technical’ and ‘technology-oriented’

in ch 1

“but on some level, he vaguely knew, he was waiting for Michelle, or some combination of Michelle and the world to endure and overpower his negativity–to absorb the loose integer of him into its functioning, usable equaiton”

in ch 5?

“Paul asked if she could think of a newer word for ‘computer’ than ‘computer which seemed outdated and, in still being used, suspicious in some way”

above is not a metaphor, but perhaps an example of the clever concentration on modern language

in ch 4?

“…an eerie building far in the distance, thin and black, like a cursor on the screen of a computer that had become unresponsive. Paul imagined building-size letters suddenly appearing, left to right, in a rush–wpkjgijfhtetiukgcnlm–across the desert”

the above might be my favorite line of the whole book

very rich & modern metaphor that i think will take ppl ‘by surprise’

that is called ‘good writing’ mebbe you don’t get it all here, you will soon

i like the addition of these ‘metaphors’

seems like i started folding more pages towards the middle of the book, once the character of erin made an appearance

erin seems ‘based’ on the person of megan boyle from what i briefly know of the tao lin/ megan boyle arrangement that has been made somewhat public, based on the ‘film clips’ i’ve seen, but i do not know them ‘personally’

some of the things that occur b/w them seems ‘impossible’ to verify as ‘fact’ or ‘fiction’ w/o ‘poring’ over every single line

folded a page with ‘harry potter’ and ‘star trek’ mentions, not sure why

seems like the main ‘thrust’ of the book is to explore why relationships fail, with one or two very ‘in-depth’ case studies, though this question is put forward at the beginning

seems like relationships take ‘compromise’ which the character, especially, paul does not seem willing to do very often

this is hard, yes, but do-able to go ‘beyond’ yourself

idk if we all can do it

idk

i d k

of course i want this book to make it, b/c the style is so overwhelmingly ‘real’ & ‘fresh’ the book stands on those merits, this is a 'big major publishing’ debut, few of us will ever get 'here,’ that this style could make it 'here’ is very 'important’ seems like tao lin put all of ‘himself’ into this, but sometimes ‘himself’ may not be enough & maybe something ‘beyond himself’ ie ‘imagination’ / other ppl’s life ‘experiences’ may just be more ‘interesting’, what is the balance, maybe this is the balance, b/w ‘life experience’ & ‘imagination’

yes, it’s a ‘risk’ i know



