A brutal, beautifully written family epic that is set during the political turmoil in post-WWII Taiwan. The story of the Tsai family spans six decades and is seamlessly woven around actual events. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys realistic historical fiction and enjoys deeply touching stories about family.Something had happened here once, but other things had too, and life went on. We have to remind ourselves to rememberThe youngest daughter of the Tsai family is born in Taipei on the [...]

“The people have realized that Martial Law is not law. A regime not established by law is devoid of the attribute to dispense law. A regime which puts in a bunker the highest law in the land does not have the moral authority to say that nobody is above the law.”----Zulfikar Ali BhuttoShawna Yang Ryan, an award winning American author, pens her new book, Green Island: A novel , that unfolds the story of a Taiwanese family living in Taipei when the Martial Law was incorporated and changed the [...]

Review soon.

I picked up Green Island during a "Best of " sale on . This was in the 1st round pick of the Best Historical Novel for 2016. I've pondered this for several months and I simply don't have the bandwidth to craft the kind of review it deserves, but here it goes. The themes in this one include human frailty, courage, family, mental illness, entitlement, importance of lineage, honor, loyalty, integrity, pride, shame.Green Island is the story of Taiwan's violent and tumultuous history between 1947 and [...]

I don’t know nearly enough about Taiwan and its complicated history, which fact swiftly became apparent as I read Green Island. Ryan’s novel covers a sweeping number of years, focusing on the ripple effects within one family of the father’s decade-long imprisonment by Chinese nationalists. His family assumes he is dead, and his youngest daughter, our main character, can’t even remember what her father looked like because she was an infant when he was taken away. Imagine the tectonic shif [...]

Shortly after Dr. Tsai delivers his daughter, the unnamed narrator of the novel, he is taken away to prison during an uprising in Taiwan. When he returns to his family ten years later, he is a different man. The narrator's relationship with her broken father will color her relationships and decisions later on in her life, when she is a mother and wife living in the United States. Green Island is a powerful tale of love and survival and the price of freedom.Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated [...]

The writing talent of author Shawna Yang Ryan in 'Green Island', which in conveying the emotional toll of what being born and living in a totalitarian state under martial law requires of families, friends, and marriage, is absolutely tremendous. Ryan should win an award for 'Green Island'. As far as I am concerned, this novel stands side by side with George Orwell's '1984'. What increased my shock and horror is 'Green Island' is fictionalized history, not simply a literary extrapolation. The exp [...]

A very good book. I always enjoy books that introduce me to aspects of history with which I am unfamiliar. Growing up in the '50s and '60s, I always thought of Taiwan as a part of China where the enemies of Mao Tse-tung were making a futile stand in order to retake the Chinese government - a completely Cold War viewpoint. I never considered the existence of the indigenous people of Taiwan or their struggle against the oppressive Kuomintang who took over their island, much less their earlier hist [...]

I loved this book. And before I review it, I wanted to say that I have been on for over a decade and never really got into having "friends." This summer my daughter had a college class with Jenny who has the Reading Envy blog and after my daughter raved about her in class I became a friend of hers, which begat other friends and thanks to those friendships I saw a lot of interest in this book, Green Island. I was the first person to get it from our library and was captivated from page one. The [...]

Trigger warnings: torture, murder, stillbirth.3.5 stars. I'd heard this billed as a family saga, but really it covers the story of Taiwan during the course of one woman's life, from 1947 to 2003. It's a compelling story, particularly once the protagonist moves to the US and she's dealing with her husband's involvement in Taiwanese politics and its impact on her life. What I wasn't so keen on here was the omnipresent narrator. When you've got a first person narrative of events that happened when [...]

A really wonderful book. She writes of Taiwan, briefly of the island as a Japanese colony, more about the violent takeover of the island by Chiang Kai Shek and is mainland Chinese, and the unspoken of consequences to the Taiwanese people of the US recognition of the People's Republic of China. This book is particularly poignant to me, because I lived in Taiwan twice - 1971 to 1972 and then in 1979 to 1980. The story of the mainland Chinese takeover of the island was a taboo topic, as was their r [...]

To call Green Island a devastating tale of idealism versus oppression might be true, but it would also be an oversimplification of this family saga spanning decades and continents. A harrowing journey through history, memory, rebellion, betrayal and forgiveness (or was it acquiescence?), the novel is more than anything a reminder of the multitudes who suffer unredeemed beneath the boot heel of repressive regimes. Alsoa beautiful love story.

Wow, I just love when a book educates you on a time in history that you have been completely unaware of. Ryan pulls off a magnificent literary feat by tackling six decades set in Taiwan over the course of the twentieth century. It is horrific what so many endured during this time and begins with the story of the unnamed narrator's father being captured because he is suspected of Communist activities. He is kept for over a decade in brutal and inhumane conditions. It then follows his return home, [...]

This novel is a tremendous contribution to American literature. Yang Ryan deftly manages the conflicting and complicated narratives of good and evil, good and bad that are foisted upon the colonized by colonizers. She captures the way it divides families and even individuals inside of themselves. For me it was personally an important read as the wife of a Taiwanese American whose family is mirrored in many ways in the story. It helped me to see in many ways why my husband and I, a Black and Jewi [...]

We read fiction for entertainment, but often a novel can teach us something as well. Shawna Yang Ryan's GREEN ISLAND is such a book, one of those rare works of fiction that is so grounded in reality that you can't help but keep turning the pages.Set in Taiwan, the novel delves into the life of ordinary people living under what was a dictatorship, even though the world saw the island as some hazy haven for liberty in the face of Communist aggression. The real government of China ruled there, unti [...]

Terrifying and horrific, this tale of Taiwan through the years of occupation by the Japanese and then Communist China, is a haunting tale of murder and fright as seen in the lives of one family. Confusion, subterfuge, lack of trust. A word or a look in Berkeley can have a disastrous effect in Taiwan. Unforeseen consequences for seemingly- innocent actions. A must read.

>>I received an ARC of this book from .<<I'm almost finished with this book. I've come to find out that reading a person's story—even a fictional one—from birth to adulthood can be quite exhausting! That's not a bad thing at all and I feel it shows how much I've gotten into the book that I'm exhausted. Kind of like I've been this person. I've got a biiiit less than a 100 pages to go after reading this for some months and I thought I should write something now anyway since my feel [...]

This book is intriguing in terms of the topic and the historical period it represents. However, the writing is riddled with serious quirks (and this cannot only be a matter of style). The awkward sentences and use of language are jarring. Here are a few lines, among many, that left me scratching my head about what was meant and how to re-write these sentences to be both more clear and more evocative. Ok, just more clear would have been sufficient.1. "Baba didn't have to punch or pound. The steel [...]

I received a copy of this book through Penguin's First to Read program in exchange for an honest review.This book is fiction, which I only know because I checked about a quarter of the way through reading it, but it reads like an incredibly interesting memoir. This book spans like 60 years, sixty intense years (some more intense than others of course). There are several events in the book that seem insanely unrealistic to me, an American who has never lived under an oppressive regime, and they a [...]

Green Island – a novel - by Shawna Yang Ryan. First, some history: The Dutch and Spanish claimed Taiwan in the 17th Century but they were booted out during the same century when China claimed the island. Following the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, the Qing Dynasty ceded the island to Japan. In 1945, following the end of World War II, the Republic of China (ROC), led by the Kuomintang (KMT), took control of Taiwan. In 1949, after losing control of mainland China to Mao, the ROC government un [...]

So much to say about this book where to begin?First off, it is beautifully written. I really enjoyed Ryan's writing style. It is eloquent, and immersive and easy to follow. The first half of the book, the Taiwan years, I found to be more intriguing than the second half. The second half felt a bit slow in one or two places, but overall I loved that the story spanned so many decades. The reader is able to watch the tumultuous evolution of Taiwan through the narrow lens of this family.But the story [...]

I was immediately immersed in the first section of this book. The storytelling is good with plenty of foreshadowing and I was really starting to care about the characters.The narrator's father gets caught up with Chinese Nationalists who are snuffing out all forms of perceived threats against their leadership in Taiwan, and the father has said the wrong thing at the wrong time in front of the wrong people. When he disappears, the family is forever changed and eventually learns to live without hi [...]

This is an important novel. It is a serious book. The jacket synopsis is satisfactory. I won't re-synopsize. I will only encourage you to read it. But be in a good life-place before reading it. Or, be sure you can handle some hard things. I admit I skimmed through the Berkeley section. The '70s and '80s were ugly times. I wasn't able to fully engage with that portion this time.Good things: strong voices, strong subjects, strong story arc, engaging story, good history, excellent writing. Immediat [...]

The story of the Tsai family written over six decades and about some actual historical events. A story about oppression at it’s worst and how moving to another country does not always let you escape. Shortly after she is born, before her parents have a chance to name her, her father, because he voiced his opinions, is taken away to prison during an uprising in Taiwan. He returns to his family ten years later a very different man. He seems paranoid that he is still being persecuted by the gover [...]

4.5 Stars Green Islandis a book that I have been wanting to read since I heard about it. I was so excited when I was able to get a copy of it. Initially as I read the book I wasn't enjoying it; I didn't connect with the unnamed narrator and I couldn't quite bring myself to like her family. However as the book progressed I was hooked. I wanted to know what happened to the Doctor and how his family is affected. As I read the book I felt anger, fear, despair and in the end some hope. In case anyone [...]

Great story, beautifully written

Possibly the best rumination on historical fiction as a genre and why it exists in the first place: mimidoshima.wordpress/201

3.5 The author did a wonderful job of weaving Taiwanese history in with the story of one family.

Green Island: This is the sort of book that I love, but that takes me a long time to finish. It's got so many historical references in it that I like to research to learn more about the country and the politics that are mentioned. It covers Taiwan from 1947 to 2003, and, less importantly, several years in San Francisco. Ryan made the decision to tell the island's history by writing about a Taiwanese family's history over this time period (p 378, her mother's lifetime "spanning from colonialism t [...]

Decent read and I learned a bit. I was excited for this book after hearing about it from somewhere that I can't remember as usual. However, I was fascinated about a story that takes place in Taiwan during a tumultuous time period that I know very little about. I can't recall if I've ever read a book that takes place in Taiwan for a good chunk of the book so it seemed like an interesting read. The unnamed narrator is born right before her father is taken away and imprisoned for more than a decad [...]