Summer writing reading project (Days Twenty-Seven and Twenty-Eight): Elegy of Sweet Potatoes

Let's just admit it. My mind is more on reading than it is on writing. Especially when I keep getting good books in the mail. Tuesday (Day Twenty-Seven) I got a copy of Tehpen Tsai's Elegy of Sweet Potatoes in the mail. I finished reading it today (Day Twenty-Eight). I think the last time I read a book this quickly was when I read A Pail of Oysters about 15 years ago. I think this book is about twice as long as Oysters, but like the former, it's highly readable and engaging. 

Shortly into the book I realized that "sweet potatoes" (plural) must refer to all of the young Taiwanese men who were caught up in the Chinese Nationalist Party's sweep of Communists, rebels, people with "wrong" thoughts, people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and people who associated with the wrong people (who, in some cases, implicated them in illegal activities or thought crimes in order to extend their own lives). I realized that while Tehpen Tsai (lightly fictionalized as Youde Tsai) is the main character through whose eyes we see part of the White Terror period in 1950s Taiwan, the book is really about the "sweet potatoes" (again, plural), whose lives were for the most part destroyed by the KMT. It's also about their families who, while mostly staying in the background, show through in some scenes (such as at the beginning and end of the book when we see Tsai's family's reaction to his arrest and return), in the letters that the prisoners share with each other, and in the conversations the prisoners have about their families. One prisoner suggests that if he is ever sentenced, he will divorce his wife if the sentence is longer than 10 years so that she and their child can have a better life. Tsai's family shows up in some photographs, as well--the look of joy on the face of his wife, Panto, in the last photograph is particularly moving. 

The book is packed with details and people (I need a list of characters to help keep me straight, especially since some characters are called by more than one name). Although it's not an academic history, you get what feels like a first-hand experience of what it was like to be be imprisoned during the White Terror. (The pecking order for where the prisoners in the overcrowded cells--the newest prisoner usually had to stand next to the toilet--reminded me of Wang Wenqing's (王文清) story, 「獄中獄外的人生」published in 《秋蟬的悲鳴:白色恐怖受難文集》.) I was surprised by how much the prisoners were able to talk to each other in some of the prisons and by the fact that they were able to sing Japanese and even Communist songs while their fellow prisoners were being taken away to be executed.

An informative essay by Michael Cannings about the life of Tehpen Tsai also needs to be read to get a more complete understanding of Tsai and his story. It gives background to the historical period and more details about Tsai's life that are only touched upon in the book--particularly his life post-imprisonment.