Island Trilogy

"The Island Triptych" by Chung Wenyin describes women's and a woman's experiences of 20th century Taiwanese life. It is thus both about culture and history. Decayed Lust, Book 1 is a first-person account of a woman growing up in 1980s and 1990s (and to about 2002) Taipei. It is a poetic mind trying to navigate a densely populated metropolis, and the encounters and experiences of alienation and dissatisfaction this engenders. It is also heartfelt and amusing, as a wry sarcasm settles in.

Decayed Land is the third book of the Islands triptych by Chung Wenyin. If the trilogy is an overview of Taiwanese culture and history through the eyes of the land's women, then Decayed Land is the broadest of the three. It has a large cast of characters and takes on the role of family history for the Chungs, starting properly around the mass migration of Han Chinese to Taiwan, although the family itself having lived there for longer.