Review: Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan

How far are you willing to go for someone you love? This is the central theme of the novel “Green Island” by Shawna Yang Ryan, the Taiwanese-American novelist’s second work. A masterly work combining fact and fiction, “Green Island” traces the history of the island of Taiwan from 1947 to the early 21st century, through the travails of a single family, the Tsais.

“Green Island” is virtually a microcosm of the experiences that the Taiwanese went through, from the days immediately after the Second World War through the 1970s when mainland China was formally recognised as a US ally, thus unseating the island from the international community, to the early part of the 21st century, once democracy is established and the country faces the SARS epidemic.

The story begins on February 28, 1947, when the unnamed protagonist of the novel was born. This is also the day when martial law was imposed in Taiwan, in response to rioting caused by a widow who was selling cigarettes in the black market. As a result of the martial law, the protagonist’s father, a doctor, with his eldest daughter acting as midwife, helped the mother give birth at home to their fourth child, the narrator of the story that unfolds in the subsequent pages.

Very soon after this, the father is arrested and taken away during the rule of the “White Terror”, as that infamous era of the island’s history is called, as are thousands of others for seemingly protesting against the state of affairs in the country. Only recently free from Japanese rule, the Taiwanese, with high hopes of freedom, find their dreams dashed with only one alien ruler (this time from mainland China) replacing another. The novel gets its name from an actual island of the same name, where political prisoners were incarcerated for speaking against the KMT regime.

As the writer brings forth at the end of the book, “Green Island” was a 14-year project, during which Shawna Yang Ryan travelled to Taipei under a Fullbright grant and conducted several interviews with people directly affected during the dark years of the country’s history.

As we turn the pages of the book, we get to know the untold stories of the Taiwanese activists, the conditions of the prisons and inmates, the torture, the arbitrary executions and the betrayals as KMT tightens its paranoid grip on society. Although the Tsais are fictional, most of what happens in the book is based upon real events, and Shawna Yang Ryan manages to merge the historical events with the fictional characters with the touch of a master storyteller.

Beyond the history, what makes “Green Island” a compelling read is the way in which Shawna Yang Ryan uses her words to create the scenes in the book. The scents and sights of Taipei, the carefree life in the rural hinterlands, are brought to life with a touch of an artist. It is as if you can see a painting unfold before your eyes.

Imprisonment remains a central theme of the book. From the onset with the narrator’s father taken away, in the 1970s when the narrator and her husband were sheltering a political refugee who escaped the KMT, to the end of the book when the narrator’s mother is in a hospital which gets quarantined due to the SARS epidemic — “Green Island” shows how we are seldom in control of our destiny and external forces can shatter our lives at any moment, rarely of our own choosing.

“Green Island”, while being a beautiful piece of work, is also extremely tough and unsentimental. Harsh situations and circumstances are not sugar-spiced up to mellow the effect, which makes it such a compelling read. Being a mirror of Taiwan’s post-war history, the novel is a rare product that manages to educate and entertain at the same time. It is a grim reminder of the tremendous suffering of the island’s people and its tough transition to democracy, and the scars that are left behind will take a long time to heal.