The Man with the Compound Eyes

A masterpiece of environmental literature it is the story of an apocalyptic aboriginal encounter with modernity. With limited natural resources, the Woenesian islanders customarily require second sons to row away from the island on a voyage of no return when they come of age. One such son, Atre, leaves Woenesia only to land on another island that has formed out of a trash vortex in the middle of the Pacific. When the trash island smashes into Taiwan's east coast, the Taiwanese people are too interested in developing the east coast to clean it up and Atre is left to fend for himself.

An excitingly original novel set on the coast of Taiwan that involves islands and tsunamis, the sea and mountains, a lost boy and a grieving woman searching for love and completion. The novel blends harsh fact with beautiful fantasy, mythical beings with wonderfully recognisable characters to explore our increasing disconnect from the natural world.

WU MING-YI is a Taiwanese writer, painter, designer, photographer, literary professor, butterfly scholar, environmental activist, traveler and blogger rolled into one. His literary reputation was first established by his nature writing. In The Book of Lost Butterflies and The Way of Butterflies, he chronicles his lifelong fascination with this beautiful creature and contemplates the invisible bond between man and nature. He wrote, designed, and provided drawings and photographs for the books, which won influential prizes. His debut novel, Routes in the Dream re-imagines Taiwan's complicated history as a Japanese colony and examines the relationship between fathers and sons, memory and dreams. Hailed as a groundbreaking work of literary historical fiction, it was nominated for every major award and was chosen as one of the ten best Chinese-language novels of the year by Asian Weekly magazine. Wu was the only Taiwanese writer on the list. This is his second novel.