The Man with the Compound Eyes: A Novel

About this book

When a tsunami sends a massive island made entirely of trash crashing into the Taiwanese coast two very different peoplean outcast from a mythical island and a woman on the verge of suicideare united in ways they never could have imagined. Here is the English-language debut of a new and exciting award-winning voice from Taiwan who has written an astonishing novel (The Independent) that is at once fantasy reality and dystopian environmental saga. Fifteen-year-old Atileia native of Wayo Wayo an island somewhere in the Pacifichas come of age. Following the custom of his people he is set adrift as a sacrifice to the Sea God but unlike those who have gone before him Atilei is determined to defy precedent and survive. His chances seem slim but just as it appears that hope is lost Atilei comes across a sprawling trash vortex floating in the ocean and climbs onto it. Meanwhile on the east coast of Taiwan Alice a college professor is overcome with grief. Her husband and son are missing having disappeared while hiking in the mountains near their home. Alice is so distraught that she decides to end her own life. But her plans are interrupted by a violent storm that causes the trash vortex to collide with the Taiwanese coast bringing Atilei along with it. Alice and Atilei subsequently form an unlikely friendship that helps each of them come to terms with what they have lost. Together they set out to uncover the mystery of Alices lost family following their footsteps into the mountains. Intertwined with Alice and Atileis story are the lives of others affected by the tsunami from environmentalists to Taiwans indigenous peoplesand of course the mysterious man with the compound eyes. A work of lyrical beauty that combines magical realism and environmental fable The Man with the Compound Eyes is an incredible story about the bonds of family the meaning of love and the lasting effects of human destruction.