«Тайбэйцы» давно на Goodreads, вот и новое, увидевшее свет в сентябре 2022 русское издание уже добавили к имеющимся. Там набралось около семидесяти рецензий, в том числе один любопытный отзыв следующего содержания (by Whitaker):
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Taipei People or 台北人 is a collection of quiet, understated and brilliant short stories by Pai Hsien Yung (白先勇). Dealing with the lives of the Chinese diaspora who fled to Taiwan after the fall of the Nationalist government, the title is deliberately ironic. It would be as if a collection of short stories entirely about the Russians that fled Russia to America after the fall of Nicolas II were titled “New Yorkers” or “Americans”. It might well be their new identity, but it is not an identity that was willingly taken up and one that they are having difficulty adjusting to. However, they must also accept that it is their present reality.
None of the characters are histrionic or despairing about their new lives. Pai Hsien Yung keeps a tight grip on his stories’ emotional register, and the strong undercurrent of regret is only ever alluded to. The past, when all of them were young and happy, basks in the glow of a memory of a golden youth. This past is also one that took place in China, the land that they have been exiled from. Their stories are thus simultaneously stories of exile and stories of growing old, when youthful optimism and dreams have turned in the cold light of morning into regret and the reality of a life of hardship.
And yet, this is not a collection weighed down with self-pity. There is stoicism and endurance, born of knowing that they have at least survived and that they can at least still take what pleasure they can from what life has to offer.