季風書訊 JF Books Review | 第二期 Number 2

親愛的讀者們，

馬上要到年底了，季風在DC的生命轉眼便超過了一百天，從秋天到了冬天，很快，就會陪著大家迎接春天和這裡的櫻花。

上個月我們推出了會員月捐計劃；在地下室擺上了一本一本二手書；策劃不同形式的活動，邀請來自不同領域的作者和研究者，與讀者分享、交流；上個月我們開始了獨立紀錄片放映的首兩場——我們希望嘗試不同的形式和表達，創造、建設書店的空間，讓它像生命一樣不斷生長。綠洲是一個生態，是擁有陽光、雨水、生長著植物、動物的土地，我們希望季風作為閱讀的綠洲，可以為你提供這樣的養料。每一次閱讀都是一次改變或改變的契機，是生命通過自身汲取的能量。每次看到大家在店裡下午三四點的斜照進來的光裡看書，世界仿佛就開了花。

自上個月發書評以來，店裡又到了很多新書，台港的、內地的，英文的，中文的。有些很好的書，可能因為存在之低調，還沒被大家發現，便接著書評的機會給它們亮相的機會。有些書需要等待它的讀者，有些讀者需要等待ta的書，希望接下來的推薦裡有你在等待的書。有些書等待的，也許是你。那我們開始吧。

Dear Readers,

It's almost the end of the year. Jifeng has now been open in DC for more than 100 days, from autumn to winter. Soon we will be here with you to welcome spring and DC’s cherry blossoms.

This past month, we launched a monthly membership program; we curated a new collection of used books in our basement; we hosted many speakers, who shared their thoughts and experiences with our readers; and we also started screening independent documentaries. Through different forms of interactions with our readers, we hope to curate a lively space that nurtures growth, change, and connection for all.

Since we posted our first issue of JF Books Review last month, many new books have arrived, in both English and Chinese. Some great books have not yet been discovered, perhaps because of their low profiles. We’re also taking the opportunity of the review to give them a chance to be featured, and to be known.

Certain books need to wait for their readers, and some readers need to wait for their books. I hope our list of books this month are ones that you have been waiting for. Let's get started.

We’re together

When reading.

Daniel Tudor, Ask a North Korean: Defectors Talk About Their Lives Inside the World’s Most Secretive Nation——North Korea through the voices of those who lived it

Ask a North Korean presents an unparalleled opportunity to step into the lives of individuals who once lived within the tightly controlled confines of the "Hermit Kingdom." Based on the weekly column by NK News, this book allows defectors to answer the world's questions about North Korea in their own words.

This is not just a book about politics or the regime’s policies—it’s a deeply human exploration of resilience, culture, and survival. Through contributors like Seong, a university dropout turned aspiring teacher in South Korea, and Park, who left Pyongyang and now studies in the U.S., we see how life under authoritarian rule doesn’t extinguish individual hopes and dreams.

What sets this book apart is its honesty. It doesn’t merely confirm the stark imagery often associated with North Korea; it surprises, offering glimpses of humor, complexity, and determination. It reminds us that even under oppression, life continues in forms both familiar and astonishingly unique.

If you’re curious about what life is really like in one of the world’s most secretive nations or want to understand the resilience of the human spirit, this is your chance.

Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere—A masterful tapestry of family, privilege, and identity

Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere is a stunning exploration of suburban life, motherhood, and the collision of secrets that upend an idyllic community. Set in Shaker Heights, a meticulously planned and outwardly perfect suburb, the novel centers on two families: the affluent Richardsons and the nomadic Warrens, whose arrival challenges the town’s tightly held norms.

Mia Warren, an enigmatic artist and single mother, moves to town with her teenage daughter, Pearl, renting a house from the Richardsons. The lives of these two families become deeply entangled, with each relationship exposing buried truths and fractures in their seemingly orderly worlds. When a controversial custody battle over a Chinese-American baby divides the community, tensions rise, forcing everyone to confront their own prejudices and choices.

Ng weaves a narrative that’s equal parts intimate and sweeping, deftly balancing the characters’ personal struggles with larger questions about privilege, race, and who gets to define the rules of belonging. With her trademark sensitivity, she illuminates how seemingly small decisions can ignite consequences far beyond anyone’s control—leaving little fires everywhere.

If you’ve ever questioned what makes a family or how far you’d go to protect your own, this novel will linger in your mind long after the final page.

—From Claire

Michael C. Davis, Freedom Undone: The Assault on Liberal Values and Institutions in Hong Kong—how liberal institutions can be systematically dismantled while maintaining their facade

In Freedom Undone, Michael C. Davis, drawing from his three decades as a resident academic in Hong Kong, presents a masterful analysis of how liberal institutions can be systematically dismantled while maintaining their facade. Through the lens of Hong Kong’s transformation, particularly following the watershed moments of the 2019 protests and the 2020 National Security Law, Davis illuminates the calculated process by which democratic foundations can be eroded through legal mechanisms paradoxically designed to undermine the rule of law itself.

This work transcends typical political analysis by positioning Hong Kong’s experience within the broader context of declining global liberalism. Davis demonstrates how the loss of separation of powers and political accountability reverberates through society, serving not just as a chronicle of Hong Kong’s transformation but as a sobering warning about the fragility of liberal democratic institutions worldwide. His intimate knowledge of the city’s legal and political evolution offers both scholarly insight and emotional depth, making the book a crucial case study of how authoritarian systems can methodically unravel decades of liberal progress.

——from Can

In memory of Václav Havel (5 October 1936 -18 December 2011)

Václav Havel, John Keane, The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central Eastern Europe

A senior came into the bookstore one early cold morning and took away Havel’s To the Castle and Back which we had featured for a few weeks. I said I’d thought Havel was famous, but no one took any of his books until you appeared. He then explained that maybe Havel is known for his generation, but not for mine. I was wondering if it’s true...but here is a brief introduction of Havel:

Václav Havel was the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, before the dissolution of Czechoslovakia on 31 December, before he became the first president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003. He was the first democratically elected president of either country after the fall of communism. As a writer of Czech literature, he is known for his plays, essays, and memoirs, which inspired the wide-ranging democratic movements in Eastern Europe —all of which I think are very impressive.

This book was first published in 1985 when Havel was the president of Czechoslovakia. Written shortly after the formation of Charter 77, those essays in this collection are among the most original and compelling pieces of political writing to have emerged from central and Eastern Europe during the whole of the post-war period. Václav Havel’s essay, “The Power of the Powerless”, provides the title for the book.

The questions delivered in crispy thoughtfulness and literary flair in the essays in this book still need to be asked and thought hard again and again, with more immediacy, today, which include:

What’s the line between morality and politics?

What are the political conditions for a morally healthy society?

When they do not obtain, what forms of political actions are morally appropriate and which are to be ruled out?

In a system where political life is universally seen as involving deceit, manipulation, and opportunism, as an ‘As if ’ game in which all the participants have ‘dirty hands’, how can a sense of morality in public life be rediscovered?

Books to be read along with The Power of Powerless:

Adam Michnik, Letters from Prison

Václav Havel, Vladimir Moravek, The Pig, or Vaclav Havel's Hunt for a Pig

What’s Non-fiction Manga?

Manga was never part of my childhood, so I had never become a huge fan of Manga until I took a class studying Korean Manga in graduate school. And it opened a new world for me and revived my childhood experience. I found out what an effective multi-media Manga is to narrate personal and historical experiences, which is why we put up a collection of non-fiction Manga for not only regular enjoyers of Manga but especially for people like me, who haven’t entered this world of wonder and amazement before. Here is the featured list:

Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, Janet Hong (Translator), The Waiting— an uncommon story of a family broken apart, perhaps, forever, across the 38th parallel by the war, which blurs the boundary between what’s fictional and what’s non-fictional.

Monzusu, My Brain is Different: Stories of ADHD and Other Developmental—ASD, ADHD, LD, stories submitted by real people, illustrated by Monzusu, a person with ADHD. A rare understanding of people learning to navigate a world not built with everyone in mind.

Timothy Snyder, illustrated by Nora Krug, On Tyranny —Nora Krug breathed new life, color, and power into Snyder’s riveting historical narrative. Must-read.

Shigeru Mizuki, Tono Monogatari — Japan’s supernatural literature transformed into comic books; spirits, ghosts, and fairies endowed with energetic forms. Giddy charm!

Living in the hot land of the Cold War

Y-Dang Troeung, The Afterlife of the Cold War in Cambodia— The Cold War was only “cold” for countries of power, but hot in many other parts of the world, and here in Cambodia.

This book is also a big surprise for me, simply because I learned a lot from reading it, things I wasn’t aware of before reading. Changes happened because of the knowledge gained from reading this book, and I value that knowledge and change. Sometimes the simple meaning of reading a book is to absorb something new into our minds, to be more aware, and to transform that energy to change. (Maybe not simple...)

When both the popular and academic discourses talk about the Cold War with a focus on countries of strong power opposing each other (i.e. US and Russia), in the framework of “coldness”, we are not aware that it was “cold” only in some parts of the world; in the “hot” battlegrounds of this war, such as Cambodia, the “fires raged”, the earthed burned, and the people fled — the burned land was growing little lotus flowers when the author went to visit with a group of “tourists”.

Troeung, a child of refugees herself, employs a method of auto theory that melds techniques of anthropology, critical theory, autobiography, fieldwork, and textual analysis to bring to the world what it was and is like to live and keep living in the hot, the burned, and the bombed parts in the Cold War.

The preciseness and sharpness of Troeung’s language in describing and contemplating on refugee experience makes it a great piece of non-fiction literature.

—— From W, HY

[美] 丹尼爾·凱斯，《獻給阿爾吉儂的花束》——探索智力與人性的邊界

《獻給阿爾吉儂的花束》是一本充滿哲思與情感張力的經典科幻小說。作者丹尼爾·凱斯通過查理·戈登——一個智力障礙患者——接受實驗性手術後智力迅速提升的經歷，探討了智慧、人性與孤獨的複雜關係。

查理的成長軌跡以實驗報告的形式呈現，從手術前簡陋的拼寫到術後複雜的哲學反思，讀者隨之感受到他的覺醒與轉變。然而，智力的提升並未為查理帶來持久的幸福，反而讓他直面曾經忽略的殘酷真相：人際關係的複雜性、自身存在的孤獨感，以及人類知識的有限性。與此同時，與他一同參與實驗的老鼠阿爾吉儂的命運也成為查理預見自身結局的隱喻。

凱斯用溫柔而深刻的筆觸，描繪了智慧與情感之間的微妙張力，提出了一個永恆的問題：智力的增長是否能夠帶來真正的幸福？在這個過程中，查理不僅重新審視了自己的生命，也讓我們思考什麼才是真正的人性和生命的價值。

這是一本直抵心靈的文學傑作，它提醒我們，每一個生命都值得尊重，而真正的理解與愛，需要超越智力的優劣之分。

羅伯特·D· 卡普蘭，《世界的盡頭：一場文化衝突的見證之旅》——深入第三世界，透視全球化背後的斷裂

在《世界的盡頭》中，羅伯特·D. 卡普蘭以旅行者的身份踏上了從西非到亞洲大陸的旅程，這不僅是一次地理意義上的探險，更是一場對文化衝突和人類生存困境的深刻反思。卡普蘭通過親身經歷，揭示了第三世界地區在種族衝突、軍事動亂、人口增長、環境惡化和貧困等問題中的掙扎，向讀者呈現了全球化背景下的另一面現實。

書中的一個重要思想是，第三世界並非與發達地區孤立分割。卡普蘭通過細緻的觀察和深刻的分析指出，這些地區的問題並不是局部的，而是全球性結構失衡的縮影。他警示道，面對這些問題，發達國家無從置身事外，因為「禮車」內外的世界早已不可分割。

卡普蘭的寫作兼具文學性與地緣政治分析的嚴謹性，他通過豐富的敘述將種種複雜的社會議題融入到旅行見聞之中，為讀者描繪了一幅鮮活的全球邊緣地帶圖景。無論是西非動蕩的種族局勢，還是裡海沿岸的資源爭奪，他的文字不僅描摹現實，更深挖其歷史與結構性根源。他強調，全球化不應只是富裕地區的特權，而應關注如何消弭中心與邊緣的鴻溝。

《世界的盡頭》既是一次思想上的冒險，也是對全球化進程中隱憂的警示。卡普蘭以敏銳的洞察力和廣闊的視野提醒我們，理解並正視這些邊緣地帶的問題，是全人類共同的責任。

這是一本跨越旅行文學與政治分析的傑作，它不僅揭示了文化衝突的深層次矛盾，更呼籲建立一種更具包容性的全球意識。

——From Claire

吳靄儀 ，《雨中的香港》——我願作土，從來也沒有離開

「政論的沉寂是文學的崛起。」曾經寫了數十年政治和文學評論的大律師吳靄儀這樣說 — 當政治表達不再，生活的盼望、鬱結和思考就會通過文學或其他藝術的形式表達出來。這是當下的香港，和留在這地人的繼續生活的執著。這本小冊子集結了吳靄儀近年在《明報》、《蘋果日報》的專欄文章和後國安時代的新香港見聞和思考。關於青草樹木的消長重生，獨立書店的沈浮滅亡，76歲，他在見山書店看到了自己的青春夢想，可以養花、可以做餅，可以賣書，太平山上其樂融融，像沒有出走的家明，獨守一角青空。

政治是無趣的，但當無趣的政治也無法提及，得以庇護的小家也被人敲打，再華麗的年代也恍如做夢，我們或許很難體會這樣生存的難，但是留守的意義，就是記錄更深刻和爭扎的日常，一邊進出於無道理的法庭，一邊寫下樹幹長出的新葉，我願作土，從來也沒有離開。

王璞， 《故城故事》—— 一本關於離散和飲食文學的生活日記

作家王璞用她的文學觸覺把文革後中國社會的轉型軌跡，濃縮在長沙、上海、香港三座城市的生命經歷中，它既是一本回憶錄，又像是一本關於離散和飲食文學的生活日記。

有趣的是，王璞並未在創傷敘事的泥沼中打轉。她的筆觸彷彿帶著一股淡淡的倔強，她時而幽默細膩的筆觸，描述出不同城市的特殊質地：在描繪文革陰影下的長沙童年時，依然能從街邊小吃中尋得一絲慰藉；在八零年代充滿希望的上海，她的文字裡既有知識青年的理想光輝，也藏著市井生活的鮮活氣息。而到了香港，她又以自嘲的筆調描繪一個文化人與基層同吃剩貨麵包的生存實況。她的筆下有一種克制的深情，平衡於記憶與反思之間：一方面是文革和卑俗群體帶來的創傷和恐懼的夢魘，另一方面是溫暖的人心和作者稟賦高絕的味蕾，在嚴酷的現實裡兩者都為她帶來一陣陣幸福感。這種將日常生活昇華為文學的能力，使《故城故事》超越了單純的懷舊之作，成為一部關於生存、堅持與成長的溫暖敘事。

—— from Can

（意）西爾維婭·費代里奇，《凱列班與女巫》—— 對資本主義和性別壓迫的顛覆性解構，讓被燃燒的女巫化作撼動歷史敘事的怒火與真相

西爾維婭·費德里奇的《凱列班與女巫》是一部帶著鋒芒的思想探險，它顛覆了傳統歷史敘述，將女性的被壓迫歷史與資本主義的原始積累緊密地交織在一起，把「女巫狩獵」從中世紀迷信的餘波拉進資本主義的劇場，指明它是資本原始積累的核心策略之一。費德里奇的筆猶如一把手術刀，將巫術、性別壓迫和現代國家的誕生解剖得入木三分。

這不僅僅是一本歷史學的傑作，更像是一份遲來的控訴書，站在女巫的廢墟上為那些被燃燒的肉體和被沈默的反抗發聲。女巫，這個被歷史污名化的形象，她不是歷史的邊緣角色，而是權力結構的祭品，也承載著女性反抗的記憶與力量。她們的悲劇，不僅僅是個人命運的沈淪，更是一次對女性主體性的系統性抹殺。費代里奇的敘事，猶如一聲沈重的嘆息，回蕩在歷史的長廊中。

吳思，《頂殘》—— 直指權力與人性深淵，冷峻揭示頂層設計與底層殘酷相互塑造、循環強化的准規則

吳思的《頂殘》是一部顛覆常規的作品，深刻剖析了權力、暴力和社會演化之間的複雜關係，以一種近乎殘酷的現實主義視角展現了權力如何塑造人性與社會秩序。書中通過歷史與現實的交錯分析，揭示了「頂層設計」與「底層殘酷」如何相互塑造、循環強化，最終成為社會運轉的准規則。吳思勾勒出一個以競爭性暴力為核心的社會圖景，警醒讀者看清權力結構背後的赤裸本質。這種毫不妥協的剖析方式不僅讓人不寒而慄，更迫使讀者重新思考權力的合法性與社會發展的倫理邊界。

《頂殘》，不僅是對社會權力機制的解構，更是對人性深處陰暗面的冷峻凝視。吳思通過一系列典型案例和歷史比喻，讓人看到權力與利益爭奪中「頂層」與「底層」相互利用、相互殘害的隱秘邏輯，而這種邏輯又常常被包裹在規則、道德甚至美好願景的外衣之下。作者沒有提供道德教化式的解決方案，而是用真相撕開表層，讓讀者面對最真實的人類社會競技場。《頂殘》不只是一本揭露權力與暴力的社會學著作，更是一把鋒利的思想匕首，刺入人心，直面真實。

吳國光，《走向共產黨之後的中國：轉型八論》—— 轉型的悖論與逆轉型的荒誕—中國模式下的權力回潮

吳國光的《轉型八論》是一部深入解析轉型社會複雜性的學術力作，以中國模式為背景，系統探討了轉型過程中政治、經濟、文化等領域的交叉影響。全書通過理論與實證相結合的方式，從民主化路徑、權威主義遺產、社會分化到國際環境等多個維度切入，呈現了轉型社會內在的多層次張力。轉型既是機遇，又伴隨結構性的不確定，而這種不確定性反過來塑造了轉型的方向，這就是「轉型的悖論」。通過剖析這些張力和悖論，作者挑戰了關於民主化和轉型的線性假設，為轉型研究提供了更複雜的分析框架。

吳國光在書中提出了「逆轉型」這一概念，用以描述習近平新時代的政治現象。他認為，自2012年以來，中國並未延續經濟改革和社會開放帶來的民主化轉型趨勢，反而出現了權威主義回潮和社會控制的全面強化。這種「逆轉型」現象在政治上表現為對個人集權的重新集中，在社會上體現為對公民社會的全面壓制，在經濟上則呈現為對市場力量的重新規訓。這一論述不僅對現階段中國政治路徑進行了深刻批判，也為全球化背景下轉型國家如何抵御「逆轉型」提供了重要警示。

瘂弦， 《瘂弦詩集》—— 「你死了的外鄉人/啊，你的葬村已近」

在《他們在島嶼寫作》第一次認識了瘂弦。瘂弦跟周夢蝶的經歷相似，但卻似乎擁有完全不一樣的人生故事。瘂弦的溫和、包容，似乎有能量容納一切。跟周夢蝶的疏離或是隔離不同，他在短暫的回鄉中，跟河南鄉下的表親們自然地吃飯、說笑。可是他的詩時常帶著凌冽的氣息，他寫到「雨傘和我∕和心臟病∕和秋天」；他寫到「啊，我們抬著棺木/啊，一個灰蝴蝶領路/啊，你死了的外鄉人/啊，你的葬村已近。」

今年10月11日，瘂弦在溫哥華的家中逝世，代表了與大陸相牽絆的台灣上一代文學的閉幕。

何為上一代文學？當代作家如何面對「影響的焦慮」？現在是不是一個必要的緬懷的時刻？我們怎樣好好地重讀痖弦？重讀上一代的心境？

《瘂弦書簡》 ——「如果不能做偉大詩人，願做偉大的朋友。」

本書收錄瘂弦從青年時期一路寫給楊牧的信。

瘂弦和楊牧初見於1959年，對於習慣了離散的人來說，很難想象，他們在之後的人生裡，書信不斷，為了這份友誼的生長付出了長期持續的努力。

他們早年曾互勉：「如果不能做偉大詩人，願做偉大的朋友。」

2019年秋，旅居加拿大的瘂弦看到楊牧消瘦的照片，立即打電話到台北關切，事後楊牧說：「那天，我把瘂弦惹哭了。」隔約半年，楊牧去逝。再隔了五年，痖弦去世。只是這次，沒有楊牧給他打電話了。

這本書是很多東西，是瘂弦生活碎片的平實記錄，是一個朋友會給另一個朋友講的話，是他們的友誼，是一本詩論，也是兩個人人生的集合。

馬尼尼為，《故鄉無用》—— 「我正要成為一位背棄故鄉的人。正在成為不孝子。」

經常覺得，你可以根據一本書的名字和它的封面確定你是不是想要跟它一起度過一段時間，也就是說，你可以像挑選商品一樣，通過眼耳口鼻的感覺，決定這會不會是一個讓你愉悅或滿足的決定——書擺放在書店等待挑選的時候，當然是一種商品，而好的作家是所有感覺的創造者，這包括了一本書的封皮，它看起來怎樣，摸起來怎樣——馬尼尼為就是這樣的作家。

在讀這本書之前，我完全沒有聽過她的名字，但我被書的封皮吸引（封皮是粉色的女人的胸膛，熱帶雨林的葉子，胸膛前是一隻更深粉色的鳥），打開後，便被那詭譎、奇異、搖曳、充滿水汽的語言和故事俘獲了。馬尼尼為是這樣一位作者，她擅於創建一個完完全全全新的空間，創建構成這個空間的一草一木和每個人。

馬尼尼為是一位生活在台北逾二十年的馬華作家，《故鄉無用》是她的第一部長篇小說，是她第二次寫故鄉，她說「我硬是要不斷地寫下去，成為被家人謾罵的對象。我正要成為一位背棄故鄉的人。正在成為不孝子。」

故鄉無用的話，要拿它怎麼辦？

—— from W, HY

最後，祝大家年節快樂！身體健康！

Happy Holidays! Happy New Year!

主編：W, HY

書評供稿：Claire, Can, Calvin, HY W