Filling in the gaps in history
As you open the novel, you might expect a description of the fateful events in the mountains. But the narrative commences with Halmut, the protagonist, returning to his Bunun tribal village bearing ill tidings.
After the death of Halmut’s twin brother due to illness in their youth, a fellow Bunun named Hainunan has taken the place of his sibling in Halmut’s heart. The pair have grown up playing together, pursuing their shared dream of a career in baseball. Unfortunately, Hainunan is killed during an American air raid.
When Halmut returns to his village to report the death, he learns that an American bomber has gone down in the mountains. He joins the rescue mission. But when they encounter an American survivor, should he save him or not? The author uses the text to shine a light on the struggle and transformation that take place in Halmut’s heart.
Kan chose to approach the book from the Bunun point of view, “because the Aborigines are the soul of the land, and if we view history and the land through the prism of this soul, we can forge a closer bond.” The book deftly taps into Bunun culture, in which dreams are believed to presage the future and lives are filled with myths and legends. The descriptions of mountains, animals and plants are riveting; it is as if trees can march into people’s homes and stand before the hearth. The Bunun call Jiaming Lake cidanuman mas buan—“mirror of the moon”—and Kan’s words too are inspired by legends of the countryside and sustenance drawn from the land, making for a read that is full of joyous surprises.
In order to reconstruct the historical scene, Kan went to the crash site and photographed the wreckage to identify what remained of the aircraft. He wanted to clarify in his mind what had happened in the last seconds of flight. “The plane broke up in midair before it crashed. They weren’t flying at a high altitude, plus the crew had parachutes, so there was a possibility of survivors.” After this close examination, the plot constructed itself step by step in the author’s mind, and he included the detail of a sole survivor as an ordeal for Halmut to overcome and “become a genuine human being.”
courtesy of Salizan Takisvilainan