Shawna Yang Ryan's latest novel is Green Island.From her Q & A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: How did you come up with the idea for your main character and her family, and why is she an unnamed narrator?Learn more about the book and author at Shawna Yang Ryan's website.
A: I struggled through multiple drafts with different narrative voices. Ultimately, I narrowed down the time frame for the book, and then it was easier to envision a character who could move through that time period.
For a long time, I was set on having a more male-centric book, but I found the father-daughter relationship very poignant, especially from the POV of a woman yearning for a better relationship with her father.
I was so consumed inside her head, I didn’t feel that I could go outside her and give her a name, some way that others identify her. And then when the book was done, I’d known her so long this way that no name seemed right. I also like the metaphorical resonances with being unnamed and Taiwan’s own issues over...[read on]
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