Notes of a Crocodile
Translated by Bonnie Huie
About
In late-1980s Taipei, just after the lifting of martial law, a group of queer misfits navigates university life, first loves, and the terrifying freedom of a society that has only just begun to allow dissent. The narrator, a young woman, falls for her classmate Shui Ling with an intensity that is simultaneously thrilling and corrosive. Interspersed throughout are allegorical tales of crocodiles living in disguise among humans. Qiu Miaojin's cult classic — winner of the China Times Literature Award — captures the raw, electric energy of a generation discovering itself in real time. The prose veers between confessional urgency and surreal fable, creating a novel that feels like a diary, a manifesto, and a love letter all at once. A coming-of-age novel about the courage it takes to live as yourself — written by someone who understood that courage as both a triumph and a wound.
