Taroko Gorge by Daniel Ritari

Taroko Gorge is another one of those books I was lucky enough to get via LibraryThing's Early Reviewers group. There are good things and bad things about this group, and Taroko Gorge is definitely one of those good things. When I read the write up, I thought this sounds like Picnic at Hanging Rock. I love that movie. While Taroko Gorge didn't end up being a retread of Picnic after all, it still ended up being a very worthwhile read. I was surprised that this was a first novel. In fact, when I saw that it was, I lowered my expectations a bit. I shouldn't have. It was quite good.

Taroko Gorge has many narrators, all telling their version of events leading up to and after the disappearance of three Japanese schoolgirls at the Taiwanese state park Taroko Gorge. Did they fall into the gorge, down a hole, were they murdered? You have the two Americans, one a reporter and his photographer who seem to be the last to have seen the girls, the Japanese class rep who had a crush on one of the girls, a girl who lived in their shadow, and the Taiwanese detective who leads the search for the missing girls all telling the story from their perspectives. Where did the girls go? Are they alive or is all hope lost?

I really liked the different voices, the multiple nationalities all dealing with various prejudices and traditions in hopes of doing what is right. It felt very true, well researched, and the mystery kept me interested until the very end. In the end, found or not, everyone will be changed just from being there,waiting to see. It was a nice mix of traditions, how they can lead to prejudice and misunderstanding, and a mystery. The setting was interesting but not quite enough of a character to be the mysterious Hanging Rock. The characters were developed but not overly so. I knew enough in minimal discussion enough to care about them and their actions.

Overall, I liked this book quite a bit. I read it quickly, not because it was overly simple, but because I wanted to find out what was happening next. I wanted to find out about those girls, because in those short few chapters, I cared.

Rating: 4 Purrs for drawing me in and keeping me guessing. For showing the turmoil of teenage life and the human existence. For giving a very good first novel when expected far less.


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