Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise - WikipediaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise |
| Author | Lin Yi-han |
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| Publisher | Guerrilla Publishing |
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| Publication date | 2017-02-07 |
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| Publication place | Taiwan |
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| ISBN | 9789869236478 |
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Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise (Traditional Chinese: 房思琪的初戀樂園; Simplified Chinese: 房思琪的初恋乐园) is the first and only novel by Taiwanese author Lin Yi-han published in February 2017. Shortly after publishing the novel, Lin Yi-han died by suicide.[1]
The novel follows Fang Si-chi, a secondary-school student who is groomed and sexually abused by her teacher, Li Guo-hua.[2]
Reception
Sociologist and Scholar Li Yinhe said, "Judging from the sociological perspective, the novel raises social awareness of child molestation and domestic violence. From the literary values, Lin Yihan is simply outstanding and worthy of all respect; she is genuinely a gifted novelist."[3]
Award
- 2017: Openbook Annual Good Book Award[4]
- 2018: Top Ten Books of the Year of the 19th Shenzhen Reading Month[5]
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Review
“Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise is a powerful and unflinchingly told story from the unforgettable voice of Lin Yi-Han. Deftly and sensitively translated by Jenna Tang, this book shatters the stifling silence that is so often forced on survivors. A searing exploration of the impact of abuse, this is a riveting account of resilience and the importance of language and narrative in shaping our understanding of violence and trauma.” - Gina Chung, author of Sea Change and Green Frog
“Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise is a harrowing portrait of sexual violence and its thunderous reverberations. Through Jenna Tang’s incisive translation, the reader is brought along a heartbreaking and unflinching journey. A dark, vivid, and important read that stewarded the #MeToo movement in Taiwan.”
- Crystal Hana Kim, author of If You Leave Me
“Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise is not only a heroine’s epic...but also a coming-of-age story that puts forward a blistering critique of the social norms that enable abuse and corruption” - Words Without Borders
"[A] haunting novel . . . lyrically translated." - Kirkus Reviews
"Lin Yi-Han reckons with the loss of innocence, abuse of power, and the legacy of trauma in her exceptional, award-winning debut...[Lin's] unflinching determination to write about 'a group of girls . . . who had really lost it all' led to this powerful, haunting novel, adeptly translated by Tang. . . . A tour de force." - Booklist (starred review)
"There's an unhurried fineness to Lin's writing...[she has] a real gift for a striking image." - The Guardian
“Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise provides both a scathing account of the ways strong communities can simultaneously love and fail to protect their girls, and a tender portrayal of the ways girls learn to survive within these spaces. Lin Yi-Han’s only novel is not merely about the psychological effects of grooming and abuse, but also the mysteries and peculiar powers of girlhood and female friendship. In Jenna Tang’s precise and lyrical translation, each paragraph contains a jewel of language; I kept underlining passages that contained thoughts I’d had as a teenager that I’ve never seen rendered on the page before. In a time when still too few take girls seriously in both literature and life, this novel showcases how ‘their excitement… was also tinged with desire; that this desire was actually despair.’ I loved Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise and am thrilled English-speaking audiences can now access Lin Yi-Han's moving novel.”
- Jami Nakamura Lin, author of The Night Parade
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From other countries
cacopuff
5.0 out of 5 stars Heavy
Reviewed in the United States on 8 April 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Very sad and gripping book. I purchased a copy due to seeing a tiktok review of it, and after hearing the authors story of her later suicide after writing this, I was intrigued. Compared to other books and stories of grooming and pedophilia and assault, this one doesn't sugarcoat and forces you to feel the suffering Si Chi feels. She isn't groomed, she is immediately taken advantage of, and compared to her tutors other victims, she knows what is happening isn't right from the get go, and it gets to the point she begins dissasociating and loses memories. The corruption through the school and her tutors colleagues, and how a female teacher acts as a transport for girls to be victimized was a very tough section to read. It tackles spousal abuse as well as the child sexual assault as well. A very very tough but important read.
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Deepa
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is not a light read
Reviewed in India on 31 January 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I read this book when I was in senior high school. This is a really beautifully painful book. (I read the Mandarin version then.) I appreciate that the publisher was willing to sell the translated version and introduce it to the English-speaking community.
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AJW
5.0 out of 5 stars Powerfully moving
Reviewed in the United States on 4 December 2024
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
I first heard about this book from the translator, Jenna Tang, when I took her class on Taiwanese literature earlier this year. I am Taiwanese American, and I was curious about this book and the author. I knew going into it that aspects of the story would be difficult to read, but I wanted to read it regardless.
As others have mentioned in reviews, there are painfully graphic scenes of SA in the story, and I can understand why some people would not be able to read the book. For me, I see how it is integral to the story and the author's desire to share it in this way. It is heartbreaking to know that Lin Yi-han's writing is influenced by her own personal experiences, and that she did not live to see the success of her work.
This book is beautiful, haunting, and moving. Lin's writing style is so poetic and artistic - she really paints each scene with vivid imagery that I think Tang translates quite well. I can't imagine the challenge of translating a book, much less one with such a heavy topic and with language that the author used. Lin writes with a lot of metaphor and comparisons, and I think it takes a talented translator to capture that same imagery and emotion in a different language.
One thing I liked the most in this book is that it gives pieces of the story from many different points of view: Fang Si-Chi (main character), Liu Yi-Ting (her best friend), Li Guo-Ha (teacher and sexual predator), another of his victims, and a woman living in the building whose husband physically abuses her. These diverse perspectives add depth to the story that couldn't be achieved if it were told from solely Si-Chi's point of view.
I am very glad this book was translated into English because I would not have been able to read it otherwise, and I hope the book is able to gain global popularity now that it is more widely accessible. I definitely recommend this book, but with the caveat that you do need to be mentally and emotionally prepared for the content.
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plain_song_
5.0 out of 5 stars Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise
Reviewed in the United States on 12 February 2025
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
incredible interiority, dreamlike sense of time
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팡쓰치의 첫사랑 낙원린이한 (지은이),
허유영 (옮긴이)
비채2018-04-25
원제 : 房思琪的初戀樂園 (2017년)책소개
린이한 소설. 열세 살 소녀 팡쓰치가 쉰 살의 문학 선생님 리궈화에게 5년에 걸쳐 상습적으로 성폭행당하는 이야기이다. 이를 눈치챈 어른도 있고, 힘겨운 고백을 들은 친구도 있었으며 가해자를 도운 사람까지 있었지만
아무도 팡쓰치에게 손을 내밀어주지 않는 이야기이다. 아무것도 할 수 없고 탈출구도 없이 고통에 길들여지는 소녀의 이야기이다.
오직 명문대 합격만 바라보며 달리는 기형적 교육제도, 성교육에 무관심한 부모, 가해자의 당당함, 사회의 싸늘한 시선…. 작가 린이한은 세상의 팡쓰치들이 처한 현실을 고통스러울 정도로 정밀하게 그려냈다. 대만의 서평지 「오픈북」에서 '올해의 좋은 책'으로, 중국 최대의 서평 사이트 더우반에서 추천도서로 선정되었다.
이 책이 출간된 후 대만 사회 전체가 들끓었으며, 출간 후 석 달이 못 되어 작가가 스스로 목숨을 끊으며 또 한 번 충격에 휩싸였다. 그로부터 얼마 후, 린이한의 부모는 이 이야기가 작가 자신의 체험을 바탕으로 쓰였다고 폭로하고 가해자를 지목했다. 가해자를 처벌해야 한다는 여론이 빗발쳤지만, 지목된 강사는 혐의를 부인했고 결국 불기소처분되었다.
