The Taste of Apples

Taiwanese poor and working-class people, skillfully and respectfully portrayed, are the subjects of Huang Chun-ming's The Taste of Apples (trans. by Howard Goldblatt). Minor events take on huge significance in their lives, such as when a poor boy buys his loving grandfather a bonito, only to lose it on the way home in ""The Fish."" In the title story, a family is thrown into panic when the breadwinning father is struck by an automobile, but hope is restored when they learn that the driver was American and willing to make financial restitution.