Review by Ernie Hoyt

Taiwan Tattoo

by Brian M. Day

Jack is the kind of guy who drifts through life, never bothering to make an effort, until the day his brother-in-law fires him from a job he never wanted in the first place. When his local pizza-deliveryman suggests that he should get a job teaching English in Taiwan, Jack drifts into that occupation with the same languor that has characterized every other action in his life. But Taiwan has other plans for this Canadian slacker, who discovers that if he wants to survive in his new environment, effort will definitely need to be part of the package. Slowly his flat, lackluster existence begins to take on new dimensions as Jack learns to function in a puzzling and challenging new world.

A comic satire laced with black humor, Taiwan Tattoo is a scathing look at young Westerners who come to “teach” in Asia. Mixing an inarticulate form of existential angst with the uncaring ignorance of Generation X in this coming-of-age novel, Brian Day has created an anti-hero who, against his will, slowly becomes aware of the rest of the world as he flounders far away from any of his customary safety nets.

With deceptive simplicity and a protagonist who can barely find his way into a classroom—let alone teach in one, Taiwan Tattoo skillfully lampoons the overseas TOEFL industry in a way that is as hilarious as it is devastating.

2015, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches; 216 pages; paperback
ISBN-10: 1-934159-64-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-934159-64-4