Love has nothing to do with it.

Author: (Taiwan) Wang Wei / Phoebe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: My amazement with this book stems from its truly captivating story and refreshingly innovative creativity. I believe every reader will share the same sentiment after finishing it—discovering that beneath the phrase "Love Doesn’t Matter," there lies a modern love story, filled with philosophical reflections and a sensitive soul. That soul is deeply engaging, making it worth reading the entire book again. Love Doesn’t Matter is a soul-stirring encounter between a heartbroken man and a melancholic woman! Wang Wei, a renowned Taiwanese film critic and screenwriter, and Phoebe, a talented woman with multiple identities as a film producer, film promoter, and playwright, have jointly crafted a uniquely creative, deeply emotional, and cleverly witty love novel!
Wang Wei and Phoebe have created a fresh narrative style, depicting the profound love between urban dwellers through the alternating perspectives of a small dog, a man, and a woman, which intertwine and resonate with one another! The book is divided into nine chapters, each written in the first-person perspective of the dog, the man, or the woman, describing the vacillation, restraint, and eventual mutual affection between the lovers. At the same time, the two authors have extensively experimented with and innovated the novel's "text," writing the entire book in a postmodern style. As a result, we see them skillfully blending their expertise in "film criticism," "screenwriting," "ad copywriting," and other genres with the conventions of fiction, aiming to provide readers with a completely fresh reading experience.
Each chapter’s title page is written in the style of "ad copywriting," using concise and impactful language to strike readers' senses. The "screenwriting" style is a mix of film scripts and popular "idol dramas," as well as the Taiwanese "8 o'clock drama" genre, offering readers a vivid textual experience filled with imagery. Readers' intellectual understanding is achieved through the critical writing style of "film criticism" and the literary techniques of the novel, which alternate throughout each chapter, creating a reading experience that is both emotional and rational!
Additionally, the authors have postmodernistically transformed "annotations" into part of the novel's text. They specifically use the anthropomorphic dog protagonist, ToTo, to deliver explanations that are both earnest and absurd, fitting the role of "annotations" while subverting them. For example, in the chapter titled Why Should Men Learn to Cook? from the second chapter, the dog ToTo gives a completely factual explanation of the "Macau Incident" in one annotation. However, in the third annotation, when explaining the "God of Food," it jokingly refers to the Jet Li-starring film God of Cookery as a "true story." The authors use the dog's perspective to create "annotations," structuring and deconstructing the concepts of reality and fiction, as well as film and history. On one hand, this satisfies their creative ambitions; on the other, it offers readers an unconventional and enjoyable reading experience!