For many years, Li has portrayed the forbidden-from The Butcher's Wife to Everyone Sticks Their Incense in the Beigang Incense Burner, from a feminist spokesperson to a party chairman's lover, between the lines is a provocation of social mores. Some have seen her work as motivated by real-life enmities, and it has been the object of much criticism.
多年來，李昂將這顆禁果刻繪殆盡，從《殺夫》到《北港香爐人人插》，從「殺豬」代言人到「主席」的情人，字句間一再挑釁社會的道德尺度；尤其當文字被解讀為牽涉太多藝術創作以外的動機，甚至是挾怨報復、中傷情敵時，遭受的批評與誹謗自不在話下。