HOW WE DISAPPEARED by Jing-Jing Lee
★★★★☆
Hanover Square Press, 2019
Set in Singapore, How We Disappeared centers on Wang Di, an elderly woman who survived Japanese occupation during WWII by being forced into serving as a comfort woman. We follow her present-day narrative as well as seeing flashbacks to the war, which comprise the bulk of this novel. Meanwhile we also follow Kevin, a teenage boy whose grandmother has just made a shocking confession on her death bed, which propels Kevin to dig into his family history.
I found this to be an occasionally frustrating and messy yet ultimately satisfying read. Its main strength was Jing-Jing Lee’s skill at immersing the reader, and the chapters set during WWII really came to life. I do think a bit too much of the narrative focused on Kevin – not to the detriment of Wang Di’s narrative, as I felt that her sections were properly fleshed out – it’s more that Kevin himself added very little as a character. I tend to prefer historical fiction that doesn’t have a past/present framing, and this was no exception; I kept wishing it would stay in the 1940s. That said, I do feel that Jing-Jing Lee ultimately justified this narrative decision with the way the story wrapped up, even if it wouldn’t have been my first choice of how to tell it.
But where I felt this book really excelled was Jing-Jing Lee’s descriptions of Wang Di’s life as a comfort woman, but then also in the depiction of the aftermath. The shame and stigma attached to these young women after they returned home was a heartbreaking thing to reckon with, but I felt the book was strengthened by Lee’s willingness to confront this head-on. I know that we in the book community collectively feel a bit of fatigue where WWII novels are concerned, but I felt that this one was a worthwhile read – impeccably researched and harrowing while still providing a strong and compelling narrative. (If you’re going to read one book about sexual slavery off the Women’s Prize longlist, make it this one instead of Girl.)
You can pick up a copy of How We Disappeared here on Book Depository.
Women’s Prize 2020 reviews: Dominicana | Fleishman is in Trouble | Girl | Girl, Woman, Other | How We Disappeared | Red at the Bone | Weather
[…] Prize 2020 reviews: Dominicana | Girl | How We Disappeared | […]
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[…] Prize 2020 reviews: Dominicana | Girl | How We Disappeared | […]
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Love reading your review!
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Thanks so much!
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Hooray! I finished this yesterday and completely agree with your take. (I’m reading Girl at the moment, and might write a head to head review of the two so I can consider why Lee’s depiction of abuse and horror works and O’Brien’s doesn’t.)
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Ooooh yes please do!!! I have a lot of thoughts about that so I’d LOVE to hear your take
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I’d be interested to read this – sounds very well done.
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It really was! I’d be curious to hear your thoughts.
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Yayyy, so glad you got to a book on the longlist that worked for you!! Your review makes me more excited about this book 🙂
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FINALLY!!! I hope you enjoy it! I’m also currently really enjoying Actress at the moment.
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Great review! I’m really looking forward to this one 👀
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I hope you enjoy it!!! It’s SO much better than Girl that is for sure.
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Great review! As you say, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when it comes to WWII fiction but there are still important stories to be told.
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Definitely! I have to check my own ‘ugh’ reaction to WWII novels sometimes because that’s a subgenre that can be SO varied – I have to remind myself that what I’m actually burned out on is WWII fiction set in the US and UK, but there’s so much more out there!
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“Impeccably researched and harrowing while still providing a strong and compelling narrative” – YES, that’s exactly what I was hoping to find in this one! This is one of the longlist titles I’m most hopeful about so your review is very encouraging. I’m glad there seem to be appreciable elements, even if it’s not a *perfect* read!
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I really hope you enjoy it, and I think you will! (You might have still been on vacation for this but when I was reading it I predicted the star ratings that everyone in the group chat would give it – I guessed 4 stars for you!)
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Ooh I must’ve missed the predictions, but that sounds promising! I would be very happy with a 4-star for this one. Once everyone’s read it you should check back in with the predictions and let us know how many were right! 🙂
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Naty’s already 4-starred it and I think I said 4 for you, 3 for Callum, 2 for Hannah and Marija! And either 4 or DNF for Sarah if she reads it. I think that covers everyone.
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[…] Prize 2020 reviews: Dominicana | Fleishman is in Trouble | Girl | How We Disappeared […]
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[…] Prize 2020 reviews: Dominicana | Fleishman is in Trouble | Girl | How We Disappeared | Red at the Bone | […]
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[…] Prize 2020 reviews: Dominicana | Fleishman is in Trouble | Girl | Girl, Woman, Other | How We Disappeared | Red at the Bone […]
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Oooh yes I completely agreed in my review! The power of her descriptions of Wang Di’s life was incredible, however the Kevin narrative was jarring at times. Overall a really incredible book. Going to follow your account now – thanks for the lovely review! 🙂
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Thanks so much!! Glad you enjoyed the book too but yes I completely agree that Kevin dragged it down just a bit. Wang Di though – what a character!
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[…] We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee | read […]
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[…] reading reviews from several other book bloggers. Lots of great reviews of this one from Emily, Rachel, Naty, Callum, and Gilana. (If you reviewed this one too and I missed you, please let me […]
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[…] Prize 2020 reviews: Dominicana | Fleishman is in Trouble | Girl | Girl, Woman, Other | How We Disappeared | Red at the Bone | The Most Fun We Ever Had […]
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