How We Disappeared

Author: Jing-Jing Lee
Genre: Historical Fiction
Type: Trade Paperback
Pages: 348
Source: TLC Book Tour
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
First Published:
Opening Lines: "She began in the first month of the lunar year. They said she was born at night, the worst time to arrive -- used up all the oil in the lamp so that her father had to go next door for candles."

Book Description from GoodReads: Singapore, 1942. As Japanese troops sweep down Malaysia and into Singapore, a village is ransacked, leaving only two survivors and one tiny child.

In a neighboring village, seventeen-year-old Wang Di is strapped into the back of a troop carrier and shipped off to a Japanese military brothel where she is forced into sexual slavery as a “comfort woman.” After sixty years of silence, what she saw and experienced still haunts her. 

In the year 2000, twelve-year-old Kevin is sitting beside his ailing grandmother when he overhears a mumbled confession. He sets out to discover the truth, wherever it might lead, setting in motion a chain of events he never could have foreseen.

Weaving together two time lines and two very big secrets, this stunning debut opens a window on a little-known period of history, revealing the strength and bravery shown by numerous women in the face of terrible cruelty. Drawing in part on her family’s experiences, Jing-Jing Lee has crafted a profoundly moving, unforgettable novel about human resilience, the bonds of family and the courage it takes to confront the past.

My Rating: 3 stars

My Review: Readers will immediately notice the beautiful cover of this Historical Fiction novel that looks at WWII from a different vantage point - the Japanese occupation of Singapore between 1942 and 1945.  

The story has dual time lines and is told with two perspectives. Wang Di is a teenage girl from a small town who is abducted during the war and sold into sexual slavery to become a 'comfort woman' to the Japanese army.  The second perspective is from Kevin, a 12-year-old boy who tries to piece together his grandmother's murky confession sixty years after the war. These are compelling premises, but I found Wang Di's story, while hard to read at times, much more interesting. I will caution readers that her tragic story isn't for the faint of heart as the author vividly describes the barbaric abuse and feelings of helplessness that Wang Di and her friends suffer at the hands of the Japanese who controlled Singapore. 

While I appreciated learning about a lesser known, but no less tragic, aspect of WWII, unfortunately, I struggled to become invested the stories, particularly Kevin's. The connections between the two POVs and two time frames were often awkward which influenced the flow of the story. I also felt somewhat dissatisfied that readers are left with so many unanswered questions. 

Overall, while I had some issues with this book, it is an evocative read about survival, female endurance and the long road to healing. 



Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.