Reviews with content warning for Trafficking - How We Disappeared

Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee

16 reviews

zoe_macgechan's review

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I only wish I hadn't read Brotherless Night before reading this. They are similar enough to compare, although still quite different books, but I loved Brotherless Night so much this pales in comparison.

That's such a deeply unfair statement as this book is packed with emotion in the concluding third.

It's very slow in building the characters and intricacies of their relationships to bring them to the book's climax, but the depth of feeling at that climax is worth it.

It's beautifully and sensitively written. All of the characters are deeply flawed and yet perfect victims of circumstance.

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jmkemp's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

A book from an unusual point of view, covering a difficult subject that still remains taboo for many. The story is told sympathetically and with only just enough detail to move it along. The ending is sort of ambiguous, but satisfying enough.

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tassillow's review

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4.5

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1st22's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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adelheid's review

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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ktrain3900's review

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

So beautiful and so sad, a stunning first novel about the Singaporean side of the Japanese invasion during WWII, and it's aftermath, and the suffering and loss that bridges the two. We come to know the story through a young woman, Wang Di, traveling between the past she won't speak about and the present. These two threads are interwoven with a third thread, that of Kevin, a 12 year-old boy dealing with his own difficulties with school bullies, his absentee parents, and the illness and later death of his Ah Ma. War is ugly; it leads people who may not have otherwise to do very ugly things to other people, and the scenes in the black and white house (among other scenes of war) are among the most difficult reading I've ever done, but ultimately this is an inspiring and hopeful story. Kevin makes a discovery that ultimately brings the threads together, as we get to know not only him and Wang Di, but their families, the Old One, Ah Ma, Yan Ling, Jeomsun, Huay, as they try to wring small kindnesses and hope out of daily survival.

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