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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Murder
Dit boek zet je even weer met beide benen op de grond. Het toont ons een land ver van ons vandaan, dat ik vooral ken van kleurrijke foto's op reisblogs of via smakelijke gerechten uit kookboeken. Maar dit is de keiharde werkelijkheid.
Indrukwekkend, maar mán wat was dit taai.
Indrukwekkend, maar mán wat was dit taai.
The book is based on the brutal social inequality in present-day Malaysia told from the viewpoint of Ah Hock, a Malaysian of Chinese ethnicity who has just spent three years in jail for killing a Bangladeshi migrant worker.
What I liked about this book was that it never sugarcoated what reality is for migrant workers in Malaysia. Some migrants are local Malaysians, others are recent immigrants from more destitute places like Bangladesh and Myanmar. A grim picture emerges from this novel of the Asian continent’s poor and less-poor.
The laborers who built modern Malaysia seem to be destined for obscurity, each layer of cement and heavy load they carry crushing who they really are. They have migrated in the hopes of 'making it in life', but unfortunately it is all perceived as self-delusion, and climbing the rungs of society is almost impossible.
The book has really taken aim at the rampant dislocations that class exploitation has wrought on Malaysian society. In this respect, I think the book is important for bringing awareness to this topic. However, the story for me wasn't very engaging and felt some parts weren't required in quite so much detail. (I skim read the second half of the book in 45 minutes...)
What I liked about this book was that it never sugarcoated what reality is for migrant workers in Malaysia. Some migrants are local Malaysians, others are recent immigrants from more destitute places like Bangladesh and Myanmar. A grim picture emerges from this novel of the Asian continent’s poor and less-poor.
The laborers who built modern Malaysia seem to be destined for obscurity, each layer of cement and heavy load they carry crushing who they really are. They have migrated in the hopes of 'making it in life', but unfortunately it is all perceived as self-delusion, and climbing the rungs of society is almost impossible.
The book has really taken aim at the rampant dislocations that class exploitation has wrought on Malaysian society. In this respect, I think the book is important for bringing awareness to this topic. However, the story for me wasn't very engaging and felt some parts weren't required in quite so much detail. (I skim read the second half of the book in 45 minutes...)
I enjoyed this book more than I thought it would, given that it was quite different from what I thought it was going to be about initially. Although the impetus for the story is the murder of another man by the main character, the actual motivation for the act isn't really the focal point in the story. Instead the book traces the story of the main character and his development throughout his life, with much more focus put here than on the actual murder. Somehow, however, this ends up working quite well and the author manages to craft a very complex main character in a surprisingly detailed and vivid environment that brings you fantastically close to imagining to this life in Malaysia characterized by the divide between rich and poor, those that are lucky and the ones that are unfortunate as well as themes of inequality, racism and xenophobia. Although the shifts in the different parts of the story, from present to different stages in the past, might have been somewhat confusing initially they also contributed greatly to the story-telling and helped build up the culmination of the story with its murderous act in the end. At the end of the story, the frustration of having no clear reasoning provided for the heinous act of the main character quickly fades when the reader themselves is put into the position of deciding why exactly and for what reasoning the main character acted.
Sad, sad book. Love that it shares insight into the diversity of migration in SE Asia. It’s not a well known narrative for most.
I’ve flipped between four and three stars with this books so many times. I would say a solid 3.5 but I can’t quite give it a four so it’s getting a three which makes me feel a bit mean as the book has some incredibly powerful and poignant moments. Will talk about it in a video soon.
"I was young, I thought I already understood the way things worked. But that night made it clear to me, like the words to a foreign song by a foreign singer, You know the melody by heart, but you can't quite make out the words, you can only understand fragments of English here and there, you sing a line or two from the chorus and sort of understand the message, but then one day someone explains the words to you, and suddenly everything clicks into focus, the whole song makes sense. It's no longer just a pretty tune, it's got meaning - and that night, the message became clear: no one wanted to know about you if you were dark-skinned and foreign."
We, The Survivors by Tash Aw is an intimate and captivating story of Ah Hock. Set in Malaysia, the story is told from the perspective of Ah Hock, a man convicted of murder who has been released from prison to return to what's left of his life.
The story is told in an interview format where Ah Hock is telling his story to a young optimistic women, naive to the reality of Malaysia, hoping to write a book on Ah Hock's life. This contrasted well with Ah Hock's matter of fact narrative of his life and the events that lead up to the murder. The story covers both the past and present landscape of Malaysia.
Wrapped up in this intimate and sad tale of one man's life is the story of migrants and refugees, of the corruption and struggles faced and of the changing of times in Malaysia.
We, The Survivors by Tash Aw is an intimate and captivating story of Ah Hock. Set in Malaysia, the story is told from the perspective of Ah Hock, a man convicted of murder who has been released from prison to return to what's left of his life.
The story is told in an interview format where Ah Hock is telling his story to a young optimistic women, naive to the reality of Malaysia, hoping to write a book on Ah Hock's life. This contrasted well with Ah Hock's matter of fact narrative of his life and the events that lead up to the murder. The story covers both the past and present landscape of Malaysia.
Wrapped up in this intimate and sad tale of one man's life is the story of migrants and refugees, of the corruption and struggles faced and of the changing of times in Malaysia.
‘Een of andere Amerikaanse politicus besluit dat ze geen rubberen handschoenen uit Maleisië meer willen importeren en ineens moeten hier tien fabrieken de poort sluiten. De Europeanen moeten zo nodig de hele verdomde planeet redden en dus besluiten ze de palmolie uit hun voedsel te bannen en binnen een maand ligt de hele haven op zijn gat. Het leven gaat door, maar je voelt hoe het langzaam aan je ontglipt en maakt je zorgen dat het nooit meer terugkeert.’
*4,5!
*4,5!
reflective
medium-paced
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes