Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Rape Of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust Of World War II

...it's impossible for anyone to read this book and not be emotionally and mentally drained; such is the level of depravity, horrific barbarity, and bestial violence of the book's subject matter (i actually cried and had trouble sleeping while reading it--a definite first). a work of monumental importance, the rape of nanking is essential reading, esp for the fact that japanese ignorance and even ridiculous denial still perservere, and justice has yet to be served for the massacre's victims. tbh this book shouldnt even be rated, bc its significance alone unquestionably exceeds any such trivial thing as a star rating on this site.

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samarakroeger's review

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

5.0

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sailtothemoon's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative sad fast-paced

5.0

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elliej's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

5.0

Chang's book is part of the history of WWII we are never told. It is a passionate historical recording of a monstrous event.

I read the 2011 edition, and honestly could have done without most of Chang's husband's epilogue. Not a fan of the pages of him telling an audience of people not intimately involved in Chang's life, her actions and the in-depth questioning of her mental illness. It is critically important to highlight mental health, but he should have stopped at the questioning and allowed the communal grief of her death.

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alisbookclub's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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jellyfishes's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

4.0

Honestly? I think this was great. It is well-written and clear, and its central claims emerge naturally from the text. Usually I'm not super into such straightforward narrative histories (e.g. [b:The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan|721931|The Great Partition The Making of India and Pakistan|Yasmin Khan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328827936l/721931._SX50_.jpg|708170]), but I actually think this worked really well. I hesitate to say I enjoyed it (the subject is not one which can be enjoyed), but I'd something like that is true of the reading process itself. Also, this is clearly written for an American (or perhaps Western European) audience. And that's not really a problem (Chang makes it clear from the outset that it is in fact her goal), but I did find myself wishing for more, particularly from the Chinese perspective. This isn't really a valid criticism, though, given that so much information is, for various reasons, more readily available from Euro-American sources. What I'm really saying, I guess, is in perfect alignment with much of Chang's point: that the silence of victims (coerced or otherwise) is profoundly tragic, and leads to tremendous gaps in understanding about the Rape, its causes, and its outcomes. 20 years out of the book's publication, with nearly all victims and perpetrators dead, this point is only more devastating.
On that note, the historical significance of this book is also worthy of mention, and I can see why its publication generated so much controversy (for lack of a better word) upon its release. One can only hope that truth is not squashed any further, but even this provides little recompense, for witnesses are now few and far between; many of those still alive were probably themselves born of genocidal rape in 1938.
Academically, I am of course fascinated (if that word can be used) by atrocity, and this book makes me want to learn more about Japan in China, South Korea, SE Asia, and elsewhere. I would be interested to engage with a comparative history of empire and atrocity, particularly between Japan and the Western European imperialists. It also sparks my interest further in reading about women in war and genocide (both as perpetrators and as victims), particularly the role played by sex (consensual or not) and rape. I think Chang did well to express the significance of sexual violence alongside murder and mutilation to the tyranny of Imperial Japan.
But, ultimately, there is nothing which can be said that means anything without the knowledge of the horror and the tragedy of the Rape. And perhaps even that cannot be fully known or spoken about, simply because it is too terrible, too horrific, to even fully comprehend.

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