A review by fe_lea
Lolas' House: Filipino Women Living with War by M. Evelina Galang

informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

 “But you know before they left they used me again.” When the Lolas cannot say rape, or when they cannot talk about being thrown down and pried open, when the words may rekindle old pain, they say ginamit nila ako. They used me. Over and over again, she says, they used me. 

Lola’s House recounts the stories and abuse experienced by 16 surviving comfort women (sex slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army) under the hands of the Japanese during World War II. This is probably the heaviest book I’ve read this year so far. I have read Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking last year, and while reading that made me uncomfortable and angry for the victims, I found Lola’s House more difficult to get through. I had to pause every once in a while because I found it too heavy. Galang has made the stories more personal by injecting anecdotes about her experiences with each Lola, and putting a face in each story by including their photos. This is probably what made it harder for me to read Lola’s House. It felt like each Lola was telling me her story directly. Whereas in The Rape of Nanking, the events were told in a more matter of fact manner, so even though the accounts in that book were more graphic, I was able to finish that book quickly. 

It’s very maddening and frustrating to read how the Lolas (and all the comfort women in previously Japanese-occupied territories) have never gotten the justice they deserved. All they wanted was simple: a formal apology, compensation for their suffering, and documentation in official histories. Many of them died not getting any of these. It’s also heartbreaking to read how, after everything they went through, fellow Filipinos, including family members, shunned and judged them and even called them prostitutes and Japanese leftovers. One Lola even recounted “It’s as if what happened to me made him lose his love for me (…) My mister took me home, but he did not forgive me.” 

The only thing I didn’t like, which is due to personal taste, is that I found the author’s voice to be too loud. I came here for the Lolas and expected the book to focus solely on their stories. But then in between chapters, you get musings from Galang’s life that I frankly don’t really care about, lol. What was I supposed to do with this line: Because I am a contemporary Pinay from America, I practice healthy living. I stop eating meat all together. I think I will be fine. (This is why I actually personally prefer Chang’s writing style over Galang’s.) 

Nevertheless, I would still highly recommend this book. The Japanese Government has been trying to downplay/erase these women’s stories, we can’t do that to them too. 

This issue is about the perpetual abuse of women in war - at home and abroad, between nations, among communities, and within families. This is about women and their bodies. Who has a right to them? Who protects them? Who honors them and who denies them? It is about that dignity that is torn from each girl, each woman, each nation’s daughter, every time she is taken against her will, violated and left for dead. 
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