whatbritreads 's review for:

We, The Survivors by Tash Aw

4.0

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This was a really beautiful narrative. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it surpassed all of my expectations completely. It was delicately written, and I think the style in which it was told complimented the mystery element to it perfectly. The characters were by no means perfect – and at some points, not even likeable – but that made them all the more real. It dealt with many heavy topics like poverty, exploitation and racism in ways I haven’t really seen discussed before and it did it really well.

I don’t know why I find it easier sometimes to write about books I hated than books I loved. I just feel like with books as brilliant as this, anything I’ll say will just never do it justice and I can never actually find the right words to praise it enough. With some better pacing (at points it was very slow) and a more solid ending this could’ve definitely been a five-star read for me, but it was a beautiful read nonetheless.