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rainierbooks 's review for:
We, The Survivors
by Tash Aw
"We all have our own way of surviving, and telling stories was his."
This novel is like a memoir. A convicted murderer tells his life's story to a young woman who first wants to do a field study about him, but finally decides to write a novel.
Ah Hock lives in Malaysia, but he is a part of the Chinese minority. His story is given to us in audio files the young woman has recorded after Ah Hock has been released from prison. It is a story of immense poverty in a fast changing country where migrant workers are being smuggled in from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Indonesia. In his home village, Ah Hock meets Keong at a very young age - a boy a few years older than he is who is also living alone with his mother and who wants to flee poverty by all means, doing all kinds of illegal things from selling pills to finally dealing with workers.
Tash Aw tells the story of Ah Hock quietly, calm, describes the dreams of Ah Hock and his wife Jenny in a beautiful, poetic language and is able to bring a world close to readers all over the world that many people in Europe and North America have rarely heard of. However, the themes of poverty, racism, migration and the dream of a better future somewhere else are universal. A great writer has delivered yet another impressive novel.
This novel is like a memoir. A convicted murderer tells his life's story to a young woman who first wants to do a field study about him, but finally decides to write a novel.
Ah Hock lives in Malaysia, but he is a part of the Chinese minority. His story is given to us in audio files the young woman has recorded after Ah Hock has been released from prison. It is a story of immense poverty in a fast changing country where migrant workers are being smuggled in from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Indonesia. In his home village, Ah Hock meets Keong at a very young age - a boy a few years older than he is who is also living alone with his mother and who wants to flee poverty by all means, doing all kinds of illegal things from selling pills to finally dealing with workers.
Tash Aw tells the story of Ah Hock quietly, calm, describes the dreams of Ah Hock and his wife Jenny in a beautiful, poetic language and is able to bring a world close to readers all over the world that many people in Europe and North America have rarely heard of. However, the themes of poverty, racism, migration and the dream of a better future somewhere else are universal. A great writer has delivered yet another impressive novel.