A review by abbie_
How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
How We Disappeared depicts the horrific way women were treated both during and after the war. One of the timelines follows Wang Di, a woman forced into working as a ‘comfort woman’ for the Japanese army during the occupation of Singapore. The abuse she suffered as a comfort woman is only exacerbated when she’s able to return home. There, she is met only with stigma, shame and even rage for what had been done to her, something beyond her control. It was heart-breaking to see the way Wang Di was treated by her once loving family; after everything she endured, they could not look past the abuse she suffered at the hands of men. It was this shame and stigma that made thousands of women forced into this role during the war stay silent about their experiences for so long, erasing a devastating part of history that deserved to be heard and never forgotten.
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I loved the dual timeline (or maybe triple? Since we hear from Wang Di as both a young and old woman, as well as Kevin), it all comes together so beautifully. It shows how during war, people are forced to make choices which will reverberate throughout their lives and the lives of their descendants.
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Really can’t recommend this one enough, especially to lovers of historical fiction.
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