A review by tinycl0ud
The Gods Will Hear Us Eventually by Jinny Koh

4.0

as i was reading this book i remembered the saying, “a mother’s love knows no bounds,” and the song that goes “世上只有妈妈好，有妈的孩子像个宝.” in my heart I wished and wished for a happy ending, given how allergic to happy endings some local writers tend to be, but tbh I knew that given the context a happy ending would be trite, or even any kind of a definitive ending. of course it’d be great and a lot less depressing if angie was found, if spirit mediums worked, or if there really was a kidnapper who could be apprehended by the police, but the fact of the matter is that tragedy can be extremely mundane. this book is a stark reminder that faith doesn’t necessarily bring about miracles, but that’s what it means to keep it. i was touched by the portrait of su lai, a mother so torn by grief and so driven to desperation she fails her remaining family members over and over, but honestly i cannot find it in myself to berate her. i think it is too utilitarian to say that she should be grateful she still has her other child, as if children were objects you had spares for. losing either of them would have driven her nuts because that is the kind of mother she is; human lives are not substitutes for one another. (btw this theme was also explored in picoult’s ‘my sister’s keeper’!) and if there is even a sliver of a possibility that her daughter can be saved, i think i would agree that the ends justify the means.