Stephanie Jane reviewed We, The Survivors by Tash Aw
A compelling read
5 stars
We, The Survivors reminded me of an Indian novel I read a few years ago, The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Both books are narrated by a murderer after the crime has taken place and consist of the culprit explaining his disadvantaged life story and how it led him to commit such an awful deed. In We, The Survivors, Ah Hock is speaking to a journalist who is going to write his story for publication in a true crime book. We don't actually get to see this journalist until later in the novel so I felt as though Ah Hock was speaking directly to me. He is an engaging narrator with an unusual story to tell so We, The Survivors was, for me, a faster read than expected because I kept making excuses to keep on reading!
I was intrigued by the different portrayal of immigration in this story. Ah …
We, The Survivors reminded me of an Indian novel I read a few years ago, The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Both books are narrated by a murderer after the crime has taken place and consist of the culprit explaining his disadvantaged life story and how it led him to commit such an awful deed. In We, The Survivors, Ah Hock is speaking to a journalist who is going to write his story for publication in a true crime book. We don't actually get to see this journalist until later in the novel so I felt as though Ah Hock was speaking directly to me. He is an engaging narrator with an unusual story to tell so We, The Survivors was, for me, a faster read than expected because I kept making excuses to keep on reading!
I was intrigued by the different portrayal of immigration in this story. Ah Hock frequently describes himself as a 'local boy' and states that his having to almost continually lived near where he grew up has given him some kind of advantage. Yet his family only fairly recently arrived as refugees from China. He is a third-generation immigrant to Malaysia so while he sees the current Bangladeshi and Rohinga migrants as desperate people who can be exploited, his own situation isn't far removed from the same straits. I could draw parallels between Malaysia and Britain (or America) where snap judgements are made about people based pretty much only on their skin tone and perceived ancestry.
We, The Survivors is quite a dark novel which depicts how carelessly awful people can be to each other when we lose a sense of shared humanity. A safe, comfortable existence is surprisingly precarious especially in such parts of the world where war or natural disasters can wipe out someone's home or livelihood overnight with no chance of recompense. Hard work alone often isn't enough for success when luck or destiny seems to be pulling in the other direction, and destiny can be patient as Ah Hock finds out.
