Nanjing Requiem

I read this book because I thought a novel would be a better way for me to read about the Japanese occupation of Nanjing. Reportage of atrocities can de-sensitize us so that they have less impact and you care less about the victims. Fiction with characterization where you see into the minds and hear......more

unrelenting details of a horrible experience ... reveals Japanese brutality toward China in 1937......more

I appreciate what the author has done here: educated us about the rape Nanjing. I didn't know a thing about it till I picked up this book. But where I was expecting a historical novel about a strong missionary woman named Minnie, I got just what I said above, the rape of Nanjing. The first part of t......more

Ha Jin never goes for the jugular. His cool, reserved style works to his advantage in "Nanjing Requiem. The facts are so horrific, that letting too much emotion creep into the narrative could take it over the edge into Grand Guignol. The focus of Nanjing Requiem is Jinling Women's College. Ha Jin sea......more

Ha Jin provides an empathetic history in his telling of this event that is frequently overlooked in our tellings of the history of the mid-20th century. The first half of the novel deals with themes of heroism and justice as the protagonists try to protect thousands of women and children from the in......more