We, the Survivors

A Novel

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Pub Date 03 Sep 2019 | Archive Date 03 Sep 2019

Description

From the author of The Harmony Silk Factory and Five Star Billionaire, a compelling depiction of a man’s act of violence, set against the backdrop of Asia in flux

Ah Hock is an ordinary man of simple means. Born and raised in a Malaysian fishing village, he favors stability above all, a preference at odds with his rapidly modernizing surroundings. So what brings him to kill a man?

This question leads a young, privileged journalist to Ah Hock’s door. While the victim has been mourned and the killer has served time for the crime, Ah Hock's motive remains unclear, even to himself. His vivid confession unfurls over extensive interviews with the journalist, herself a local whose life has taken a very different course. The process forces both the speaker and his listener to reckon with systems of power, race, and class in a place where success is promised to all yet delivered only to its lucky heirs.

An uncompromising portrait of an outsider navigating a society in transition, Tash Aw’s anti-nostalgic tale, We, the Survivors, holds its tension to the very end. In the wake of loss and destruction, hope is among the survivors.

From the author of The Harmony Silk Factory and Five Star Billionaire, a compelling depiction of a man’s act of violence, set against the backdrop of Asia in flux

Ah Hock is an ordinary man of simple...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780374287245
PRICE $27.00 (USD)
PAGES 336

Average rating from 11 members


Featured Reviews

3.5 rounded up

We, the Suvivors tells the story of Ah Hock, an uneducated man from a Malaysian fishing village. We know right off the bat that Ah Hock has murdered a man, what we don't know is why. Tash Aw tells the story of an ordinary working class man from rural Malaysia right through from childhood to adulthood in a way which is original, empathic and humanising, though never trite.

This was an interesting take on the motivations and frustrations of an ordinary man living in a rapidly changing society. The Malaysia Ah Hock inhabits is not the one we know from the media - apart from a fleeting period living in KL his life is centred around small towns and the countryside where he grew up and eventually ends up managing a fish farm.

The narrative is structured through a series of flashbacks beginning in Ah Hock's childhood as well as a present day thread where Su-Min, a sociology postgrad who has just returned from studying in the US, interviews Ah Hock about his life and the build-up to the murder.

While Ah Hock's life itself isn't jam-packed full of dramatic twists and turns it still makes for a compelling read - a key part of this is what we learn about how his on/off friendship with Keong (a guy who is something of a small time criminal - think drug dealing and recruiting refugees for labour) impacts upon his life. I found the section focusing on his relationship with his wife less convincing, however the insertion of refugees into the narrative was done well.

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