Reviews

The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang

bella_mc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

davidzam92's review against another edition

dark emotional informative

4.0

crystalritchie's review against another edition

4.0

It took me so long to finish this book because there were many days where I couldn't bear to listen to the truly unspeakable sufferings the Chinese endured at the hands of the Imperial Japanese troops during what is now known as the Rape of Nanking. I would never have known this event even occurred if it hadn't been for this book, and although even just hearing about the atrocities committed was a struggle to sit through at many points, I am so glad that Iris Chang had the courage the expose the truth of what really happened in Nanjing from 1937-1938. I wouldn't recommend this book for the faint of heart but I definitely think it is worth reading, if not for any other reason than to acknowledge the existence of the Nanking Massacre and remember the hundreds of thousands of Chinese (many civilians) who died, and for the survivors who experienced life-long trauma following the event as well.

katiescho741's review against another edition

4.0

This is a fairly short book but it holds so much information and a lot to think about. The author's anger comes through in her writing, and I don't blame her. At the the time she wrote this, the Japanese attitude to the massacre was one of dismissal and secrecy.
Chang writes about the events of the massacre in a clear and straight forward way, but does not shy away from details about the treatment of civilians. The photos are shocking.
The stories of the westerners who helped people in the safety zone are inspiring, but it's horrific to think that the "safe" zone was constantly having to fight off Japanese soldiers.
This book tells a terrible story, but one that is important. The final section about the way the massacre has been remembered (or not remembered) is very interesting. Chang makes some points about the way humanity can witness horrors and forget about them minutes later, so long as they are far enough away....remarks that are still relevent over 20 years later. She discusses the white-washing of history too and how words and sentences were changed in textbooks to make the massacre sound like a fair act of war.
A really important book on a forgotten historical event.

dr2danielr's review against another edition

4.0

This book tells the cruel story of the Japanese invasion of China and the oppression of the Chinese people during the second world war. It focusses on the city of Nanjing (a city where I worked for four years), and which was the capital of China at the time of the war. The sick and inhuman games that the Japanese soldiers played with the local and unarmed Chinese civilisation is vividly expressed in the book, which gave me goosebumps on several occasions. This book also gives an insight of why Chinese politics are like they are today and determines the relation that the country has with Japan. They were humiliated, first by the western imperial power, and later (in a much more severe way) by the Japanese (described in this book). Where Germany paid their debts for their actions during world war II, Japan never officially apologized for their actions, which was just as cruel as what Germany did. The kind of humiliation that China had to suffer is something that the Chinese don't want to witness ever again. That is why the country is working hard on developing their economy and defence system in order to become a stronger nation that can't be fooled with again. The book exposes well the events of the war in the East, something that sadly was never taught to me during history classes in high school.

matthewbferris's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense

5.0

theveryslowreader's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

3.0

pacifica's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

this book gets at the core of the human condition, at its most terrible, and its most heroic. the prose is very easy to read, but the material was some of the most difficult things i've had to get through. not for the faint of heart.

rest in peace to the author, Iris Chang :'( thank you for bringing the stories of the people of Nanking to a wider Western audience

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, and War

samahsolimann's review against another edition

2.5

I find it highly strage (also read, suspicious) that a book chronicling such a massacre seems to focus more on the "heroic acts" and fates of white foreigners than on the actaul victims.

Apart from taking a white saviourist narrative, it was a very decent book.


Also, if you read R. F. Kuang's The Poppy War trilogy, you'd appreciate this background information even more.

geeahna's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense

5.0

i dont normally rate nonfic books, but im giving this 5 stars because its a very well done recount of a very important forgotten part of history that i think should be mandatory reading