Having just finished this book, I don't think I felt as emotionally/mentally drained as I have with any other book I've read in a while. It's one of the most tragic, disturbing, and detailed accounts of an unjust slaughter of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers in the capital city of Nanking in 1937, next to the Jewish Holocaust during WW2. Iris Chang not only goes through every little detail of events that led to the devastation before and after the Japanese entered the capital city, but also the psychological theories as to why such an event even took place. I've heard of the Nanking (or Nanjing) massacre, not from any history books in my school education, but from YouTube years ago, where I used to watch edgy dark videos of the top ten most disturbing photos ever taken of macabre subjects. And one black and white photo, heavily censored I'm sure, was a row of decapitated heads on a dirt ledge next to a pit filled with charred corpses. This exact same photo showed up in my hardcover copy of the book, uncensored, and higher resolution, and I think I got the biggest whiplash of seeing the image once again that used to haunt me as a kid. It's not something you can easily forget when seeing it. And this same mentality goes with the rest of the all the factual and detailed torture, rape, and violence the Chinese had to endure throughout the duration of that time period.
Iris Chang not only depicts a detailed all-sided view of the attack on Nanking, but also the people themselves, whether civilians, soldiers, or foreigners who made excruciating efforts in establishing safety zones to protect the people caught in the crossfire. Little bits of heroism and self-sacrifice is put on display within the massacre and provides just a small amount of reprieve or hope in humanity at such a bleak and desecrating situation. But, even these moments, are short lived as the onslaught of violence just keeps rearing its head in almost every paragraph of the book and it becomes almost numbing at a certain point. Controversies over the acknowledgement or the un-acknowledgement of the attack is also written just as vividly as the rape itself. Giving the reader a clear idea where opinions fell for certain counties at the time and the erasure of history being put through the ringer. And the witness accounts from survivors and veteran soldiers is entwined within the narrative of the crimes themselves, adding more weight to everything that happened.
This book is not an easy read and one that I wouldn't say I enjoyed reading. But it's an important one that I think should still be read just to remember the horrors of war and not allow the stories of innocent people caught in the crossfire between higher powers be forgotten through the bloodied history of humanity. I'm sure Iris Chang went through a lot physically and mentally writing this book and the subject matter it dealt with. As I was aware going into the book that she took her own life not long after publishing the book, which is just sad and tragic, and I hope she's resting in peace knowing she achieved something great and unforgettable in writing this book.
by TheDeadReader_