Review Tokyo (The Devil Of Nanking)

 

Tokyo (The Devil Of Nanking)

by Mo Hayder, Rahmani Astuti (Translator)

1937. Tentara Jepang melakukan pembantaian besar-besaran di Nanking saat mereka melakukan invasi ke China. Mereka melakukan pemerkosaan, perampasan, pembakaran, serta eksekusi terhadap tawanan perang dan penduduk sipil. Ini merupakan peristiwa paling tragis yang dialami bangsa China. Karena kekejamannya di Nanking, seorang letnan Jepang bernama Junzo Fuyuki mendapat julukan yanwangye—si Iblis.

1990. Fuyuki menjadi pemimpin sebuah geng Yakuza. Ia dipercaya biasa menyantap daging manusia agar tetap sehat dan panjang umur. Fuyuki selalu didampingi oleh tangan kanannya, Suster Ogawa, yang dijuluki Jahanam Saitama karena kesadisannya. Suster Ogawa telah menjadi mitos di dunia bawah tanah Jepang.

Shi Chongming, profesor di Universitas Todai, beserta Grey, seorang mahasiswa dari London, bekerja sama untuk mengungkap rahasia Fuyuki dan Pembantaian Nanking. Ketika satu per satu fakta terungkap, Grey berada dalam bahaya karena telah membangunkan kembali Iblis yang pernah merajalela dalam tragedi di Nanking dahulu...

496 halaman

Dastan Books 2009

Sybill: I just finished listening to The Devil of Nanking. Because it is about Japanese atrocity in Nanking during WWII, it is not surprising that the theme is the terrible things humans do to others. It is perhaps surprising that it is more about the terrible things we do to ourselves. It is hard to review this without spoilers. The story unfolds small bits at a time. The pacing is excellent with the story moving between a young mentally scarred English woman and an elderly Chinese scholar. Their stories intertwine with poignancy, raw emotion and grace. I think I this book will stick with you long past the end.

Samantha: This book centers around the Nanjing Massacre that has happened a long time ago. In thsi book, an Englishwoman named Grey comes to Japan to look for a document or footage the captures the horrifying event of the Nanking massacre. This book literally broke my heart because of the gruesome things the Japanese soliders had done to many of the Chinese civilians/people. They raped them in the streets and murdered thousands of people. I think many people should be informed about this genocide which is a mass murdering of many people because we need to make sure that history does not repeat itself- even though it has known to do so. This book brings out the horrors of humanity and I would reccommend this book to the young adults and mature age group.

Kathrina: I can't stand to read a thriller that contains nothing more than a bag of cheap tricks the author must construe a plot around, so I read mass market thrillers with a huge degree of trepidation. I want to be compelled, not manipulated. Hayder hits the mark; she's intelligent, does her homework, and writes with dexterity and skill. She's woven a contemporary mystery that runs sidelong with an historical atrocity, and both are compelling and thrilling. As far as I can tell, this is her only novel with an Asian setting (too bad, because she's very knowledgeable, having lived in China for a portion of her life), but I'd be confident enough in her skill to try one of her British settings, just because I like her style.

Teresa: "Tóquio” é um livro que me manteve em permanente angústia durante toda a leitura.
É baseado num episódio da história da humanidade – o massacre e tortura de milhares de chineses, pelo exército imperial japonês, durante a invasão da cidade de Nanquim, em 1937. A acção desenrola-se, capítulo a capítulo, entre a cidade chinesa e Tóquio 50 depois, onde encontramos Grey, uma jovem inglesa, que procura um filme que relata um episódio do massacre.

É um livro muito bem escrito e muito complexo, que expõe o lado mais negro do ser humano, até dos inocentes.
O final é inesperado e avassalador. Não é fácil de ler. Até porque fala de amor: “...sempre foi para mim claro que o coração humano se vira do avesso para pertencer a alguém, que tenta aproximar-se do primeiro e mais próximo afecto...”

Veronika: Haunting... gave this book 4stars because I couldn't put it down...it had a good transition between wartime Nanking & present day Tokyo...I will say that the "magic elixir", once I found out what it was, gave me nightmares days after I finished the book. I will not be able to read it again, and really can't find myself recommending the book because the nature of the massacure in Nanking bothered me so much. It bothered me the most when I kept thinking that really could have happened. Even though the characters are fiction, the war was not...the massacure was not....I guess the evil that man can inflict on each other will never cease to amaze me.

If you have lost a child, I strongly recommend you NOT READ THIS BOOK!!! It has haunted me for days....I can not even begin to describe the horrors inflicted....

However, like I said, I did give it 4stars because it was a well told story, that had my heart racing and on the edge of my seat.