The Flowers of War [ハードカバー]

The Flowers of War takes place during the 1937 Nanking Massacre. Fleeing the fighting that accompanies the Japanese occupation of Nanking, women from a brothel climb the walls surrounding the church compound maintained by Father Engelmann. With hungry schoolgirls in the attic and sassy prostitutes in the cellar, the missionaries become desperately short of food, water, and patience. Hiding in the compound's graveyard is Major Dai, wounded after a skirmish with Japanese soldiers. When two more wounded Chinese soldiers arrive at the gate, Dai emerges and demands that they be sheltered. Father Engelmann faces a dilemma: if he turns them away, they will be captured and killed by the Japanese; if he gives them refuge, he will be compromising the neutrality of the church and placing the schoolgirls at risk. The story that follows touches upon the lives of those within the compound's walls as they try to avoid becoming victims of the war crimes committed by the Japanese Army.

Given the dramatic setting, much of the novel is surprisingly weak. The characters are well constructed but familiar; the prostitutes are similar to the other prostitutes who make regular appearances in Asian novels (including Geling Yan's infinitely superior The Lost Daughter of Happiness), while Father Engelmann channels the standard American priest serving in a distant land. We learn bits and pieces about the lives of various members of the ensemble cast, prostitutes and soldiers and students and missionaries, but not enough to appreciate any character completely. A schoolgirl named Shujuan is often spotlighted but we know little about her beyond her petty jealousies in matters of friendship. A prostitute named Yumo gets more attention than the rest but she's an empty outline of a character.

The Flowers of War has substantial merit despite its relatively undistinguished cast of characters. As is generally true in a novel that describes the atrocities of war, it would be difficult to remain untouched by the narrative. The story produces some tender moments as groups of clashing characters -- very different in their upbringings and attitudes -- are forced to interact with each other. Geling Yan creates palpable tension whenever Japanese soldiers make an appearance. The ending and its karmic message is sensational; it is nearly enough to redeem the novel as a whole.

Yan writes (or is translated) in an undistinguished style, notable only for its plainness. That doesn't mean the writing is bad or unpolished; the prose is bland but serviceable and the story is easy to read. It's a shame, however, that such a powerful story was not told in more powerful language. Ultimately, I recommend the novel for the story it tells rather than the way it is told.

Geling Yan's short novella, recently made into a film by Zhang Yimou starring Christian Bale, is another attempt to deal with the subject of Rape of Nanking, one of the worst war atrocities committed in the last century, when 300,000 Chinese citizens were systematically wiped out by the invading Japanese forces in December 1937, with many others subjected to horrific torture and abuse. Like recent movies that have been made about the event (John Rabe, City of Life and Death), perspective is critical when it comes to dealing with the subject of such a scale in anything like a comprehensible fashion.

For her part, viewing the events in Nanking from the perspective of an innocent 13 year-old girl, Geling Yan's novel is rather more straightforward and conventional, but it also proves to be an effective means of approaching the subject. The loss of innocence is implied right from the outset, the invasion of Nanking occurring at the exact moment that Shujuan takes her first period, but there is also a sense of boundaries and taboos being broken, of nothing being sacred, when the security of her location, sharing the shelter with a number of other young girls at an American Christian church under the protection of Father Engelmann, is regarded with no more respect by the ruthless and inhumane Japanese soldiers than John Rabe's international Safety Zone in the city.

The nature of the harsh realities of the world that the sheltered young girls have to deal with is reflected also in some of the other less welcome guests who arrive at the church's compound - three wounded soldiers and a group of prostitutes who have come looking for food and shelter. Although a short novel, the author nonetheless manages to use this situation in The Flowers of War to depict the harrowing nature of the awakening to a new, shocking reality that the war brings to the citizens of Nanking, China and to the wider world. Simple yet subtle, with a few precise words and descriptions, Geling Yan also manages to create real human characters, not stereotypes or symbols, picking up important little details that get right to the heart of human attempts to deal with an inhuman situation beyond all comprehension.

We are all capable of unspeakable acts and great compassion, and this fact is illustrated in the novel, The Flowers of War. Set in Nanking in December of 1937, during the actual six-week long "Rape of Nanking", The Flowers of War weaves the unlikely story of teenaged schoolgirls hidden in the compound of the St. Mary Magdalene Church by Father Engelmann (an American priest), injured and escaped Chinese soldiers, and prostitutes, who have climbed the high walls of the mission walls during the siege of the Japanese Imperial Army.

The army had already committed profound atrocities throughout China, and they were not finished. It was estimated that they murdered between 250,000 to 300,000 people and the soldiers were also encouraged to rape at will.

Everyone in the church compound is at risk--of losing their souls, lives, or both. In order to survive and cope with the fast-changing circumstances of being under siege, all of the characters who survive are forced to come to the realization that they must cooperate despite the places they have arrived from and the biases they carry and bring into this emotionally taut setting. This insightful information is shared with the reader, woven into the characters' thoughts, words and actions. The main characters of The Flowers of War--Shujian, Father Engelmann, Fabio, Cardamom, Yumo, Sergeant Major Li, and Major Dai--are well developed and believable.

This group of survivors finds refuge in more than just the church and it's protective walls--they find strength and comfort in each other. As some fall, others rise to the occasion or to sacrifice. The Flowers of War is an apropos metaphor for what can take root and grow in the direst of circumstances.

by Judy Miller
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women