One positive element of the book is Lee's decision to portray Wang Di's post-war experience, highlighting the social stigma comfort women endured after their release, but even those passages are brief.

Overall the novel handles a difficult (but important) storyline very well, conveys brilliantly a sense of how shame can drive long lasting suppression and secrecy in a small society but falls short of being a great book (in my view) due to a sub-optimal framing device. A historical novel about "comfort women" in Singapore restores the dignity of the survivors and criticizes the misogyny that marked their lives. Sherwood, Harriet (18 April 2022). "The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen's jubilee book list". The Guardian . Retrieved 7 May 2022.The book is set in wartime Singapore, a setting to which I could relate due to my grandparents' own experiences of Japanese occupation during World War II. In great tragedy there is a light that filters through with hope. Jing-Jing Lee elevates her story to a new height with a search for identity in the latter part of the book. And she does it well. This is one of those fine books in which one can marvel over the resilience of human nature over the often crushing heel of evil.

More than 50 years later, a 12-year-old boy records a confession by his grandmother on her death bed. He begins a journey that will unravel the secrets of his family’s past. Il suo nome è Wang Di. La chiamarono così perché speravano che dopo avrebbero avuto un maschio: “«Wang significa speranza, desiderio di qualcosa. E Di vuol dire fratellino».” Then there’s the story of her husband. They have both suffered in different ways but find it hard to talk about it. He’s affectionately known as ‘Old One’, and Wang Di needs to know what he experienced during the war. She’s never admitted to him what happened to her – the shame is too great. And that’s what got me. despite everything this poor woman has endured, she’s the one to feel shame. Storia della nostra scomparsa di Jing-Jing Lee affronta un pezzo di storia che forse da noi occidentali non è così tanto conosciuto: quello delle donne di conforto in Cina. On 15 February 1942, the island of Singapore in Southeast Asia surrendered to a Japanese invasion force. The Allied forces were twice the strength of the Japanese, but a badly organised and badly commanded defence condemned the people of Singapore to three and a half years of brutal occupation.As a parent I thought having the 12 year old supervise the recordings of her story was wrong. I’m not sure what a good age would have been.