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Sandeep Ray, We, the Survivors, The American Historical Review, Volume 129, Issue 3, September 2024, Pages 1023–1025, https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhae230
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Tash Aw. We, the Survivors. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2019.
In Tash Aw’s novel We, the Survivors, two Malaysians from different social backgrounds find themselves seated across a table, delving into the intricate backstory of a crime. One has postgraduate training, a voice recorder, and a notepad; the other is a reservoir of unprocessed memories with remarkable recall. Ah Hock, a man in his thirties recently released from prison and “rehabilitated” in the eyes of society, is contacted by sociologist Tan Su-Min for a series of interviews without predetermined questions. This lack of direction initially bewilders Ah Hock before he releases a floodgate of stories. “Just talk you said. No judgement. So that’s what I’m doing. Just talking” (10). The stoic yet riveting narrator admits that he “only got one good grade, in history—C4—which is a joke, because the past means nothing to me” (47). Nevertheless, he proceeds to vividly recall his own past experiences, revealing a life marked by uncertainty and hardship, culminating in a violent crime that is surprisingly not the focus of the book. We, the readers, are the beneficiaries of this microhistory and the broader narratives of global labor movements that intersect it.
