We, the Survivors

(Paperback)

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A murderers confession devastating, unblinking, poignant, unforgettable which reveals a story of class, education and the inescapable workings of destiny.
Ah Hock is an ordinary, uneducated man born in a Malaysian fishing village and now trying to make his way in a country that promises riches and security to everyone, but delivers them only to a chosen few. With Asian society changing around him, like many he remains trapped in a world of poorly paid jobs that just about allow him to keep his head above water but ultimately lead him to murder a migrant worker from Bangladesh.

In the tradition of Camus and Houellebecq, Ah Hocks vivid and compelling description of the years building up to this appalling act of violence told over several days to a local journalist whose life has taken a different course is a portrait of an outsider like no other, an anti-nostalgic view of human life and the ravages of hope. It is the work of a writer at the peak of his powers.

Reviews

Aws gripping and strangely moving book has brought us, if not to an understanding, then at least towards some appreciation of the social complexity and steady flow of injustices that have led to this absurd yet terrifying moment John Burnside, Guardian

Deeply atmospheric, this is a touching and beautifully written novel that questions the whole nature of authority Mail on Sunday

A political novel in the best sense a gritty, humane, uncompromising picture of an honest man caught in a corrupt developing country Guardian

Aws tone is never moralizing or trite; he skilfully interweaves the personal and political, leaving no doubt that the two are inseparable, that the forces that act on us privately are refractions of wider powers which need global, rather than individual, action to be changed TLS

A sort ofThe Red and the Blackof our times, radical and contemporary.We, The Survivorsis one of the most beautiful and powerful books Ive read in yearsdouard Louis, author of Who Killed My Father

This is the tale of poor peoplerefugees, day laborerswhose lives are ruled by cruel circumstance and extreme poverty, whose struggles end in defeat, who are not meant to survive. What would be abstract in a report is here given burning, lacerated flesh. In the twenty-first century it is our Everyman, alas Edmund White, author of The Unpunished Vice

Prejudice and the refugee experience are examined in this taut novel set in Malaysia Aw doesnt rely on tub-thumping; his achievement is to make a global story personal. When he finally circles back to Ah Hocks crime, the scene is managed briskly, in keeping with a tale that, however grim, is never solemn or overwrought. It even ends on a gentle note; still, the novels horrors cant easily be pushed out of mind Observer

Author Bio

Tash Aw was born in Taipei, in the Republic of China, andbrought up in Malaysia. He moved to England in his teens andnow lives in London. He is the author of The Harmony Silk Factory, which was the winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Novel and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and Map of the Invisible World. His most recent novel, Five Star Billionaire, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013.