I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review here and on my blog, Samwise Reviews. I was really impressed with the way this book was written. Set in China during World War 2 it introduced us to many different characters, and it did a very good job at keeping them all separate. The book switched perspective every few chapters and invited us into someone else's viewpoint and background and often this can get confusing or tangled, but I didn't find that in this case. I'm using this for the "A Book That Leaves You Thinking" part of my 2020 reading challenge because it's not a story you can move on from quickly. Each character goes through a lot of trials and it was really interesting to learn how they handled each one and the repercussions from them years later. ( )

The story of three men and their relationship to one woman during the Japanese invasion of China and during the civil war that followed. It is uniquely told in that the three men are dead and they met at a pre-arranged place. One of the problems I had with this book is that two of the main characters were Americans and the third a native Chinese, worked on the military base as a translator/teacher. I feel that the perspective of the book is very anglicized. The form of the book is creative, although the story lagged in places. This book won the Best Novel China in 2017. I listened to this on audio. 9 hours 17 mins= 299 pages ( )

A collections of chapters of different characters to bring the story along. At times, the transition were a bit choppy. ( )

I chose this because it was translated from Chinese and I assumed it would give me a Chinese perspective on what World War II looked like from China. I did find it interesting reading, but wished I could read another book that told Ah Yan's story. Because this is really the story of three men who cared for Ah Yan as they saw her, and not likely as she saw herself.

Set during the Japanese occupation of China and during the civil war, the action described takes place in two villages away from the worst of the fighting: Sishiyi Bu, where Ah Yan and Liu Zhaohu have relatively happy childhoods until the Japanese arrive, and Yuehu, where Americans train Chinese fighters in fighting the Japanese with explosives.

The story is told from three perspectives: Pastor Billy, an American missionary who has lived in Yuehu over a decade before the Japanese come; Liu Zhaohu, a villager with Communist sympathies who runs away to join the fighters; and Ian Ferguson, an American soldier who trains the fighters in using weapons.

The setup, that the ghosts of the three men meet after their deaths, seemed a bit clunky to me, and since two of the three narrators were Americans, I didn’t get as much Chinese perspective as I hoped. ( )

On the day of the historic 1945 Jewel Voice Broadcast—in which Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender to the Allied forces, bringing an end to World War II—three men, flush with jubilation, made a pact. After their deaths, each year on the anniversary of the broadcast, their souls would return to the Chinese village of their younger days. It’s where they had fought—and survived—a war that shook the world and changed their own lives in unimaginable ways. Now, seventy years later, the pledge is being fulfilled by American missionary Pastor Billy, brash gunner’s mate Ian Ferguson, and local soldier Liu Zhaohu.
All that’s missing is Ah Yan—also known as Swallow—the girl each man loved, each in his own profound way.

A very moving look at WWII through the eyes of 3 men and Ah Yan as they revisit their past. Great cast of characters and historical details that transport you to another time. Recommend for all historical fiction readers.