What do you think?
Rate this book
A Choice of Evils
This novel is about the evils of war and how they affect the lives of a disparate group of individuals brought together by the Japanese attempt to conquer China. The principals include a Russian emigre, a Japanese diplomat, an American missionary, a British journalist and a Chinese professor.
Paperback
Published October 1, 1996
2 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Meira Chand
17 books14 followersMeira Chand is of Indian-Swiss parentage and was born and educated in London at Putney High School. She studied art at St. Martin’s School of Art and later specialised in textile design at Hammersmith Art School. In 1962 she left England to settle in Japan with her Indian husband. Although she spent several years in India in the early 1970s, she afterwards returned again to live in Japan. In 1997 she moved to Singapore, where she currently lives.
The themes of Meira Chand’s novels explore the search for identity and belonging. Five of her novels, The Gossamer Fly, Last Quadrant, The Bonsai Tree, The Painted Cage and A Choice of Evils, are all set in Japan. Contemporary India is the location of House of the Sun that, in 1990, was adapted for the stage in London where it had a successful run at Theatre Royal Stratford East. Also set in India, but in Calcutta during the early days of the Raj, A Far Horizon considers the notorious story of the Black Hole of Calcutta. Her new novel, A Different Sky takes place against the backdrop of colonial pre-Independence Singapore. The book examines an era that includes the Second World War and the subsequent Japanese occupation of Singapore, and also the rise of post-war nationalism in Malaya.
Meira Chand is an associate member of the Centre for the Arts, National University of Singapore and has been Chairperson for the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the region of South East Asia and South Pacific. She is involved in several programmes in Singapore to encourage and mentor young writers and to raise awareness in the country to the pleasures of reading. She was most recently writer in residence at Mansfield College, Oxford and also at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia.
The themes of Meira Chand’s novels explore the search for identity and belonging. Five of her novels, The Gossamer Fly, Last Quadrant, The Bonsai Tree, The Painted Cage and A Choice of Evils, are all set in Japan. Contemporary India is the location of House of the Sun that, in 1990, was adapted for the stage in London where it had a successful run at Theatre Royal Stratford East. Also set in India, but in Calcutta during the early days of the Raj, A Far Horizon considers the notorious story of the Black Hole of Calcutta. Her new novel, A Different Sky takes place against the backdrop of colonial pre-Independence Singapore. The book examines an era that includes the Second World War and the subsequent Japanese occupation of Singapore, and also the rise of post-war nationalism in Malaya.
Meira Chand is an associate member of the Centre for the Arts, National University of Singapore and has been Chairperson for the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the region of South East Asia and South Pacific. She is involved in several programmes in Singapore to encourage and mentor young writers and to raise awareness in the country to the pleasures of reading. She was most recently writer in residence at Mansfield College, Oxford and also at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 6, 2019
This is an account of the Japanese invasion of China in the late 30s and early 40s, and principally of the violent and terrible time that is known as the Rape of Nanking. It is not a fast read, but is beautifully written. It concerns a group of people who are all connected, a Japanese liberal, a Chinese professor, an American Doctor and a Russian woman amongst others. This is obviously not a cheery read, but one that will certainly remain with me for a very long time.
November 14, 2020
For once, the back cover text does justice to a book: “an unforgettable cast of characters is swept along by historical forces beyond their control.” A Choice of Evils is remarkable for its setting and for its outstanding characters.
The Japanese invasion of China is the backdrop of the novel, and the author etches out the historical context in good detail. I found it interesting that at some points in the narrative, the novel morphs into short passages that purely historical. For example, there is a whole chapter on Emperor Hirohito’s life and it has many details that help to figure why things turned out in the incredibly savage way they did. There is also a similar explanation of the war trials that took place at the end of the war.
This is a work that really stands out for the strength of its characters. It’s not as if the characters are supermen or superwomen. Most of the characters, are in fact, depicted as having failings, and some of them are guilty of acts that they have reason to loathe themselves. These acts made the characters that much more real, in my view. Each of the characters is very well developed through backstory. I liked it that I got a sense of why the main characters were the way they were.
The Rape of Nanking is an episode that one has heard of and read about. This is a work in which that chapter of history is central. I was keen to see if the author would get the treatment right, by evoking the horrors of the Japanese conquest of Nanking avoiding writing “war porn”. Meira Chand has not flinched from the gory details, but the story is still conveyed with restraint. The events are, of course, unsettling and heartbreaking. This is not Band of Brothers territory.
I was a bit disappointed by some flaws that could have been prevented by more exhaustive editing. There were a couple of typos too many, and at some points there was a clear need to space text out to indicate a break of time and place. In some places I found dialog and the voice a bit awkward.
On the whole, this is an epic work and one that deserves much more attention than it seems to have got. Incidentally, I also reached this conclusion about another one of Meira Chand’s works, Sacred Waters .
Sacred Waters
The Japanese invasion of China is the backdrop of the novel, and the author etches out the historical context in good detail. I found it interesting that at some points in the narrative, the novel morphs into short passages that purely historical. For example, there is a whole chapter on Emperor Hirohito’s life and it has many details that help to figure why things turned out in the incredibly savage way they did. There is also a similar explanation of the war trials that took place at the end of the war.
This is a work that really stands out for the strength of its characters. It’s not as if the characters are supermen or superwomen. Most of the characters, are in fact, depicted as having failings, and some of them are guilty of acts that they have reason to loathe themselves. These acts made the characters that much more real, in my view. Each of the characters is very well developed through backstory. I liked it that I got a sense of why the main characters were the way they were.
The Rape of Nanking is an episode that one has heard of and read about. This is a work in which that chapter of history is central. I was keen to see if the author would get the treatment right, by evoking the horrors of the Japanese conquest of Nanking avoiding writing “war porn”. Meira Chand has not flinched from the gory details, but the story is still conveyed with restraint. The events are, of course, unsettling and heartbreaking. This is not Band of Brothers territory.
I was a bit disappointed by some flaws that could have been prevented by more exhaustive editing. There were a couple of typos too many, and at some points there was a clear need to space text out to indicate a break of time and place. In some places I found dialog and the voice a bit awkward.
On the whole, this is an epic work and one that deserves much more attention than it seems to have got. Incidentally, I also reached this conclusion about another one of Meira Chand’s works, Sacred Waters .
Sacred Waters
November 21, 2023
The story of the rape of Nanking, told amidst World War II and Japan's greater strategy in terms of Asia. Not an easy read, but a pretty balanced account, with the exception of the Chinese voice, which is noticeably absent. I feel like there's a reason for that. If you're touristing the rape of Nanking, you are never going to understand what it was like for the Chinese. So this book doesn't even try. Enjoy the tour, buy a postcard, don't think you better understand the life, lifestyle, ideology or philosophy of the people this actually happened to. We're not selling that in the gift shop.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews