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Run, My Daughters, Run
329 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 1, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 2, 2026
“RUN, MY DAUGHTERS, RUN” - a gem of a novel by Lee Su Kim that took me 7 days to read after I bought it from attending the book’s launch a week ago. Could have finished it earlier but the “intended extended time” spent on it was simply because the subject matter came so vividly to life as pictures of the sufferings my parents, uncles and aunties went through during the Japanese Occupation in Malaya (1942-1945) flashed across my mind’s eyes like as if I was literally there.
“I’ve heard of even more horrific atrocities. Inflicted not just on prisoners of war but ordinary civilians - pregnant mothers cut open with knives, their foetuses sliced out of them, babies torn from screaming mothers’ arms and tossed into the air for target practice, women raped in front of their husbands, children bayoneted to death, people buried alive or tossed into wells, wholesale massacres of entire villages. The inhumane brutality is incomprehensible” - wrote Su Kim.
Although a work of fiction, the way the life of a family of four girls and two boys together with their parents, relatives and amah lived within the horrific and hostile environment narrated actually matched the pics of what was narrated to me and my siblings by my parents, uncles and aunties who lived through the Japanese Occupation. The pain and tears actually came back as I turned the pages…. But never mind, as I explained to a close friend who asked why re-live the pain with this book? Well as explained - it helped me appreciate how they did not give up but more than survive the atrocities of the enemy and outwit them on so many counts just to stay alive!
Yes! Wars can never be justified. The atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which ended WW2, and thus the Japanese Occupation - also cannot be justified, as innocent Japanese families and lives were also eliminated in the process.
Perhaps, Su Kim’s last line on her last chapter summarizes the “morale” of the story best: “The only clear thing, as big as an atom bomb, is the utter, total senselessness of war”.
Go get a copy, guys and gals! And thank you very much, Su Kim. The obvious hard work put into the research is worth more than the number of copies of your first novel sold at the end of the day!
Ganbatte!
“I’ve heard of even more horrific atrocities. Inflicted not just on prisoners of war but ordinary civilians - pregnant mothers cut open with knives, their foetuses sliced out of them, babies torn from screaming mothers’ arms and tossed into the air for target practice, women raped in front of their husbands, children bayoneted to death, people buried alive or tossed into wells, wholesale massacres of entire villages. The inhumane brutality is incomprehensible” - wrote Su Kim.
Although a work of fiction, the way the life of a family of four girls and two boys together with their parents, relatives and amah lived within the horrific and hostile environment narrated actually matched the pics of what was narrated to me and my siblings by my parents, uncles and aunties who lived through the Japanese Occupation. The pain and tears actually came back as I turned the pages…. But never mind, as I explained to a close friend who asked why re-live the pain with this book? Well as explained - it helped me appreciate how they did not give up but more than survive the atrocities of the enemy and outwit them on so many counts just to stay alive!
Yes! Wars can never be justified. The atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which ended WW2, and thus the Japanese Occupation - also cannot be justified, as innocent Japanese families and lives were also eliminated in the process.
Perhaps, Su Kim’s last line on her last chapter summarizes the “morale” of the story best: “The only clear thing, as big as an atom bomb, is the utter, total senselessness of war”.
Go get a copy, guys and gals! And thank you very much, Su Kim. The obvious hard work put into the research is worth more than the number of copies of your first novel sold at the end of the day!
Ganbatte!
September 7, 2026
Su Kim’s novel is an evocative portrait of a Peranakan family caught in the darkness of the Japanese occupation of Malaya. Against a landscape of fear, deprivation and uncertainty, it explores love and loss, courage and helplessness, and the sacrifices demanded by family and survival. At its heart is a deeply human story, giving particular voice to women whose lives are irrevocably shaped by war.
The story unfolds through Pei Lin, the Lees’ seventeen-year-old daughter, whose dreams of higher education and a better future are abruptly extinguished by the occupation. Her coming of age takes place amid danger and uncertainty. Through her eyes, we witness the courage of her parents, Kim Neo and Henry, and their Amah, as they struggle to protect their children. Particularly Pei Lin and her sisters from abduction and the horrific fate of becoming “comfort women”.
Yet the novel is not without warmth. Su Kim tempers its sombre subject matter with humour, colloquial language and the distinctive customs of Peranakan life. These moments of lightness lend the characters vitality, reminding us that even amid war, people continue to laugh, love and cling to fragments of ordinary life.
Most haunting is Mei Li’s disappearance. Her sacrifice to secure Henry’s release, as a comfort woman, is deeply tragic. The revelation that she is Kim Neo’s daughter deepens the anguish of a mother. She is forced to confront the consequences of having surrendered her child soon after birth, and then living with the knowledge of Mei Li’s fate.
Ultimately, the novel is a moving tapestry of history, culture, suspense and resilience. Mei Li’s unresolved fate lingers beyond the final page, and the tantalising possibility of another chapter. In that uncertainty lies one of the novel’s most enduring qualities: a reminder that the stories of war do not always end when the fighting stops. They remain in the memories of those who survived, in the sacrifices that can never be undone, and in the silence surrounding those who were lost.
The story unfolds through Pei Lin, the Lees’ seventeen-year-old daughter, whose dreams of higher education and a better future are abruptly extinguished by the occupation. Her coming of age takes place amid danger and uncertainty. Through her eyes, we witness the courage of her parents, Kim Neo and Henry, and their Amah, as they struggle to protect their children. Particularly Pei Lin and her sisters from abduction and the horrific fate of becoming “comfort women”.
Yet the novel is not without warmth. Su Kim tempers its sombre subject matter with humour, colloquial language and the distinctive customs of Peranakan life. These moments of lightness lend the characters vitality, reminding us that even amid war, people continue to laugh, love and cling to fragments of ordinary life.
Most haunting is Mei Li’s disappearance. Her sacrifice to secure Henry’s release, as a comfort woman, is deeply tragic. The revelation that she is Kim Neo’s daughter deepens the anguish of a mother. She is forced to confront the consequences of having surrendered her child soon after birth, and then living with the knowledge of Mei Li’s fate.
Ultimately, the novel is a moving tapestry of history, culture, suspense and resilience. Mei Li’s unresolved fate lingers beyond the final page, and the tantalising possibility of another chapter. In that uncertainty lies one of the novel’s most enduring qualities: a reminder that the stories of war do not always end when the fighting stops. They remain in the memories of those who survived, in the sacrifices that can never be undone, and in the silence surrounding those who were lost.
September 7, 2026
Let's be upfront. I was a critical reader for this book as it progressed, yet I am also an editor, writer and retired English Language Professor who taught academic writing. Run My Daughters Run is anything but academic as it is a fast-paced page turner, layered with nuances. Su Kim has crafted a narrative informed by research and family history, yet it stretches boundaries as the day-by-day struggle is told through the eyes of a young woman who is a Nyonya or Straits Chinese. There is also the voice of the matriarch whose strength inspires while there are secrets and twists and turns. Peppered with characters and details of wartime Malaya this novel is compelling.
September 13, 2026
The book tells the story of one close-knit family and the harrowing experience they went through during “The Occupation.”
Oftentimes, it makes me sad to think that one day there will be no living person left with first-hand accounts of these dark times in our history, and that they will eventually become nothing more than long-forgotten tales. But at the same time, I am grateful that I have books like these to remind me that these were real people who lived through real suffering and torment.
“The thing about war is that it’s like death - you hear about it, read about it, but it only happens to someone else. It doesn’t happen to you. Until it does.”
Oftentimes, it makes me sad to think that one day there will be no living person left with first-hand accounts of these dark times in our history, and that they will eventually become nothing more than long-forgotten tales. But at the same time, I am grateful that I have books like these to remind me that these were real people who lived through real suffering and torment.
“The thing about war is that it’s like death - you hear about it, read about it, but it only happens to someone else. It doesn’t happen to you. Until it does.”
September 5, 2026
The novel was very well-written. The scenes depicted in this book reminded me of the stories told by my late mother and grandmother.
Parts of this book made me smile, parts made me angry and some made me feel that we are so lucky to be here in Malaysia.
Parts of this book made me smile, parts made me angry and some made me feel that we are so lucky to be here in Malaysia.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews