I wanted to read this as I don't know a lot about the atrocities committed during WWII beyond the Holocaust. I heard about the "comfort women" and decided to try and research a bit more about it.
This book focuses on women that were abducted and used by the Japanese military as sexual slaves, mostly during WWII. For many years, these women have been ignored by the Japanese government and some have lived in the shadows. In recent years, they have come out of those shadows and sought overdue apologies and reparations for what they've suffered.
I don't know what exactly went wrong here, but the author had a wonderful opportunity that I felt was somewhat squandered. She met many survivors, but most were summed up in a few paragraphs. Most of the book was dedicated to why the Japanese government should apologize, why it didn't want to apologize, what it did instead of apologize, and then these things are repeated over and over again. There are some first-hand accounts in here, and the longest probably comes from Jan Ruff O'Herne, who published her own memoir (which I have on my watchlist).
After a while, I started skimming over the repetitious parts. This topic is important, and I did learn some things. Overall, I think if it had been written with more focus on the women and their voices, then the necessity for an apology from the Japanese government would be evident without having to restate it in every chapter.
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