A novel based on true events of December 1937 when the Japanese Imperial Army overtook Nanking, China, and ignored the international rules of engagement (c. 2006).

A group of young girls were hiding out in a church, which was suppose to be a safe haven from war crimes. A group of prostitutes soon came seeking refuge. When the Japanese enter and have bad intentions with the young girls, the prostitutes step up in the end, giving their lives to save the girls.

I recently just watched the movie, which I had never heard of before. It was released in 2011. I was able to stream it through Amazon Prime. This is a must see!!! I would rate it as one of the top best movies ever.

Although a small, quick little read, I actually enjoyed it very much. There were a lot of differences between the story line in the book and the story line in the movie and would be worth your time to read the book as well. But I have to say I enjoyed the movie a lot more than the book. ( )

1937, Nanjing: el ejército japonés ha entrado en la capital china a sangre y fuego. La guerra ha atrapado a Shujuan junto con otras doce estudiantes en el desván de la parroquia de Santa María Magdalena, al cuidado del padre Engelmann. Aunque hay algo que sacude su mundo con más fuerza que el sonido de los disparos.
Cuando la misteriosa y seductora Zhao Yumo llega al frente de un grupo de prostitutas en busca de refugio, las niñas y los clérigos tienen que enfrentarse a sus propias encrucijadas: ¿dónde está la justicia?, ¿qué los distingue de esas mujeres?, ¿cómo defenderse de la crueldad?

The Flowers of War is a story of a group of unlikely people thrown together in a crisis. It is set in a mission compound in Nanking, China in 1937. The Japanese have invaded. Sixteen girls at the mission school who have been unable to leave the city to go somewhere safer have taken refuge in the building, with Father Engelmann, an elderly priest, and his assistant, Fabio, who has relatives in America but who chose as a child to stay in China when his mum died. Engelmann still hopes to find some way of getting his charges to safety, but everything in the occupied city is likely to be hard fought for.

Engelmann and Fabio are dismayed to find themselves taking on more unwanted guests - a group of prostitutes.
This sets the stage for an odd mixture of eccentric social comedy against the backdrop of a very scary, violent conflict. Can Engelmann stop his charges being attacked and probably raped? And can he prevent their moral contamination by the prostitutes.

The story is told from the viewpoint of a number of different characters, starting with a schoolgirl having her first period, but Fabio is perhaps the most intriguing and fully drawn character, a young man who knows he is not Chinese but has never known any other country.

I was really caught up in the dilemmas, scared of the danger they were in but amused by the absurdities of the situation.

Reviewed for Amazon Vine January 2012 ( )

This novel, the February pick for the War & Literature Read-Along, is set in 1937-38 Nanking, China during the beginning of the occupation by the Imperial Japanese army at the start of the second Sino-Japanese war. The period beginning mid-December 1937 has become known as “the Rape of Nanking“, for what seems to be very good reason.

The priest at a church ‘compound’ has had thrust upon him the care of twelve young students from an all-girls school, whose parents for various reasons, have not been able to collect them. Shortly after the arrival of the schoolgirls, several prostitutes from a neighbouring brothel scale the compound walls, and a small group of wounded Chinese soldiers take refuge there as well, setting the scene for the novel’s tragic climax.

The prose in this book is simple and straight-forward; so simple, in fact, that at times I thought perhaps this was a Young Adult book. But on consideration, I believe that it is the effect of the original Chinese language, and the translation.

Even though it may not appear to be at first, Flowers of War is an extremely powerful book about the horrors of war and the sacrifices of ordinary men and women. Warning: The last chapter is very graphic, although not gratuitously so, and describes savagery you will not soon forget. 4½ stars

Read this if: you want to find out about the war between China & Japan that preceded WWII, and is now forgotten by the majority of North Americans. ( )

This is the third novel I've read by this hugely imaginative author. It's full of the same sorts of quirks and diversions as her other works, but is also the most emotionally satisfying. The story of schoolgirls, prostitutes, soldiers and priests taking refuge in a church during the brutal rape of Nanjing in 1937, it offers a suspense-filled, insightful look into what feels like very believable bickering and competition among these mismatched cohabitators, united by fear and the will to survive.

I confess that I saw the movie first, which bears only superficial resemblance to the novel, even though the author co-wrote the screenplay. While the movie is in many ways a better actual story than the novel, the characters in the book were given more depth. I also preferred the priests as saviors in the book, over the improbably handsome, rakish foreign mortician in the movie (though Christian Bale played the role superbly). Plus the book has the added attraction of an epilogue, which tells the fates of several characters.

If you liked the movie, read this short book. If you liked the book, see the movie. Both are excellent. ( )