The House of the Pain of Others
Chronicle of a Small Genocide
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A brilliant work of historical excavation with profound echoes in an age redolent with violence and xenophobia
Early in the twentieth century, amid the myths of progress and modernity that underpinned Mexico’s ruling party, some three hundred Chinese immigrants—close to half of the Cantonese residents of the newly founded city of Torreón—were massacred over the course of three days. It is considered the largest slaughter of Chinese people in the history of the Americas, but more than a century later, the facts continue to be elusive, mistaken, and repressed.
“And what do you know about the Chinese people who were killed here?” Julián Herbert asks anyone who will listen. An exorcism of persistent and discomfiting ghosts, The House of the Pain of Others attempts a reckoning with the 1911 massacre. Looping, digressive, and cinematic, Herbert blends reportage, personal reflection, essay, and academic research to portray the historical context as well as the lives of the perpetrators and victims of the “small genocide.” This brilliant historical excavation echoes profoundly in an age redolent with violence and xenophobia.
Customer Reviews
Just Tell the Story!
Maybe the problem is that there isn't enough story to tell. Only one chapter is required to describe the massacre in detail, that being the one called "The House of the Pain of Others." And the next chapter ("Later") is also compelling in that it deals with the political aftermath of the incident. Other than that, this book is a capricious mishmash -- part diary/travel log, part biography, part literary criticism, accompanied by aimless musings, pretentious literary allusions, and quotations from poetry. It seems this author just likes to write, often with no particular purpose in mind. One thing I couldn't understand is why he would prefer to spend one or two entire paragraphs on describing a photograph rather than just include the photograph itself and let the reader react in his or her own way. I'm being generous and giving the book two stars only because the chapter "The House of the Pain of Others" is so very impactful and sobering. Otherwise, I frankly can't understand how this book could have been published in its current state.