Books
Lolas’ House (2017)
Lolas' House
Lolas’ House is a book of testimony, but it is also a book of witness, of survival, and of the female body. Intensely personal and globally political, it is the legacy of Lolas’ House to the world.
During World War II more than one thousand Filipinas were kidnapped by the Imperial Japanese Army. Lolas’ House tells the stories of sixteen surviving Filipino “comfort women.”
M. Evelina Galang enters into the lives of the women at Lolas’ House, a community center in metro Manila. She accompanies them to the sites of their abduction and protests with them at the gates of the Japanese embassy. Each woman gives her testimony, and even though the women relive their horror at each telling, they offer their stories so that no woman anywhere should suffer wartime rape and torture.
Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalist, 2018.
Northwestern University Press
Read reviews and order on Northwestern University Press website
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Lolas’ House
“This book is the last stand of women who survived the kidnapping and rape that was Japanese army strategy in World War II. Courageous, aged grandmothers tell their stories and show their wounded bodies to M. Evelina Galang as evidence that these crimes occurred. Hopefully, LOLAS’ HOUSE will end denial and get justice, reparations, and a place in the history books for these women and their 400,000 sisters.”
“This is M. Evelina Galang at her courageous, literary best.”
“M. Evelina Galang contributes powerful evidence for a war crime that has been structurally overlooked and downplayed. And most important, she gives the Filipina victims a powerful voice.”
“An extraordinary book, LOLAS’ HOUSE will historically endure as a beautifully written record of collective survival and struggle among women against male sexual violence.”
“The strength, courage and perseverance of these women is, truthfully, sort of life changing. Crimes against women are still under-reported and often go unrecognized. This is a book that shines a light in a dark place.”
“LOLAS’ HOUSE is an unprecedented work of testimony and witness.”
“Galang provides the testimonies of the lolas in their own words, giving voice to the victims, giving them ownership over the language of rape. ”
“It is a work of documentation, a vehicle of witnessing, and an archive of war stories with testimonies of strong, fearless elders. ”
“The Lolas are alive in Galang’s books—not mere words on a page, not mere subjects of research and reportage or a scholarly treatise (though Galang, too, is a scholar), … not mere figures from history. The Lolas, in Galang’s words, become like family.”
“The book is a reminder that it is difficult to heal without airing your story of pain and survival, and those stories are not simple. They aren’t just accounts of the events. ”
Reviews
Rebellious, Magazine for Women
‘Lolas’ House’ Tells Untold Stories of Filipino Comfort Women, December 2017
Miami Rail
The Lolas Speak and Testify: Lolas’ House by M. Evelina Galang
Galatea Resurrects
November 21, 2017
HYPHEN: Asian America Unabridged
Huwes de Kutsililyo—The Stories Have Entered their Bodies: On M. Evelina Galang’s Lolas’ House: Filipino Women Living with War, October 25, 2017