Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind

Author Paula Kamen really walked a fine literary line between her own personal friendship, the mourning process, and the telling of a great, but tragic story. Her book, "Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind" is itself a brilliant effort and one that grabs the reader's heart and mind. This biography is intimate and reflective of not just Chang's life but also suggests a look inside the author as well. The public knows all about the works of Iris Chang and her voice that told the world about the Chinese Holocaust by the Japanese at Nanking. She was a very successful writer and author. She was known world wide but few knew the real person she was. Suicide is something, that in some way, touches every human life on earth. When someone we know personally, or learn about from the media, takes their own lives, it always leaves huge unanswered questions. On personal level, I have had several close friends kill themselves. I never have found any "good reason" for doing that. It is the author's own search, I believe, for those reasons and answers that drove her to write this accounting of a beautiful life. The book is a page turner and holds you emotionally hostage long after you stopped reading it. You are haunted by Iris's last phone call to the author when she leaves her a cryptic clue of what was going to happen. It is always easy to see these as obvious suicide messages retrospectively - but at the time, that thought rarely occurs to friends and family. The book is a story that needed telling; and being told by a friend is much warmer and compassionate then from a stranger. I am glad that the author took this story on. It may even be of some help for those on the edge themselves. To say I enjoyed the book would be wrong - as it was painful to know where the story was going to end and how. But like a witness to an bad accident, one just cannot pull away and leave the author's words unread. For some reason, it would feel like a violation. Kamen's words can easily be read but the understanding of why Chang took her life may never be satisfactorily known. A powerful and serious book that it is truly a gift from a friend to a friend.

History happens every day. For those who have stepped up to the plate to research and write about history, at times it may be a daunting but exhilarating experience that may help readers understand a particular event that might not have been uncovered if they had not attempted the task, and one writer and historian who took the reigns was Iris Chang. She often tackled controversial and misunderstood topics that related to Chinese and Chinese American history in her books, THREAD OF THE SILKWORM, RAPE OF NANKING and THE CHINESE IN AMERICA, and attempted to clarify and explain events that previously had been misconceived within historic narratives. Paula Kamen writes about Iris' life in FINDING IRIS CHANG: FRIENDSHIP, AMBITION, AND THE LOSS OF AN EXTRAORDINARY MIND. As a journalist and friend, Kamen writes a loving and memorable biography that covers Iris' life from childhood to the last days of her life. One may suggest that this may have been a way to mourn and heal after the loss of her college friend as well as answer the number one question that many avid readers of Iris' works have been wondering for the past three years after her passing, why? Why would someone so successful take her own life on the brink of writing another monumental piece of work related to World War II that may have further brought a better understanding of that period in American history? Kamen answers all these questions like an investigative reporter with the help from those who knew her, and the email correspondences and voicemail that she received and kept that recollect past memories and hints to Iris' life. But one of the most intriguing aspect of the book is how Kamen confronts psychological issues that Iris possessed that no one, including her family and friends would have suspected, depression and bipolar disorder; unfortunately, Iris attempted to fight her own psychological warfare that she simply could not combat. FINDING IRIS CHANG is a powerful biographical account of Iris Chang. Not only does the book discuss the unfortunate circumstances surrounding her life and death, it opens the doors for serious discussion pertaining to depression. Indeed, she was the Chinese American woman warrior that writer Helen Zia describes on the back cover of the book. And for those who have grown accustomed to reading Iris' work, it has been a great loss, especially those who have been inspired to research and write about histories that need further clarification. However, the books she left behind may encourage and inspire those who would like to continue or follow in the same path of ground breaking work that she helped lead.

"Finding Iris Chang" works on many levels: as a memoir of a friendship; as an account of success in contemporary American life; as an excruciating trip through a devasting illness; and as a tribute to an extraordinary person. Iris Chang accomplished in 36 years what most of us will never achieve in a lifetime. As an author and activist she touched the lives of millions. Her suicide was shocking to people who knew her and it seemed to call for an explanation as bold and grand as she was, hence some of the conspiracy theories that were spun in the aftermath. Alas, the truth was mundane as it was sad, mental illness. Paula Kamen sensitively reviews Iris' life and the seemingly overnight appearance of a lethal depression. This is one of 2007's best books.

I kept reading nightly because of the book's unique perspectives. While looking at Chang, Kamen regards her own life and reactions to Chang's success, even countering with Chang's comments to and about her. In the process of finding Iris Chang, she helps the reader understand aspects of the creative processes in writing. Real and imagined input of governments (Chinese,Japanese and American) add yet another viewpoint. Moreover, Kamen's work helped me understand better the experience of Asian-Americans in this country. In this book, as in others by Kamen, we learn how the author learns about living. We are lucky that she is able to communicate her insights to us.

Author Paula Kamen received an unexpected phone call on November 6th 2004 from her friend of many years Iris Chang. Beginning with that call, Kamen was about to undergo a journey for the next few years that would become this book. Chang, the beautiful, young, best-selling author of one of the most important historical accounts of the last decade, and a woman that seemed to have a "perfect" life, was just a few days away from suicide. The call, Kamen would later realize was a heartbreaking "good-bye" to a long-time friend, and a plea to be remembered as the person she was before her illness. If you aren't familiar with the story of Iris Chang and her landmark book The Rape of Nanking, you will likely be left breathless when you learn what Iris Chang wrote about while still in her twenties and the tragedy of her stunningly fast decent into mental illness and suicide at age 36. As a primer for the story, there are many audio and video clips of Iris Chang on the Internet that will allow you to see and hear her poise with a most difficult story and message for the world. Someone needed to fill in the gaps of this painful and perplexing mystery, and Kamen has done the job. She retraced Chang's footsteps through library archives, recollections of Chang's friends and family, and Kamen's own memories and correspondence. The shear volume of what Chang left behind for such a short life is remarkable. Iris Chang's life is both inspirational and disturbing. Her death was a BIG story, and the lessons of her life, her work, and her death, are well worth your attention. Although we'll never completely understand Chang's demise, Kamen comes about as close as we can and lends new insight into what actually happened to end the life of this extraordinary woman. The book also has a few revelations not published elsewhere that make a few things more clear. The book reads like a true detective story because that's exactly what it is. Each chapter vigorously explores another irksome question in the case. Whether you know the Iris Chang story or not, I recommend you read this book.