Book review: Claiming Susan Chin is a charming tale that destigmatises people with Down syndrome

Claiming Susan Chin By Tham Cheng-E

Fiction/Epigram Books/Paperback/352 pages/$21.79/Amazon (

amzn.to/44va7RY

)
4 stars

With incredible depth and heart, Singaporean author Tham Cheng-E destigmatises perceptions about people with Down syndrome in his third novel.

The protagonist, 15-year-old Singaporean Susan Chin, is the only survivor of a plane crash in the Korean Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). Orphaned, her life changes immediately as questions around her survival begin and conspiracy theories arise – how did a girl with Down syndrome survive for 26 days when no one else did?

Recounting her press conferences in South Korea after being rescued, Susan says: “(She) would go on to talk about the big white bird and the rattling and the smoke filling the cabin and the engine burning outside her window and the pieces of debris falling off it – all in a set sequence. Then she would talk about the drop in her belly, how tightly Mum held her, and waking up in her seat and finding herself alone.”

Tasked with investigating the truth for the insurance companies is Jean Wan. Bitter after the recent end of her long-term engagement, she throws all her energy into disproving the claim that the crash was an accident. And there should be hints of the truth in the strange accounts of Susan’s testimony.

Alternating perspectives between Susan and Jean piece together the complicated story of survival and truth.

A father of one boy with Down syndrome, Tham crafts Susan’s voice in a manner that testifies to his understanding of how people with Down syndrome are often more eloquent than they are able to verbally express.

It is only through Jean’s perspective that the reader realises how others hear Susan’s unclear speech.

Tham does not shy away from depicting the challenges of caring for people with intellectual disabilities, depicting some of the worst responses through Susan’s father, David, as he often loses his temper with his daughter.

Susan perfectly sums up their complicated relationship: “She was proud of herself until, until Papa flew into a rage and called her stupid.”

Where Susan shines as a consistently charming narrator, Jean reflects the more realistic difficulties of trying to make the girl a credible witness. Her frustrations with Susan’s limitations require her to admit ulterior motives that slowly fall away as she is won over by the earnest love that Susan bestows on those she considers friends.

Jean’s repetitive struggle to understand the teen and frequent lashing out are harsh but realistic depictions of the continuous difficulties that caregivers face. However, it also drags down the pacing in the middle of the book.

It is only when Jean begins to view Susan as a person and friend that their friendship evolves beyond the premise of Jean’s investigation.

While certain elements of Susan’s survival story remain open to the reader’s interpretation, the resolution of character storylines provides a satisfying conclusion.

When everything comes to an end, Jean and Susan share a tender moment: “Pulling in her jacket against the chill, Jean watched the world with her, observing its moments of plenty and paucity, hoping to get by with less each day and perhaps live a little more in return.”

If you like this, read: Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine (Scholastic Inc, 2010, $19.49, Amazon, go to

amzn.to/3Xz4gJc

), following Caitlin, an 11-year old girl with Asperger’s, who tries to understand what closure means after her older brother Devon dies tragically.

Correction note: A previous version incorrectly stated that Susan Chin has autism. She has Down syndrome, a different genetic condition. It also stated that Tham Cheng-E has two sons with Down syndrome but only his younger son has the condition. We are sorry for the error.