The Narrow Road to the Deep North
by Richard Flanagan
This is another book club choice that reinforced all our reasons for joining a book club.
(Apart from the company that is!)
A book that we would not necessarily have chosen or persevered with, but one which proved well worth the effort.
It is not an easy read, with harrowing descriptions of life in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
Although horrific, most people found that the descriptions were beautifully written.
Most people liked the structure of the book which fluctuated in both time and place throughout the book.
It is a balanced view of the war, representing the viewpoints and emotions of not only the Australians, but also those of their Japanese capturers and the Koreans in the war.
The impossible situation that the Korean “Goanna” found himself in, aroused pity in all.
It is ultimately a very sad book.
Nobody escaped both the trauma of the war, or post war, what we would recognize as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Dorrigo and Amy do not find happiness together, both believing the other to be dead. When they do eventually see each other, they pass by and do not acknowledge each other.
Dorrigo’s marriage to Ella cannot be described as happy and their misery impacts upon their children.
Dorrigo, although not a particularly attractive personality, becomes the selfless leader that the men need.
It is also very pessimistic.
It is all such a waste of peoples’ lives.
The Americans pardon some war criminals, where it is advantageous to do so and retribution falls on the Korean, who did not really have a choice in the matter.
The underlying assumption appears to be that man will continue fighting his fellow man.
It is a book about emotions- love, friendship, loyalty, devotion and blind adherence to duty.
JC
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