Appreciated that it was a good Book, but Japanese stuff still brings back horrible thoughts. This is the starting comment from one of our 80+ readers, who remembers the Japanese behaviour in the war.
C said " If I knew someone who had been there I wouldn't have been able to read it." I couldn't, and others couldn't take the horrors described in it.
It was difficult knowing people who had suffered it. L said it was unpalatable, though there were lovely bits in it.
The characters were good and the places descriptions were good. It was a book of three parts. The secret him before the war and his love affairs, the middle bit which was his war, and the aftermath where he was trying to make sense of what happened. He couldn't help being a hero, but he got this pinned on him because he persisted in asking for help. It explores how the japanese could be so inhumane.
C - A great book, so difficult, so good.
One of the few booker prizes that deserved it.
A good book, but not a nice book.
It was more real than the previous book 'The Beekeeper of Aleppo' .
However it did get good marks from those that could read it.
Maggie: do apologise: I totally forgot that we were meeting this evening. And very disappointed to have missed the opportunity to hear what everyone thought about The narrow road to the deep north.
For me it was an interesting and compelling read in spite of some of the truly horrific
descriptions of thePOW camps. I felt that the characters were well drawn and believable.
And it was interesting to get the insights into the perceptions of all the different characters
especially the Japanese culture underpinning their behaviour.
As I’ve mentioned before, my husband was in several of these camps on the railway. And
his telling of his experiences accorded entirely with the book.
to the book.
would I.
10, 9, 9,9 8,
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