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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
I discovered this book in the most roundabout way possible.
I am a fan of MST3K and MST3K like things. Agonybooth.com did a mocking of Night of the Lepus, starring poor old DeForrest Kelly of Star Trek fame. I did some looking into this ridiculous movie, and found that it was based on a book,and that the author was actually (usually) a very good writer who had even written about his experiences as a WWII Australian POW under the Japanese in Malaysia and Thailand. Amazingly, my library had a copy of it, so I checked it out.
This book is shockingly droll. In fact, in the beginning, before he is a POW, the book is SO funny I almost wondered if I had picked up the wrong one. The book was written in 1951 (?) however, and often times the author uses terms that are no longer accepted, and his hatred for basically anything non-European often shines through. (On the one hand, it's hard to blame him when you read his experiences, on the other, it made me feel guilty for reading this right after the Japanese tsunami). Although it drags in some places, and other times I couldn't keep up with what was going on, in many ways this book is worth it because it's the only book I've come across so far looking at WWII from an Australian point of view, especially an Australian POW trapped in Malaysia under Japanese control point of view.
I am a fan of MST3K and MST3K like things. Agonybooth.com did a mocking of Night of the Lepus, starring poor old DeForrest Kelly of Star Trek fame. I did some looking into this ridiculous movie, and found that it was based on a book,and that the author was actually (usually) a very good writer who had even written about his experiences as a WWII Australian POW under the Japanese in Malaysia and Thailand. Amazingly, my library had a copy of it, so I checked it out.
This book is shockingly droll. In fact, in the beginning, before he is a POW, the book is SO funny I almost wondered if I had picked up the wrong one. The book was written in 1951 (?) however, and often times the author uses terms that are no longer accepted, and his hatred for basically anything non-European often shines through. (On the one hand, it's hard to blame him when you read his experiences, on the other, it made me feel guilty for reading this right after the Japanese tsunami). Although it drags in some places, and other times I couldn't keep up with what was going on, in many ways this book is worth it because it's the only book I've come across so far looking at WWII from an Australian point of view, especially an Australian POW trapped in Malaysia under Japanese control point of view.
Mans inhumanity to his fellow man looms large in this raw telling of four years as a POW under the Japanese. Author Russel Braddon tells of his time with nothing left for the imagination. He covers his horrific tale of endurance with all emotions from cynicism through to utter despair and weariness. At the conclusion of this book I was caught by a certain sense that his incarceration may have also become a way of life. He wrote about the breakup of his fellow POWs as they were about to return home and made comment that “The careful fabric of one’s personal life, built up over four years, (was) disintegrated at a single blow.” Nostalgia? But as he left for home he wrote “And with that I brightened. After all, the sea was green and dear: the sun was warm and free: there was food aplenty and no need for anxiety as the old ship ploughed her confident way eastwards, away from Singapore. We were all going Home. That, for the moment, must be enough.” Mixed emotions run the full gamut in this book.
Russell Braddon wrote of his experiences while they were still fresh in his mind as this memoir was released 1952. Braddon was someone I had never heard to prior to reading this book and on finishing I read of his life. He became a prolific author but he did at one time suffer depression and attempt suicide. His war time experiences were the issue and his doctors at the time suggested he recuperate away from Australia.
Based on his writing he seemed to me to not have been the military type in the first place. He joined to “kill Germans” but his writing gave the impression he may not of been aware of what that really meant nor the discipline required, he even notes the bad language by his comrades and seemed surprised by it; "I heard sufficient foul language in five days to deter me from ever using anything but the king's English (though not enough to blind me to the fact that on occasions the Australian uses his 'bloodies' and 'bastards' with a rhythmic grace which I - in my more orthodox style - could never be capable)”.
His war itself was short as his capture was early. He did describe his first kill though. “…in desperation, I moved alone to the trees in front of me and, as the Jap ran crouching towards it, stepped out from behind it and presented him with a firmly held rifle and bayonet. Upon this he promptly impaled himself with a firmly held rifle and bayonet. At the moment of impact, as I tucked my right elbow securely against my hip and moved to my left foot slightly forward, I found myself thinking ‘Just like a stop volley at tennis’ - and spent the next hour musing, rather confusedly, over the unpleasantness of a situation which compelled one to apply the principles of a clean sport to the altogether dirty business of killing”
Not long after he began the rest of his war, POW camps on the Malay Peninsular and on the construction of the Thailand Railway. He actually volunteered for the railway to be with a mate. The descriptions of his time in Thailand are some of the most brutal I have read.
I read that this book has had multiple reprints and sold over 2 million copies since its release. I understand why. This is a genuine must read for anyone even remotely interested in a firsthand account of the brutality of life under Imperial Japanese forces for those captured. It is raw and emotional, as well as very well written. Highly recommended.
Russell Braddon wrote of his experiences while they were still fresh in his mind as this memoir was released 1952. Braddon was someone I had never heard to prior to reading this book and on finishing I read of his life. He became a prolific author but he did at one time suffer depression and attempt suicide. His war time experiences were the issue and his doctors at the time suggested he recuperate away from Australia.
Based on his writing he seemed to me to not have been the military type in the first place. He joined to “kill Germans” but his writing gave the impression he may not of been aware of what that really meant nor the discipline required, he even notes the bad language by his comrades and seemed surprised by it; "I heard sufficient foul language in five days to deter me from ever using anything but the king's English (though not enough to blind me to the fact that on occasions the Australian uses his 'bloodies' and 'bastards' with a rhythmic grace which I - in my more orthodox style - could never be capable)”.
His war itself was short as his capture was early. He did describe his first kill though. “…in desperation, I moved alone to the trees in front of me and, as the Jap ran crouching towards it, stepped out from behind it and presented him with a firmly held rifle and bayonet. Upon this he promptly impaled himself with a firmly held rifle and bayonet. At the moment of impact, as I tucked my right elbow securely against my hip and moved to my left foot slightly forward, I found myself thinking ‘Just like a stop volley at tennis’ - and spent the next hour musing, rather confusedly, over the unpleasantness of a situation which compelled one to apply the principles of a clean sport to the altogether dirty business of killing”
Not long after he began the rest of his war, POW camps on the Malay Peninsular and on the construction of the Thailand Railway. He actually volunteered for the railway to be with a mate. The descriptions of his time in Thailand are some of the most brutal I have read.
I read that this book has had multiple reprints and sold over 2 million copies since its release. I understand why. This is a genuine must read for anyone even remotely interested in a firsthand account of the brutality of life under Imperial Japanese forces for those captured. It is raw and emotional, as well as very well written. Highly recommended.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
A superb books on the life of Prisoners of War under the Japanese in Changi in Singapore. It starts with the disastrous campaign in Malaysia British, Indian & Australian forces were soundly defeated by the gumption & tactics of the Japanese army. But also largely by inept Allied generalship. No one, even the author in the midst of repeated retreats before the Japanese expected Singapore to fall, but it did.
The authors life as a prisoner started in Malaysia and then he was moved to Singapore and eventually the famous Changi prison. The telling of their plight, first there, and then during the horrors of the camps building the Thailand-Burma railway, is superb. Most stirring was the spirit of the prisoners, and how their bodies (and minds) survived, and even thrived during this ordeal.
The authors life as a prisoner started in Malaysia and then he was moved to Singapore and eventually the famous Changi prison. The telling of their plight, first there, and then during the horrors of the camps building the Thailand-Burma railway, is superb. Most stirring was the spirit of the prisoners, and how their bodies (and minds) survived, and even thrived during this ordeal.