Book Review: THE NARROW ROAD TO THE DEEP NORTH by Richard Flanagan

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Memory is the true justice... for if the living let go of the dead, their own life ceases to matter."

I must have done something good in my previous life, to deserve reading yet another five-star classic - my second one in a row! Five star worthy books come across my way more rarely as I get older, and so I am profoundly grateful for this particular book! All the more so because it brought back vivid memories of our last happy trip abroad with our mom.

Richard Flanagan's novel is the best of its kind: truth masquerading as literary fiction. Names have been changed but the historical circumstances are unvarnished. The author's father was a survivor of the infamous Death Railway built during World War II by POW's. The increasingly desperate Japanese made a mad attempt to build a railway from Burma (Myanmar) to Siam (Thailand) that Europeans said was impossible due to the jungle and mountainous terrain. They brought over thousands of enemy soldiers from all the nations opposing them, and this is the story of how one in every three Australian POW's died as a result of that brutal slave labor.

We were lucky enough to visit the cemetery and the museum at Kanchanaburi, Thailand, where we got to walk on the infamous bridge on the river Kwai. The museum had a copy of the book that got turned into a movie, but having read Pierre Boulle's book, I can say that Richard Flanagan's is far superior! While other books have made me tear up once or twice, I don't remember weeping this often (my notes tell me I wept uncontrollably at page 211 and then another time only 2 pages later... and that was just two of x number of heart piercings!!).

This is a prime example of war literature: the kind that makes you marvel at humanity's capacity for greatness, while recognizing that many fall short of Christian/Buddhist virtue once the trappings of civilization are gone. It disturbs while it inspires. And in the words of the author, it fits the definition of greatness. "A good book leaves you wanting to reread the book. A great book compels you to reread your own soul."

What makes this book unique is that Flanagan also wrote fully fleshed out Japanese characters, apart from the Australians. And so the reader is left with a deeper understanding of what could possibly motivate one human being to treat another worse than an animal. I particularly liked the quotes from Basho and Issa, and how Flanagan showed the importance of literature and art in even the most dehumanizing times.

This is now one of my top favorite books of all time. Scenes from the novel are etched as if by fire into my skull, such as the vivisection of live and conscious American soldiers by Japanese doctors in Kyushu University!!

I will forever have a special place in my heart for Dorrigo Evans, the medical surgeon who "was not, he believed in his heart, a good man. But he refused to stop trying." And really, this is what life is all about.



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