Narrow Road To The Deep North

NARROW ROAD TO THE DEEP NORTH

by Richard Flanagan

 

Award: Booker Winner 2014

 

Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2015, Dublin Finalist 2015

 

Date Read: October 19, 2020

 

I am not a fan of war novels and so was dreading this a bit. Now having read Narrow Road, I realize I had every right to. And yet. This is by far one of the best war novels I have ever read. Flanagan explores the nuances of what it means to go to war, the moral and personal complexities involved for those who are forced to participate, some willingly but most unwillingly. 

 

This harrowing journey that I am so happy to have end largely takes place in a Japanese POW camp in the jungles of Thailand (Siam at the time). Australian officers are forced to build a railroad into Burma, a task the British deemed either impossible or requiring many years. At the expense of human lives, the Japanese push their “slaves” to complete it in mere months.

 

Through Flanagan’s intense prose, I felt as if I was in the POW camp with these men, experiencing every blow, every hunger pang and indignancy. Of course, I don’t meant to make light of those who have actually experienced war or a camp like this but I have so much more insight into what that truly meant. 

 

I cannot remember ever having wished so much for characters to die, just to see their suffering come to an end. When their anguish reaches a pinnacle of no return, you realize their fight for life isn’t worth it in the end. If they do survive, what are they returning to but misery heaped upon misery, in bodies most likely to confront death once again down the road.

 

The most brilliant of Flanagan’s explorations is the impossibility of the Japanese soldiers’ positions. They had no choice but to fight, honoring the will of the Emperor in all things. After the war, they were held accountable for their actions and hanged but the Emperor continued on, even supported by the American military. In their eyes, the Japanese soldiers being charged for a beating of a prisoner was almost laughable when they endured so much worse in their military training. 

 

The ultimate point here is that war is a lie. Soldiers have to accept the illusion that other humans are their enemy – that by degrading others, you are ultimately degrading yourself and your own humanity. Brilliant novel, brilliantly told.

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