Mon 24 November 2014

I was introduced to Richard Flanagan’s novel, ’The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ due to its winning the 2014 Booker Prize.

All I needed to be convinced to buy this book other than the prize is the mention of ‘love’ and ‘Burma railway’ in the book description. It borrows its title from another book of the same name by Basho - the famous 17th century Japanese poet. Apart from the title, the interspersion of haikus across the book, gives it a poetic feel.

The novel follows the life of an army surgeon, Dorrigo Evans, as he serves POWs from his country during the building of Burma Death Railway and later becomes a reluctant national hero. His coming of age — albeit slowly — is the thread that binds discrete phases of his life together.

We also see the events through the eyes of ‘war criminals’ — some redeem themselves through helping others while the rest still try to come to terms with the savagery with which they have treated their fellow human beings or the injustice with which they were labeled as such.

There is no part of the book that bores you, there is no part of it that doesn’t make you reflect on life. Don’t be surprised if you end up calling a loved one or get reminded of a long lost love, as soon as you finish reading this novel. As the jacket aptly summarises: this book looks at terrible things and creates something beautiful out of it.

A must read.