The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard FlanaganMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a true prize winning book, written in that particular style that these books often come in. That said, after reading the book my most pressing urge was to re-read it -rather leisurely this time, connecting the time lines and the journeys of the various characters. When I had started to read this book, I found myself losing my attention plenty of times. I wanted to push on and finish the book, just the way I felt when I had read The Handmaid's Tale or Cloud Atlas. The latter books, both, were a beautiful read as the I moved on through the initial parts. The same too with The Narrow Road to the Deep North, only I wouldn't use the word 'beautiful' to describe this meandering, philosophical, prose-y book.
At first I had trouble connecting with the Australian POWs and the back and fro movement of the story, but slowly I got caught up by the effects of this side of the war that I have seldom read about. The Japanese POWs' condition while constructing the Burma Death Railway was appalling and wretched and any up-commence for them one would hope for from such bleak fate was not forthcoming. The book is too grounded and grim, perhaps it is a prerequisite for an award winning book. There are of course many parts where I felt the need to write down or mark what I was reading. The things he says about life were stark, real and sadly hopeless.
But give me a Rules of Civility any day. This book was a bit stand offish, the language was more prose (and there's nothing wrong with that) and the surmise very bleak. I am reading it once more to fill some gaps in my reading, but I would endorse this to those friends who like reading war stories.
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