Adventure 4: The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan
The 4th week of January was pretty busy outside of the world of words. I had just been told of a trip to the France and the UK, and was preparing my travel documents for the same. I was also the winner of the ASHRAE-YEA(American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air conditioning Engineers — Young Engineers in ASHRAE) scholarship for young working professionals, and would be taking part in their winter conference the following week in Las Vegas, NV. Between organizing my travel plans for both these assignments, the week flew by. It was during this kamikaze that I acquainted myself with Richard Flanagan’s heart tugging novel. A war time story detailing the lives of POWs and their Japanese guards, the novel brings to life the horrific conditions encountered in POW camps, and weaves a story of sacrifice, hope, and love amidst betrayal, cruelty and pain.
This book has so many plots and subplots that I still cannot describe one of them as the main theme, except, perhaps, for the pain which resonates equivocally through all of them. The story begins on Australian shores in the present day, with Dorrigo Evans, now a world renowned doctor, looking back on his life. On one side is the illegitimate relationship between Dorrigo Evans, the protagonist (?), and Amy. On the other side is the love story between him and his wife, and Amy’s relationship with her legal husband. Just when you think this is a quadrangular love story you are going to witness, there is an explosion (quite literally) that tears us away from this narrative and moves on to the lives during second world war Japan. We follow Dorrigo and his friends on a journey through their construction of the rail tracks, amidst bamboo forests, mounting cadavers, spreading disease and incessant rain. Flanagan takes us through these forests, and gives us a perpective of the survivors’ lives post-war. We also witness Dorrigo’s own recovery, through beautiful sub plots and astonishingly inter-woven narratives.
This is one of those books which cannot be described as tear jerking as much as slowly tugging at your heart, eating it away, bit by bit. You begin to love Darky Gardner, Jimmy Bigelow and the others, hate the Goanna, fall in love with their prized posessions, rejoice in their little triumphs, and pray for their survival. Flanagan beautifully brings out the importance of finding joy amidst adversity, and makes us yearn more for those little moments of happiness. The medical detail and the POW conditions described in the book are so vivid, that you almost feel blessed to not be a character in the story. Sheer force of will got me through those pages, but it is well worth the effort, for the ghastly scenes depicted make you long for the normal routines in life the prisoners viewed as blessings.
I think the book defines itself though, by following through with the lives of the characters post-war. You begin to learn and appreciate what returning to normal life means for some. It aches the heart to learn the reasons behind the subtle actions of the characters, and your admiration for the prose increases. Kudos to Flanagan for packing a story of love, war, betrayal, misunderstanding, retribution and recovery in such few pages. It is almost a pocket version of War and Peace. A lot of subtle points come through, on betrayal, lies and distance. To quote the author, “A good book … leaves you wanting to reread the book. A great book compels you to reread your own soul”. This book definitely made me do so.
The only drawback to the book I felt, if at all, was that it took some time to get moving, but that could have been my tiredness to get to a book after quite a few long nights that particular week. If you want to experience slow burning heart ache through a beautiful narration, and are brave enough to sit through some really gory scenes, this is a must read. I’m sure, like me, you’d want to be at Nikitari’s at the end of it all.
