Flanagan upends ideas about heroism and bravery in this story, which uses the construction of the Burma Railway by Australian POWs in WWII. Large sections of the book take place during this, and it is horrific stuff. Disease and starvation are rampant among the prisoners, who are forced to work grueling schedules in intolerable conditions. Their leader is Dorrigo Evans, a surgeon, who by rank, and attrition, is suddenly responsible for life and death decisions for all the men. However, his range of decisions available are few, and their Japanese guards often demand them quickly. Evans tries to save the most vulnerable of the soldiers by getting them days of rest when he can, but it all seems futile as more and more of them end up dead.
As a straight narrative, this is a gripping read. What makes it rise above that, though, is Evans. Although he is apparently a natural leader, respected by all his men and even his captors, he feels inadequate for the task. This feeling will follow him for his entire life, even as he is celebrated back home as a hero, and for his skills as a surgeon. Evan's personal life is marred by serial illicit affairs with several women despite his longtime marriage and family, and he seems emotionally empty for much of his life. He is haunted by the one great love of his life, shortly before he heads off to war, with a woman married to his uncle. This affair, and the complications that arise from it, both during his time in Burma, and after, will shadow him through everything he does.
The contrast between life as prisoners and Evan's civilian life is jolting. The Burma sections are the ones most vivid - men on the verge of death with every step they take a monumental burden, surgeries attempted with a lack of supplies, medicine, and in one case, a lack of enough patient. The scenes in Australia are more ephemeral - there's a section where Evan's is attempting to rescue his family from a wildfire which seems surreal. We also get some of the post war history of one of the Japanese, who, despite is brutality during the war, is able to blandly assume a normal life after it. I assume this is there to demonstrate the peculiarities of our roles during extraordinary times, and how those roles may be of no relation to the rest of our lives.
This can be a difficult book to read at times - the prison camp scenes are graphic, but it is well worth the effort.
