Review: The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan is the most harrowing novel I've ever read. It's the story of Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans who grew up in rural Tasmania and after a passionate love affair during his Army training, signed up to fight in WWII. Captured and forced to work in a Japanese labour camp along the Thai-Burma Railway, the living conditions and violence Dorrigo and his fellow POWs experienced was nothing short of horrific.

"They were men like other young men, unknown to themselves. So much that lay within them they were now travelling to meet." Page 41

Before the war Dorrigo had an ardent love affair - despite being engaged to another woman - and he draws on those memories during his captivity. However, the narrative moves back and forth in time (before/during/after the war) without any obvious structure or chapter indications of timeframes and I found it quite disorienting. Adding to the confusion was the lack of punctuation for dialogue which very few authors manage to accomplish without upsetting the flow on the page.

Having said all of that, the writing and lyrical prose was absolutely sublime and often intensely intimate and emotive. Dorrigo loves reading and poetry and I enjoyed his reverence for books in this excerpt:

"He had placed it on the darkwood bedside table next to his pillow, aligning it carefully with his head. He believed books had an aura that protected him, that without one beside him he would die. He happily slept without women. He never slept without a book." Page 29

Slowly the narrative expands to include the first person perspective of other characters in Dorrigo's life, including love interest Amy and several Japanese soldiers from the camp which was surprising. These first person perspectives of the Japanese soldiers was deeply disturbing, as were their innermost thoughts about their mission, conduct, the lack of supplies and their individual contributions to the war effort. Reading their 'side of the story' so to speak felt like a significant betrayal, and I believe this demonstrated real courage from the author.

"It's not just about the railway, Colonel Kota said, though the railway must be built. Or even the war, though the war must be won. It's about the Europeans learning that they are not the superior race, Nakamura said. And us learning that we are, Colonel Kota said." Page 129

Having spent so much time with the Australian prisoners of war tasked with building the Burma Death Railway and reading in detail about the tropical diseases, malnutrition, starvation, beatings, exhaustion and despair they endured - in addition to the countless deaths - I was deeply disappointed that the author chose not to include their release and recovery. Flanagan highlights some of the struggles faced by those returning home - Australian and Japanese - even going so far as taking the reader to the point of their deaths and the manner in which they recalled their experiences. The inner reflections of the Japanese soldiers sickened me, including the fact that for one character, time eroded his memory of his crimes and nurtured stories of his goodness and extenuating circumstances:

"As the years passed, he found he was haunted only by the way he was haunted by so little of it." Page 375

Having suffered through these viewpoints and acknowledged Flanagan's attempt to highlight both sides of the conflict, I wanted to glimpse the moment Dorrigo realised he'd survived the war and was going home. This would have gone some way to offsetting the misery they endured, is that why it was excluded? What was it like for Dorrigo to taste real food again? How did he feel seeing himself in a mirror for the first time? Putting on fresh clothing? I wanted to know every detail of the treatment the Australians received, how they were rehabilitated and the ongoing problems they suffered afterwards.

Also completely missing from the book was an Author's Note or Acknowledgments section. I had to go elsewhere to find out that Richard Flanagan's father was a Japanese prisoner of war and that the main character of Dorrigo Evans was inspired by the life of Weary Dunlop. This would have been useful to know in the beginning or at the very least in an Author's Note at the end.

There were so many heartbreaking moments during this novel. The gruesome beating of Darky Gardiner that his comrades were forced to watch - and his later death - only to discover his connection to Dorrigo after the war was devastating. Reading the perspectives of some of the Japanese soldiers right up until their deaths was disturbing and I wanted to cry or vomit when I read Jimmy Bigelow's bugle was later sold by his daughter in a garage sale. Whilst only characters in a book, this was so well written and researched that their experiences and personalities seemed as close to real as you can get. I don't think I could recommend this novel to any reader in good conscience knowing just how distressing the content is, but I acknowledge it is a profound and important Australian novel.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan won the Man Booker Prize in 2014 and is a haunting novel about the savagery of war, camaraderie of men, national identity, legacy and the depths of love.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★