Maybe this sounds contradictory to what I wrote before, but I am giving this book 5 stars. How do you call a book a "favorite" when the story told is so thoroughly horrible. This book is more memoir than historical fiction. Names had to be changed! First of all this is about a war and primarily is focused on life in the POW camps. But beyond the violence, starvation and brutality common to many wars, one is confronted with the prisoners' total inability to know who to believe. They could trust no one. Their life depended on trusting no one. Everyone lied. Everyone. E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E. Try and put yourself in that situation. The duplicity was complete. Yes, this book like the others I have recently read also proclaims that one must go one with life and appreciate life but there is a hollowness in this b/c the author can no longer really trust anyone. And I don't blame hime.

This book teaches you a lot about the Korean War, although from one person's perspective. A "history book" may be able to see an issue from many people's perspectives but then it is hollow in emotions. The main theme is that the Communist Chinese supported the North Koreans because they believed the South Koreans would try to capture Manchuria. A Chinese, either Nationalist or Communist, were simply fodder for the war, war trash - the book's title No matter what their choices were, they would personally loose everything. The main character was not a communist, but he felt respnsible for his mother living in mainland China. He had also left his fiance there too. However as a Chinese Communist soldier you should die rather than be caught by the enemy. So if he returned to mainland China after the war, he would always be a traitor to the communist cause. He chose to be a good son; he felt responsible for his mother. His father was dead. So he was a good son and returned to mainland China rather than choosing to go to Taiwan after the war was over. He sacrificed himself. If he chose to go to Taiwan his family would have been harmed, destroyed by the Communist regime. And BOTH sides lied to the prisoners, both those supporting Taiwanese repatriation and those supporting repatriation to Communist China. Everyone was used as a pawn. All players became "war trash". I will not say what met the author when he got to China....

If you are interested in understanding the Korean War, read this book.