Too Much Horror

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There were times when I nearly threw this book across the room. Not because it wasn't good - but because it was simply too unbearable to read. Every scene in the Japanese prisoner of war camp, with the daily slave labour on the railway, and the cruelty of illness, deprivation and punishment, was like sitting in front of a horror film. I wanted to press the 'off' button, to prevent the images of what Richard Flanagan is describing from forming in my mind.

The reason I didn't was out of a sense of duty to bear witness, just as Richard Flanagan - as he has publicly and poignantly explained - is using the novel to bear witness to what his father endured as a prisoner of the Japanese during the Second World War. Not to have seen it through to the end would have felt like a cowardly cop-out.

I was also gripped by the love-story at the heart of the book, between Amy and the doctor, Dorrigo Evans. Relayed in past narratives between the war camp episodes, the account of their meeting and passion was like balm, sustaining Dorrigo as he strove in the near-hopeless conditions to survive and keep safe the men under his charge. This sporadic history of their relationship was like balm to me too. For where there is love there is hope. I cannot remember when I was last so desperate for two characters who love each other to be rewarded with reunion. (And no, I am not going to spoil the story by telling you whether that happens).

For all its Booker-winning credentials however, the final third of the book seemed to falter. The narrative at this point goes in several directions, embracing not only the post war travails of Dorrigo and Amy,but also the fates of a couple of the Japanese camp guards. The intention behind this is indisputably admirable - it would have been far easier and infinitely more pat to leave the'enemy' as just that. Instead Flanagan endeavours to offer us credible insights into the paths that had shaped Dorrigo's tormentors and the ends that await them. The overall effect for me I'm afraid, was to detract from the central momentum of the narrative, stealing a little thunder from what would otherwise have been the most thunderous end.



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