The Narrow Road To The Deep North by Richard Flanagan

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2014.  The story follows the life of Dorrigo Evans born in rural Tasmania to a poor family.  He goes on to become a surgeon.  The story is multi-layered, but the main topic of the book is Dorrigo’s experience as a Japanese prisoner of war in a camp on the Burma Death Railway.  Running parallel to this is Dorrigo’s affair with his uncle’s young wife, Amy.  This affair haunts him throughout his life.    At times a harrowing read, it is beautifully observed and told from different points of view.  I disliked the style of writing at first as I found it too fragmented dealing with the different strands of Dorrigo’s life in what seemed a random way.  Towards the end of the book the strands come together in an unexpected way.  I liked the way the stories of the other main characters are tied up, but not too neatly or in an overly sentimental way.   As always with books about war, it paints a grim picture of the human race and the cruelty inflicted by mankind.  It made me cry and will be a book that stays with me.