The Narrow Road To The Deep North - anyone read it?

[stevienickstophat]

I finished it yesterday and I can't stop thinking about it.

I'm desperate to discuss it but no-one I know has read it!

There was so much to it, I hardly know where to begin. Just brilliant.

It's been discussed on this thread.

I have yet to get round to it.

Ooh, thanks, will have a look!

I definitely recommend it.

It was an amazing book. I know what you mean by so much in it. It's so upsetting and at the same time the writing is so brilliant. And the revelation at the end about Darky made it even more heart-breaking. But I thought the saddest part of all was near the end when they went to the fish shop.

I love the description of the dinner they had with the fish shop owner.

So moving.

The revelation about Darky put my jaw on the floor.

And Amy being buried with her necklace

It was interesting to discover the Japanese side of things; the pressures they were put under etc. however, I found this a depressing read. The suffering was relentless as you would expect. I was pleased to finish it.

HappydaysArehere - if you are interested about some aspect of Japanese soldiers stories during WW2 read Ruth Ozeki, A tale for the time being.

It made me cry.

i found it worthy but a bit dull in places

I agree with BadgersArse. I was slightly surprised that it won the Booker and received so many positive reviews. Then I read this review in the London Review of Books, and was relieved to discover it wasn't just me - it describes how I felt about the book, but much better than I could have put it:

www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n24/michael-hofmann/is-his-name-alwyn

But I would highly recommend Eric Lomax's The Railway Man, a memoir of his experience working on the Burma Railway. A truly amazing book.

So pleased I am not the only one who did not enjoy this - in fact I abandoned it half way through and it was a struggle to get that far but I felt I should keep trying.

I totally disagree with that reviewer. He is criticising the book for not being "a map but a streetview" but that is what makes it so believable. Dorrigo is a totally flawed person. He is heroic during the war but then goes back to being a womanising careerist. I thought the relationship between Ella and Dorrigo was very well written. She develops throughout the book and is a lot more than just her background. I can see that someone more cynical than me might not like the Amy love story and it is the weakest part of the story but on the whole it's a fantastic book.

I loved it. Best book I've read for ages

I loved it too and the meal in the fish shop made me weep buckets on a train into Waterloo.