Then they were sentenced to various terms in prison, where extreme malnutrition and overwork ensured that most of them wouldn't ever come out alive. All the suspects were brutally beaten (two died of the beatings), confined in cramped cages under the hot sun, and Lomax was subjected to a cruel form of water torture (rather like waterboarding) to make him confess to espionage (all the while, both his arms were in splints because they were broken). None of his explanations that he had done it as an enthusiast helped - he was seen as plotting espionage. To compound his crime, the enemy discovered a map of the railway, drawn by him. Lomax and six others were found to be guilty of having constructed radios and listened to broadcasts from the Allied forces and potentially communicated with subversive forces in Malaya. However, even that was tolerable compared to the tortures they meted out to supposed miscreants. The Japanese had scarce respect for the life or welfare of captured enemies. The POW camps which Japan ran were themselves a form of slow torture, with rampant malnutrition and disease. Captured by the enemy, he became part of the team who built the infamous Death Railway (though not among the labour gangs who were dropping dead like flies at the site, to be buried in unmarked graves). He had the misfortune to be part of the disastrous allied war effort in Malaya against the Japanese. This book is his own account of his descent into darkness and his triumphant return to light.Įric was a young man, engaged to be married, when he went abroad to fight the Second World War. But it beautifully showcased the story of the man called Eric Lomax, a guy interested only trains and technology: how he was physically and psychologically destroyed through years of drawn-out torture, and how he brought himself back into life through an astonishing act of forgiveness. The movie is not directly related to the book it is about the author, actually, and it is fictionalised and dramatised to a certain extent. This is one of those rare books which I read because I watched the movie. The intensity of the emotions and the suffering of Eric Lomax and his fellow comrades are clearly depicted more in this book than in the movie. I enjoyed reading this novel compared to the movie adaptation. However, due to the circumstances, he has no choice but to follow the orders from the high ranking officials because his hands were also tied. Through him, we learnt that there are some people like him during the war who still has conscience. One of the author's oppressors that time was Takashi Nagase. How can these devils still sleep at night or did they have conscience, are just some of the questions bugged me whenever I read this kind of books. The hardships of these POWs are detailed on these novels and I can't fathom on how the oppressors could easily torture them. This is my nth time to read a novel with the same setting and I always imagine putting myself on the shoes of those who experienced the war. I don't know why I'm always fascinated in reading memoir of POWs or anyone who lived during the WWII. All this occurred fifty long years after the events happened, which demonstrates that indeed life can change for the better. I will not reveal the conclusion of the book except to say that seldom have I read of such an emotional upheaval with beautiful passages of forgiveness and reconciliation. There is always a simmering pain beneath the surface that corrodes the soul. Brutality is personal and those who experience it carry the physical – and more particularly, the mental scars for life. As can be expected the memories never go away and he develops an enduring hatred of his captors that continually haunts his dreams. The overpowering strength of this book is how the author endured after the war. The diet was minimal – several prisoners contracted diseases and died due to their weakened condition. We are provided with searing portrayals of his long incarceration – the torture of himself and his comrades, his interrogations, lengthy imprisonment in small cells where silence was maintained for months at a time. His entire life was shattered when he was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese when Singapore surrendered in February of 1942. He trained somewhat in Scotland and England – and then was shipped to India and finally Singapore in November of 1941. Given his predilection for structure, the army also provided that, when he was recruited at the outbreak of war in 1939. His descriptions of his upbringing and his infatuation with trains give stark contrast to the later events. The author had a rather sheltered life in Scotland. The writing is to the point and very poignant, giving much feeling to the sufferings the author endured. This is an extraordinary personal rendition of the ordeal of this man’s life.
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