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Another true story, this time of a Scottish man tortured by the Japanese in World War Two on the Burma-Siam Railway. This isn't the sort of book I'd usually read, but I'm about to start studying it in English. As such, I was dreading starting; real life war stories aren't my cup of tea at all. But surprisingly, once I'd started I found that the book was every bit as interesting and moving as the reviews on the back had promised. It didn't reduce me to tears, as it did John McCarthy, but The Railway Man is still an upsetting and thought provoking account of the horrors war can bring.

While used to reading horrific examples of violence (you may have noticed a penchant for Dean Koontz and Stephen King), I was still worried about reading Lomax's account of the torture. After all, Koontz's creations are fiction, and this is real. Thankfully, though the accounts are thorough, they are also quite brief, and I felt that it was more the feelings of terror and compassion by the people involved that was dwelt on. You could skim read the physical parts and not lose the thread.

I suppose that the real meat of the book comes in the final couple of chapters, when Lomax sets out to find the torturers, particularly the Japanese interpreter during his interrogations. The interpreter is found, and the book changes from being one of horror and vengeance to one of forgiveness. Here, the book ceases to be just another war tale, and instead something quite extraordinary. A little while ago, I had to change my college courses due to a spate of bullying. I can't imagine ever forgiving the people involved, yet it is easy, through Lomax's prose, to see why the interpreter is granted forgiveness, despite this being just as unfathomable before I picked up the book.

It is for this reason alone, even if, like me, you don't share Lomax's passion for trains or hate anything to do with wars, that I feel this is a very important book, and well worth reading.

The Bookworm Club Review Archive

Review written by Pinwheel Pearl

04.03.04 Front Page

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