The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

The Narrow Road to the Deep North won the Man Booker Prize last year (2014). I decided to pick this one up because I had heard so many readers comment positively on it. I have also changed one of the criteria in my reading challenge from a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, to a Man Booker Prize winning novel because I have read far too many US writers this year, and although I have Pulitzer Prize winning books on my TBR pile, I want to give some other countries a chance for the rest of the year.

A synopsis. Shew. This is not going to be easy. Here are a few phrases. Make do with them what you will. A forbidden love. World War 2. Prisoners of war. The railway from Burma to Hong Kong. An impossible task.

This is going to be another near impossible book to review. I can't say that I enjoyed reading it. In fact, I can't remember being more horrified and grossed out in a long time over a book. But the fact that I feel that way, does suggest that the writing in this was extraordinary.

In my education, WW2 has always been about Europe. I wouldn't even be able to give a definitive answer as to what my country did in the war - and my grandfather fought in it. So, books that deal with aspects of the war that did not take place in Europe are fascinating. This one looked at the Australian POWs who were forced to build the train line between Burma and Hong Kong.

The writing is so graphic and so vivid that there is no place for the reader to hide. This book does not have euphemisms, fade-to-blacks, or any other censoring tactic. It is harsh, real and disturbing. But saying that, it is also interesting.

The only part of the book I didn't really care for was all the romance before hand. I know that it has to do with the title of the book, but consider me jaded. I don't believe in one true love and soul mates and all that other stuff that books claim exist.

I gave this 3 stars on Goodreads.

This is the 76th book I have read for the 2015 TBR Pile Reading challenge.