I am one of those guys who can not read any book any time. My mind set has to be in right mood to read a book. Otherwise how many times i start a book, i can not finish it. But once my mind set is right, i may finish a book in a day. I remember very well many times i tried to read The New Life by Orhan Pamuk and could not finish it, when it is first published . Whenever i opened the book, after 5-10 pages, i could not read further. I used to find myself lost among pages, sentences. But couple of years later, i finished it in a day, when my mind set was ready for it.
Fate of a book, King Rat by James Clavell was not much different than The New Life until last week. I felt a bit guilty not reading it becuase it was a gift from my girl friend. But whenever i opened it, i could not go more than a couple of pages, even though i saw its movie version. With its blue cover, it was on my book shelf for a long time, until my hungar to reading a non-technical text surged again. (I was not reading any novel, non-technical text last couple of months, due to busy work and mind set).
But last time, it was different. Once i started reading it, i could not stop myself. I did enjoy every pages, every word of it. Its affect on me was comparable to one of my favourite book, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
This book is based on a real life story of British pilot, Peter Marlowe, who surrendered to Japanese soldiers in WW II and his time with fellow English speaking people (American, British, Austrilian) as POW in a Japanese camp in Singapore. To survive in the camp with ethic and integrity against hunger, disease and primitive human and society rules and needs is the subject of the book.
I strongly advise this book to anybody who would like to meet real characters with their basic needs in tough circumstances. This book is a mirror to human nature and society.
