{"id":127,"date":"2016-12-19T21:50:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-19T21:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/index.php\/2016\/12\/19\/the-narrow-road-to-the-deep-north-by-richard-flanagan-australia-2013\/"},"modified":"2019-12-31T08:15:41","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T21:15:41","slug":"the-narrow-road-to-the-deep-north-by-richard-flanagan-australia-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/the-narrow-road-to-the-deep-north-by-richard-flanagan-australia-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, Australia, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

This would have to be one of the best (if not the best) book I have read this year. The writing is, as with all Flanagan\u2019s books, superb. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>Although the main part of the book deals with Australian prisoners of war and the building of the Burmese railway <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>(and is, consequently, extremely confronting), it does not merely dwell on <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>atrocities <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>of war<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>, but <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>gives a balanced two-sided view as to why such things may have happened. It makes no excuses, but it does <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n

give explanations.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
The book follows the life o<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>f <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>Dorrigo Eva<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>ns f<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>rom his beginning in Tasmania, through a career in medicine punctuated by several yea<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>rs of <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>military service, to his end on the mainland of Australia. Woven into his life is his love for Amy (his uncle\u2019s young wife), and his less-than-satisfactor<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>y <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>marriage with Ell<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>a. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This is a book that stays with you long after the last paragraph has been read and the book closed. There are definitely many images that refuse to go away, but there are also thoughts and perspectives that smuggle their way into your subconscious and, hopefully, shed some light on all the bigger questions: why are we here? What is life? What is death? What is love?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a>Days and months are travellers of eternity. So too the years that pass by<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>(From <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>Basho\u2019s travel journal <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>The Narrow Road to the Deep North<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The edition I read (by Vintage) has 467 pages, so it is definitely not a one-evening read (and, even if it were possible, I do not think that most people would be able to absorb so much in such a short space of time). Apart from the fact that it was awarded the Man Booker Prize in 2014, it is definitely a book I would recommend.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The photo of Flanagan receiving the Man Booker Award is from the ABC.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/i><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  This would have to be one of the best (if not the best) book I have read this year. The writing is, as with all Flanagan\u2019s books, superb. Although the main part of the book deals with Australian prisoners of war and the building of the Burmese railway (and is, consequently, extremely confronting), it … <\/p>\n

+ Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}