Railway Man

Rating:
Summary: Primary Source for History of treatment of POWs.
Review: "The Railway Man", by Eric Lomax, W.W. Norton, 1995. This is a well written and well edited book, telling the personal story of Eric Lomax, who was Prisoner of War held by the Japanese during World War II. The author's personal accounting of torture, beating and maltreatment of POWs by the Japanese is a cool condemnation in black type on white paper of the inhuman treatment common in the Pacific. Lomax's almost causal recounting of how he was tortured makes that section even more difficult to read.

The title, "The Railway Man", comes from the author's life long obsession with the railroads and locomotives. His observations of railroads and locomotives makes some of the more vivid writing in his autobiography. His personal journey from hatred of the Japanese translator, who participated in prisoners' torture, to forgiveness of that person, marks one of the highlights of the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who believes the Japanese acted in a civilized manner in the war they started in the Pacific.

Rating:
Summary: Primary Source for History of treatment of POWs.
Review: "The Railway Man", by Eric Lomax, W.W. Norton, 1995. This is a well written and well edited book, telling the personal story of Eric Lomax, who was Prisoner of War held by the Japanese during World War II. The author's personal accounting of torture, beating and maltreatment of POWs by the Japanese is a cool condemnation in black type on white paper of the inhuman treatment common in the Pacific. Lomax's almost causal recounting of how he was tortured makes that section even more difficult to read.

The title, "The Railway Man", comes from the author's life long obsession with the railroads and locomotives. His observations of railroads and locomotives makes some of the more vivid writing in his autobiography. His personal journey from hatred of the Japanese translator, who participated in prisoners' torture, to forgiveness of that person, marks one of the highlights of the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who believes the Japanese acted in a civilized manner in the war they started in the Pacific.

Rating:
Summary: A brutal story with a redeeming moral
Review: A wonderful read. It read better than most "page turner" novels. With a clear consise style, Lomax illustrates deep truths- The horrible brutality of the Japanese prison camps, the agonizing will to survive, and the amazing capacity to forgive the most heinous of wrongs. Read this book

Rating:
Summary: Time for the hating to stop
Review: For me, what makes this story so special is that I bought it, not out of choice, but because I had to study it as part of an English course. Of all the other books I own, none have affected me in the way that Eric Lomax's has. None have been written with such painful honesty. None have made me so simultaneously ashamed and proud to be a human being, and none have made me cry like I did during the final pages of 'The Railway Man'. It is a testament not only to human endurance, but also to the spirit of men, many of whom died in unspeakable conditions, and to Eric Lomax, who was 'lucky' enough to survive the torture on the Burma- Siam railway, and the torture of its memories years later. Read this book and you will have nothing to complain about for the rest of your life.

Rating:
Summary: the real River Kwai
Review: I first heard about Mr. Lomax in the "Guidepost" magazine, and was eleven when I read this "the Railway Man". And I must say, it's a painful read. After reading an eye-witness account of the treatment of the prisonners, "Bridge to the River Kwai" seems so...tame. This is the real stuff.

It's graphic, like when he drescribes the brutal treatment at the hands of the captors, the endless interrogations, being swarmed over by red ants when they were put in cages, and about the man who tortured him all those years.

Then he talks about going back to England, marrying, and then the jolt of his former torturer being alive. And that they met up again, and how he forgave.

I'm surprised it's out of print, and I still think it should be more widely read. The story may be gut-wrenching (in more ways than one), but when he survived it all, one can't help but wonder how, when so many have died along the way.

Rating:
Summary: Humility and Heroism
Review: Lomax is a common man has survived and overcome the most brutal of human sufferings. He shows that in all of us is the capacity for greatness. His language is to the point with a tone of a man that is reluctantly telling his story more for our own need to understand the POW experience than for any personal aggrandizement. As others have commented, there is a real gutcheck here. It is a true emotional rollercoaster and worth it.

Rating:
Summary: bravissimo for mr lomax
Review: We should be grateful for writers such as Lomax, and for books such as this. Remembering, with careful, understated accuracy, his experiences as a prisoner of war in Kanchanaburi during the infamous construction of the Burma Railway, also known as the "Death Railway", it is an honest and beautifully rendered document of tremendous suffering, tremendous pain and the transcending, liberating power of forgiveness.

It reminds us of a time so recent, yet which seems to long ago, and which can so easily be revisited upon us. It is not a document of Japan-bashing or of bitterness or recrimination. It reminds that we are all capable of reat evil, and all capable of surviving great evil. It reminds us of the contradictory yet parallel strains of goodness and darkness that make us human. I feel like a btter person for having read this book.

Rating:
Summary: "The Railway Man" is not to be missed!!!
Review: You may think you've read enough harrowing accounts of someone's life as a prisoner of war, but what sets this memoir apart is the resolution of the author's searing memories of one Japanese tormentor in particular, and his life-changing efforts to find and reconnect with that man when both are in their 60s and beyond. Its an incredibly compelling and moving tale, from beginning to end, and beautifully written.