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Rating: 
Summary: Harp of Burma Sings Praises
Review: Michio Takeyama did a great job writing this book. I enjoyed reading this compact and very detailed storyline to learn about a deserter and his quest to accomplish what was right. This book forces you, the reader, to understand political, as well as emotional issues. Highly Recommended!
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Summary: A classic anti-war story
Review: One of my favorite books. It contains one of the most brilliant and moving scenes ever written. Far from nationalistic propoganda, I found this to be a moving portrayal of the pacific war and how the Japanese troops felt during the closing stages of it. Rather than faceless, evil minions dominant in American popular culture, this book employs well shaped characters to explore what people do when a war is lost and their country lays in ruins. This book asks important questions about whether war is inherent to materialistic societies and whether human beings can kill each other once their humanity is revealed. The answers to these questions shape this book and form the thoughtful basis of an engaging story.
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Summary: The most influential book I ever read
Review: Some may feel that the Japanese still haven't come to grips with what their nation did in World War 2, and this book will only reinforce that view. If you think that everything Japan does from now until the end of time should, in some way, be an apology for the role Japan played, then you will hate this book, but you'll only be hurting yourself. I only read the book because I had to for a class, but that didn't keep me from falling in love with it. The way the author describes things like the terror the Japanese soldiers had for the Gurkas, or how the main character convinces his surrounded friends that the war is over and that they can surrender are scenes I will never forget. Most of all, the burning desire of the Japanese to go home and start over will move anyone. No, these Japanese soldiers aren't the monsters that some think they all were, but that doesn't make it a bad book.
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Summary: Far more than meets the eye
Review: This book challenges your preconceptions, demands that you rethink what war is. More than anything, this book investigates the problem of meaning - what does it mean to be human? Examining the problem of meaning, particularly in the context of war and contrary to many persons preconceptions, this book opens the mind if one lets it. While superficially the story of Japanese soldiers at the end of World War Two, the underlying message should disturb one and all: the "enemy" is often all too human and all too humane. Highly recommended.
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