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Shame and the Captives Thomas Keneally 9781444781281 Books

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Shame and the Captives Thomas Keneally 9781444781281 Books

Tom Keneally has been very prolific of late, but if anything his books are becoming more profound and memorable. Shame and the Captives re-tells in fictional form the story of the Cowra breakout of Japanese prisoners of war during World War II. In a detailed introduction he explains the differences between his story and the actual historical events. But this is much more than straight history; it vividly brings to life rural Australia in the 1940s, and particularly its people, so affected by the distant conflict, yet so distant from it. But physically distant only until a prisoner of war camp is located in thier midst. Suddenly, the enemy is on their doorstep, and a miniature version of the land war which Australia was spared is being fought in the paddocks and farmhouses of the community. There is much violence, but there is also warmth and humour in, for example, the growing Australianisation of an Italian prisoner of war and his relationship with the wife of a farmer who is himself a prisoner of the Japanese. Keneally does an excellent job with the Japanese characters, whose culture is so different from that of their captors, or even the other prisoners. There is much to enjoy and to think about in this novel, and I strongly recomment it.


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Shame and the Captives Thomas Keneally 9781444781281 Books Reviews

Shame and Captives is an important read to understand why the Japanese soldiers were such discontented captives in Australia and why they broke out from Cowra to be deliberately killed. To be captured was shameful and it was honourable to die, a complex culture for westerners to comprehend. The book is rated four stars because in some places it is rather laborious with too much detail although perhaps Keneally deliberately did this to draw out the tension in the build up to the inevitable break out from the camp. The book is extremely well written but in a style using old fashioned vocabulary which is a bit tedious and seems unnecessary. It may be that the author was attempting to write in the genre of the era. The book finished fairly abruptly once the breakout had occurred. Having become familiar with the characters one would have liked some extension of what happened to them afterwards. For example, the academically clever son, who killed an escaped Japanese, and expected to be a hero instead of being seen as a wimp. However, he was an emotional wreck after his actions. Did he recover from this or was his life ruined? I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction that fills in gaps of knowledge, particularly those who enjoy war history. I have more of an understanding of Japanese culture and their kamikaze behaviour in war time. It was also impressive to read that the Australians were concerned to be good prison warders following the international guidelines and providing comfortable conditions for the prisoners of war. The Japanese captives in Cowra did not appreciate this and the irony was that their fellow countrymen were treating their captives in Asia, including thousands of Australians, like slaves with the majority dying as a result.
Tom Keneally is a very respected and skilful author, who has written many wonderful novels, based mainly on Australian themes. In this book he mixes known documented facts and imagination about the only wartime detention centre set up during the Second World War, on Australian soil. It contained 'aliens', that is from countries at war with Australia, and also captured prisoners of war. There was a well known break out of prisoners from the actual camp in Australia, but this novel describes an imaginary camp based on the actual camp. This book also looks at many issues such as the type of treatment of internees within the camp, tensions between camp officers, the type of lifestyle they lived under, the use of some internees to help on surrounding farms, as labour was short during the war etc. A relationship between such a inmate and a wife, on such a farm is featured in the narrative. The build-up and execution of the breakout was dramatically described, and the effect on locals and internees following this was movingly portrayed. A wonderful novel.
Tom Keneally has been very prolific of late, but if anything his books are becoming more profound and memorable. Shame and the Captives re-tells in fictional form the story of the Cowra breakout of Japanese prisoners of war during World War II. In a detailed introduction he explains the differences between his story and the actual historical events. But this is much more than straight history; it vividly brings to life rural Australia in the 1940s, and particularly its people, so affected by the distant conflict, yet so distant from it. But physically distant only until a prisoner of war camp is located in thier midst. Suddenly, the enemy is on their doorstep, and a miniature version of the land war which Australia was spared is being fought in the paddocks and farmhouses of the community. There is much violence, but there is also warmth and humour in, for example, the growing Australianisation of an Italian prisoner of war and his relationship with the wife of a farmer who is himself a prisoner of the Japanese. Keneally does an excellent job with the Japanese characters, whose culture is so different from that of their captors, or even the other prisoners. There is much to enjoy and to think about in this novel, and I strongly recomment it.