|
|
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Darling Wife, 9 Mar 2005
"Quite apart from its historical interest, one of the most fascinating aspects of this book, and one that the author would have been largely unaware of at the time, is the subtle but undeniable change in his character during five years away from home and his sweetheart...
Harry, a rather naive and recently engaged 23 year old, is supremely confident of his social standing as a well-educated, literate and ambitious young journalist, albeit from a working class background. Then, in 1940, he is conscripted into wartime national service.A reluctant soldier, with some disdain for the faceless authority of the British Army, he documents the daily trivialities and impositions put upon him and his peers in these letters to his fiancee, Gwen, whom he marries while on leave. His frustration at the apparent lack of logic behind decisions made by distant superiors is tempered by the humour and glee with which he exposes their fumblings, and his eternal optimism as he anticipates each turn of events. Harry's skills, strength and spirit develop as he faces ever greater challenges, and somehow continues to see positive opportunities in the most negative of situations.
Strangely enough, it is the carefully observed detail of everyday reality - the meals or lack of them, the trading of cigarettes, the bending of rules, the longing for home and his wife - which makes such compulsive reading, particularly for those of us who have never gone short of anything. Because his letters are written without the intention to 'play up' the drama, but to reassure Gwen and the family at home, Harry concentrates on the forced normality of life in barracks, on board ship, and even as a Japanese prisoner of war.
He, along with the other POWs, embraced the attitude that the possibility of execution was ever present so there was little point in dwelling on it. It must have taken extraordinary self-control to write so breezily of escapades that could easily have earned him the death penalty - yet his casualness is so natural, one can taste the thrill he enjoys; the 'sport' of scoring points against his captors at every opportunity. However, his genuine disbelief and excitement on realising that he is, finally, really going home, are poured out uncensored - and are all the more moving because of it. Reading between the lines with hindsight, we can guess at some of his hardships, but there are already enough accounts of war, cruelty and pain - this book is a unique view of wartime life as seen by an 'ordinary man', recorded with love, and warmth, and hope."
|
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Amazon Home
