(Clive Hazell)

I am not sure how many members read this book, and if I were not presenting I am not sure I would have finished….so for those who have not, below is a detailed summary not quite as long as the novel and hopefully not as confusing.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North spans decades of the life of Dorrigo Evans and the people he encounters over the course of his adult life. Dorrigo becomes engaged to a very correct young woman named Ella Lansburg one evening, without really intending to make the proposal. He falls in love with a young woman named Amy who Dorrigo later learns is married to his uncle, Keith Mulvaney. Amy and Dorrigo begin an affair though Dorrigo is already in the military and is expecting to be moved out at any time.

Dorrigo is in active duty only a short time when he is captured and held as a Prisoner of War. The POW camp is manned by Japanese and Korean soldiers. The situation is horrific with starvation and deprivation a daily occurrence. Dorrigo, a surgeon, becomes the commanding officer among the POWs and feels a personal responsibility for the well-being of all the prisoners. He feels the loss of each death and is often forced into situations of compromise. When the guards are brutally beating a man named Darky Gardiner, Dorrigo tries to intervene. When a Japanese commander offers Dorrigo quinine that might be used to save the lives of other men, Dorrigo accepts the offer, knowing he is trading the life of one man for the medicine. He later learns that Darky Gardiner is actually his biological nephew.

During his time as a POW, Dorrigo learns that the pub owned by Amy and her husband exploded and Dorrigo's fiance, Ella, tells him that Amy's remains were identified among the victims. She actually isn't dead but Dorrigo doesn't know this for decades. Dorrigo and Ella marry upon his return after the war. They have three children and settle into an uneasy relationship, though Dorrigo hates himself for never being able to fully love Ella and his children. Dorrigo becomes a renowned surgeon and a known speaker among POW gatherings. He spends years in illicit affair

s and seeking a way to feel alive, but never achieves it. He is fatally injured as an old man when a car driven by a drunk teen crashes into his Bentley.

Meanwhile, other people who met Dorrigo along the way go on with their lives. Jimmy Bigelow, the man who'd been the trumpeter at many funerals in the POW camp, lives to be more than ninety and forgets the atrocities of the camp by the time of his death. Ella reconciles herself to the marriage with Dorrigo, who is never faithful and never returns her love. Amy develops cancer and lives out the last days of her life peacefully, with her sister's family.

Several of the Japanese and Korean soldiers are killed as war criminals. The commander of the POW camp, a Japanese man named Nakamura, discovers that his name is listed among the men being sought for war crimes. He goes into hiding for some years until comes to realize that the hunt is no longer active. He then marries and has a family, and spends most of his life trying to reconcile himself with his crimes, which he sees as merely doing his duty. He tries to lead a good life as a kind man but sometimes believes the dictates that ruled his life as a soldier were all lies.

Discussion Questions.

1. The story begins with the question: “Why at the beginning of things is there always light?” The question is repeated as a statement close to the end of book on page 366. In between, the concept of light continues to come up again and again. Why does light show up at the beginning of things for Dorrigo? 

2. Dorrigo is occasionally concerned with whether or not he is a good man. Did being a good man make him a war hero?

3. Is it important to bear witness to the horror of war? Is it necessary that people who lived through war remember the horror of it?

4. Many of the characters’ stories go beyond their death. The narration often talks about the deaths of the last people to have memories of the main characters, like Darky Gardiner on page 232. Why is this story concerned about the complete death of the memory of its characters?

5.  Nakamura seems to struggle internally about his own motivations, and on page 104, the narration explains that: “Nakamura’s own thoughts were a jungle unknown and perhaps unknowable to him.” Does Nakamura ever get to know himself?

6. Do the atrocities

 that the Japanese committed during the war make them bad? What does it do for the story to understand the Japanese mindset?

7. My final question…and perhaps a harder one is, despite the obvious differences…which was a more “satisfying” read, “Unbroken” from September last year, or this novel?  Why?

Emma’s point of view

(1)

1.    “Forgive your enemies and pray for them.”

2.    Deep in our sorrow, there is always right light

3.    “Light is Love , Life and God

4.     All the shame from the outside, cant change the meaning of inside

5.    A great surgeon who feel guilty of the adultery with his aunt,   abused and tortured by the Japanese army. We are like a dead duck. Out of control and can’t choose what role we can play.

But our soul is free we can decide to forgive or not to forgive.

6.    German used to be the killer. Now, they try to be the survivor

The meaning of life depends on how much you give than get

(2)
1.good man can be hero= he expect to be Mr. Perfect. High self-esteem. "to err is human; to forgive, divine" hard to forgive as hard to forget

(3)

1. happiness has no scar, that’s why it’s so easy to forget

But hurt do have tattoo. We are born to hate than to love

“It's so hard to forget pain, but it's even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.” 
― Chuck Palahniuk, Diary

(4)

1. if we believe reincarnation, karma, we will be more appreciate for the death

(5)

1. a bird in hand is better than 100 in the forest

  But, sometimes we forgot we do have one in hand

(6)

1. samurai spirit: some combination of frugality, loyalty,martial arts mastery, and honor until death

2. "Chrysanthemum and the Sword" for the first time to make the western world understand the characteristics of the Japanese nation's largest - double character, comprising: warlike, peaceful, and beautiful militaristic, arrogant and polite, cranky and fickle, tame and stubborn, loyal and rebellious , brave and cowardly, conservative and fashion.

(7)

1. Unbroken: “Forgive your enemies and pray for them.”

2. “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”: no way out swirl. We can find our way via God. Or we will be like the dog chase after our tail.