My Faraway Home: An American Family's WWII Tale of Adventure and Survival in the Jungles of the Philippines

by Mary McKay Maynard

The author recalls her two years hiding in the jungles of Mindanao after the Japanese invaded in 1941, forcing her family to flee into the Filipino countryside, in a memoir of a wartime childhood behind enemy lines.

Genres: History, Memoir, Nonfiction, World War II, Asia

288 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2001

Reviews

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author, an American, was a child living with her parents in a mining camp in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded the country in 1941. Rather than surrender to the enemy and be interned, Mary McKay Maynard's family and many of the other occupants of the mining camp chose to go into hiding in the jungle. They treated it as a camping trip and figured they would only need to last a few weeks until the US forces came and rescued them. Their "camping trip" wound up lasting several years.

Maynard does a good job of giving the reader a clear sense of what's going on, without doing information dumps and while still maintaining her perspective of a child. She portrays the various characters in the narrative very well. There are a lot of strong, resourceful people in the story and a few scoundrels, but nobody that's rotten to the core or 100% noble and heroic. The Americans' relationships with the Filipino locals were touching; they could never have survived so long in hiding without extensive help from the local population.

At regular intervals throughout the book, Maynard includes passages from the diary her mother kept while they were in hiding. From what I read, I think that diary ought to be published. Mary's mother was an extremely gifted writer who was not only very observant, but turned out poetic, beautiful phrasing. I'd love to read the whole thing.

I hadn't known very much about the Pacific Theater of World War II, never mind daily life in Japanese-occupied countries, and I learned a lot from this book. It made me want to know more.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best memoirs I've ever read (but know I do not read a ton of memoir). This is an intensive look at WWII in the Philippines by an adept writer who hid from the invading Japanese in a jungle along a river for two years. The story of how she and her parents survived is remarkable, intense, and beautifully rendered.

The author as I said is a wonderful writer, but even more so, her mother was an undiscovered talent. The highlights were her sprinkled diary entries throughout. Magical, poetic. She alludes to the jungle as "dreamlike."

There was constant fear of the Japanese finding them for good reason. They even feared they could be taken to the major cities and imprisoned and have their own American bombs rain down on them.

It's a survival story in many ways (trigger warning: Mary is abused by one other child resident and the book ends with a more graphic description of what happened to her brother who was imprisoned by the Japanese)--physical and sexual and emotional. But what stood our for me was the family's constant wonder and appreciation for the country, the natural environment (wonderfully captured and described), and its resilient people. And I am always in awe of how humans make do. Loved the description of the copper Christmas tree her father makes. 4.5 stars rounded up as I did lose some interest near the end once they leave the jungle.

Highly rec for lovers of memoir or WWII history.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

My uncle was in the Philippine resistance while he and his wife were stranded after the Japanese invaded; I found this book because he is mentioned a few times. Aside from that personal note, it is a wonderful true story of courage and survival. As told by the author, who was a little girl of about 8, it is just a magical story. I never knew anything about the conditions under which my uncle lived and died, but now at least I have gained much understanding; there is not a lot of information on this subject. It reminds my a bit of "A Town Like Alice", which was excellent, as well. Mrs. Maynard is accomplished writer; excerpts from her mother's wartime diary show that she was too.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written story. The author, as a child, and her parents were forced to hide out from the Japanese for several years during WWII in the Philippine jungles. She provides insights into dangers, duties, joys, anxieties, community, generosity, hording, relationships, and the unsettled nagging anxiety of of missing her older brother and not knowing where he was. It’s also about bravery and sacrifice by Filipinos and other Allied civilians and military personnel.

[Christi McBride · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting memoir about an American family in the Philippines during Japanese occupation. It was refreshing to read about a part of WWII that I didn't know much about. It is basically the memories of the author at the age of about 8 helped along by her mother's journals and interviews with other people who survived the ordeal with her. Quick read.

[Liralen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a tale reminiscent of The Flamboya Tree, Maynard describes two years spent in the jungle in the Philippines during World War II: war had hit, her family hadn't gotten out in time (in part because of government assurances that the war would be over in weeks), and her parents had to make the impossible decision of whether to turn themselves in and go into a POW camp or stay on the run.

I knew Gomoco as only a child can know a place, and I loved it. My mother looked at the same scene, but saw it as a prison. (145)

Maynard's parents opted for the jungle, though it must be said that 'jungle' in this case included buildings associated with the mine where her father worked as a manager; others were there with them, and trading/business with locals and other merchants was still possible. Those small comforts could only do so much for the situation, though: infighting and fear of discovery; illness and limited rations; every possession becoming a precious resource; not knowing, for years on end, what had become of Maynard's older brother.

Maynard tells the story largely from her own perspective as a child in the midst of the unknown, but she draws on the diary that her mother kept at the time to add perspective and context. Maynard was lucky, in some ways, to be a child in it; it was only later that she understood the full dangers they had been up against. But it's a story compassionately and thoroughly told, and one that is not as often told as the more dramatic, violent war stories.

[Will G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating memoir of a 9-10 year old girl who survived with her family in the Philippines during the Japanese occupation during World War Two. I learned a lot about those times that I had never heard before.

[Ying-Shan Tseng · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book. Unlike other World war II books set in concentration camps, this is a book worth reading that takes place in a jungle in the Philippines.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting memoir of a young girl trapped in the Philippines with her parents and other Americans when the Japanese invaded during WWII.

[Jeff Bobin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by an American woman who as a young girl, 7 - 9, found herself caught with her family in the Philippians when Japan invaded at the beginning of WWII. Interspersing entries from her mother's journal she tells an intriguing story of hiding in the mountains for two years and the challenges, fears and thrills that was a part of that experience.

This is a story not only about difficulty but about relationships and how this type of experience draws people together and drives them apart.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maynard's account of her family's plight during WWII in the Philippines was an interesting story of survival and offers the reader lessons in patience, courage, and perseverance. However, I found the book "The Flamboya Tree" by Clara Olink Kelly, which is along the same vein of subject matter, to be far superior, and would have to recommend that book over "My Faraway Home."

[Oliver Hazan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just plain wonderful. A "regular" American family survives WWII in the most primitive conditions in the Philippines - as seen through the eyes of a 10 year old girl. An exceptional book with a bittersweet ending as the family becomes unglued during peace time.

[Susan Reissing · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned some history, which is always nice, but I had a hard time focusing throughout the book. it seems like the story could have been told in a better way, since it was real and had its moments. I did like the ending.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memoir of a family's survival in the jungle of the Philippines during World War II. An excellent account sharing actual life experiences. Life was difficult and it was a very different childhood. It is an interesting book that I did not put down.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an easy read, interesting. Learned about the occupation of the Philippines by the Japanese. Everyone knows about Pearl Harbor but less know what the Philippine islands went through during WWII. A history lesson from a young girls experiences.

[Kathy Brock boyll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly amazing. Good insight from a child's point of view..