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My Beautiful Enemy
I was blinded by his beauty. In the one or two photographs I’ve kept of him I can still see it. He stares out of them almost miserably, as if his loveliness is an affliction. Not that I saw it that way, at least not in the beginning. In the beginning I thought it was a kind of miracle.
Arthur Wheeler is haunted by his infatuation with a Japanese youth he encountered in the enemy alien camp where he worked as a guard during WW2. Abandoning his wife and baby son, Arthur sets out on a doomed mission to rescue his lover from forced deportation back to Japan, a country in ruins.
Thus begins the secret history of a soldier at war with his own sexuality and dangerously at odds with the racism that underpins the crumbling British Empire.
Four decades later Arthur is still obsessed with the traumatic events of his youth. He proposes a last reunion with his lost lover, in the hope of laying his ghosts to rest, but this mission too seems doomed to failure.
Like Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence and Snow Falling On Cedars, My Beautiful Enemy explores questions of desire and redemption against the background of a savage racial war. In this context, Arthur’s private battles against his own nature, and against the conventions of his time, can only end in heartache.
Arthur Wheeler is haunted by his infatuation with a Japanese youth he encountered in the enemy alien camp where he worked as a guard during WW2. Abandoning his wife and baby son, Arthur sets out on a doomed mission to rescue his lover from forced deportation back to Japan, a country in ruins.
Thus begins the secret history of a soldier at war with his own sexuality and dangerously at odds with the racism that underpins the crumbling British Empire.
Four decades later Arthur is still obsessed with the traumatic events of his youth. He proposes a last reunion with his lost lover, in the hope of laying his ghosts to rest, but this mission too seems doomed to failure.
Like Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence and Snow Falling On Cedars, My Beautiful Enemy explores questions of desire and redemption against the background of a savage racial war. In this context, Arthur’s private battles against his own nature, and against the conventions of his time, can only end in heartache.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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322 people want to read
About the author
Cory Taylor
23 books45 followersCory Taylor was born in 1955 and was an award-winning screenwriter who has also published short fiction and children’s books. Her first novel, Me and Mr Booker, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Pacific Region) and her second, My Beautiful Enemy, was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Her final book was Dying: A Memoir.
Taylor was survived by her Japanese-born artist husband of 33 years, Shin, and their sons, Nat and Dan, both in their 20s.
Taylor was survived by her Japanese-born artist husband of 33 years, Shin, and their sons, Nat and Dan, both in their 20s.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
October 10, 2020
One of the saddest books I've ever read.
Everybody has dreams about the life they might have had. For years I mourned the life I could have shared with Stanley if only the times had been different. I blamed my unhappiness on the war, and then I blamed it on my wives. Now I see that I was unhappy for the same reasons that everyone else, at one time or another, is unhappy. We define ourselves by what we do not have, by the people we are not, and we do this because we must.
Everybody has dreams about the life they might have had. For years I mourned the life I could have shared with Stanley if only the times had been different. I blamed my unhappiness on the war, and then I blamed it on my wives. Now I see that I was unhappy for the same reasons that everyone else, at one time or another, is unhappy. We define ourselves by what we do not have, by the people we are not, and we do this because we must.
April 23, 2013
My Beautiful Enemy is the second novel by Australian author, Cory Taylor. The story is narrated by Arthur Wheeler who was, in 1945, a seventeen-year-old Army guard at Tatura, an Internment camp for Japanese in Victoria. There he met Stanley Ueno, a fifteen-year-old detainee, and “…..my heart had effectively melted inside me.” What follows, in prose that is often achingly beautiful, is Arthur’s recollection of the overwhelming effect this love/infatuation/obsession had on his life. Arthur’s internal conflict between his sexuality and his upbringing is superbly rendered. Taylor effectively conveys the xenophobic and homophobic attitudes that prevailed at the time and will have the reader thinking about the rationale of internment camps and the experience of the detainees themselves. Taylor’s descriptive prose is occasionally breathtaking: “….people milling about in the station. I envied them. They all had trains to catch and places to be while I sat marooned, my mother beside me, the past threatening to eviscerate the two of us in its huge maw.” But ultimately, this story is full of emotion and feeling: most readers will come to the end with a lump in the throat and an ache in the heart. Beautifully crafted, indescribably sad.
July 7, 2022
An engaging, interesting, historical fiction novel about Arthur Wheeler, a man struggling to find true happiness because of his need to hide his feelings of love for a young Japanese man. The novel is mainly set in a Japanese internment camp in country Victoria in 1945. Arthur is a young soldier working as a guard at the Tatura Internment Camp when he meets Stanley Ueno, a Japanese youth. The story is narrated by Arthur.
The novel provides interesting descriptions of the general negative attitude of Australians towards the Japanese at the end of World War Two. Arthur is conflicted in his attitudes towards the enemy because of his adoration of Stanley and the Japanese he meet at the camp. The Japanese at the camp were ordinary people who had immigrated to Australia before the war.
A very worthwhile, interesting, satisfying reading experience.
This book was shortlisted for the 2014 Miles Franklin Award.
The novel provides interesting descriptions of the general negative attitude of Australians towards the Japanese at the end of World War Two. Arthur is conflicted in his attitudes towards the enemy because of his adoration of Stanley and the Japanese he meet at the camp. The Japanese at the camp were ordinary people who had immigrated to Australia before the war.
A very worthwhile, interesting, satisfying reading experience.
This book was shortlisted for the 2014 Miles Franklin Award.
June 17, 2014
‘Everybody has dreams about the life they might have led.’
This novel is about the relationship between a young Australian soldier, Arthur Wheeler, and a young Japanese prisoner of war, Stanley Ueno, from their youth to old age. Their love can never be acknowledged and for Arthur in particular as he recounts his story, it raises a life time of questions about what might have been in different circumstances and in different times.
Arthur is seventeen years old in 1945. He is a guard at Tatura, an internment camp for enemy aliens. World War II is finally drawing to a close: the allied bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still in the future, just a few months away. We meet Arthur in the infirmary, where he is recovering from a nervous disorder and still smarting from his dismissal from the Air Force at the end of 1944.
One night in the middle of May, he meets Stanley, a Japanese teenager from a family of circus performers. Arthur is immediately attracted to Stanley’s beauty and bearing.
‘In an instant I’d been converted to a new faith, which said beauty was a rare thing and something to be worshipped unreservedly.’
We see this relationship entirely through Arthur’s eyes. Stanley largely remains an enigma: one minute he embraces American traits, the next he discusses Japanese literature. He torments Arthur, but reveals little of his own feelings. But Arthur never stops longing for Stanley, even though they spent only a very brief time together. Arthur’s inability to let go of his desire to reunite with Stanley destroys any capacity he might have to embrace any other relationship. Arthur abandons his young wife May and their son Stuart in order to try to prevent Stanley being deported from Australia.
Reading this story as recounted by Arthur half a life time later, reminds me how much store we can place on memories and how it can be possible to be trapped in the past, longing for an ideal. How much more complicated this can become when love is caught up in struggles between nations, as well as struggles with sexuality and expectations.
I found this novel thought-provoking and very moving.
‘Sometimes love has nothing to do with it.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
This novel is about the relationship between a young Australian soldier, Arthur Wheeler, and a young Japanese prisoner of war, Stanley Ueno, from their youth to old age. Their love can never be acknowledged and for Arthur in particular as he recounts his story, it raises a life time of questions about what might have been in different circumstances and in different times.
Arthur is seventeen years old in 1945. He is a guard at Tatura, an internment camp for enemy aliens. World War II is finally drawing to a close: the allied bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still in the future, just a few months away. We meet Arthur in the infirmary, where he is recovering from a nervous disorder and still smarting from his dismissal from the Air Force at the end of 1944.
One night in the middle of May, he meets Stanley, a Japanese teenager from a family of circus performers. Arthur is immediately attracted to Stanley’s beauty and bearing.
‘In an instant I’d been converted to a new faith, which said beauty was a rare thing and something to be worshipped unreservedly.’
We see this relationship entirely through Arthur’s eyes. Stanley largely remains an enigma: one minute he embraces American traits, the next he discusses Japanese literature. He torments Arthur, but reveals little of his own feelings. But Arthur never stops longing for Stanley, even though they spent only a very brief time together. Arthur’s inability to let go of his desire to reunite with Stanley destroys any capacity he might have to embrace any other relationship. Arthur abandons his young wife May and their son Stuart in order to try to prevent Stanley being deported from Australia.
Reading this story as recounted by Arthur half a life time later, reminds me how much store we can place on memories and how it can be possible to be trapped in the past, longing for an ideal. How much more complicated this can become when love is caught up in struggles between nations, as well as struggles with sexuality and expectations.
I found this novel thought-provoking and very moving.
‘Sometimes love has nothing to do with it.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
November 25, 2014
I read this right after 'All the birds, singing' (what great use of punctuation) while on a small Miles Franklin shortlist binge. 'All the birds, singing' is just the kind of book I should love: creepy, strange, a tough woman central character, a complicated backstory told in a convoluted way. And despite being gorgeously written and with some brilliant characters, it just didn't grab me. While 'My beautiful enemy' shouldn't have made much of an impact at all: a little story about a bloke in country Australia (boring) during WWII (yawn) struggling with his feelings for a Japanese chap interned in a camp where he's guard (oh wait a second, that's a bit more interesting).
Anyway, it's heartbreaking and so frustrating and sad and just such a waste of a life. This calmly written slice of one poor man's life was brilliantly done, capturing the utter hopelessness of being a boy in love with another boy who is Japanese at a time when everyone's brothers and sons are in Japanese POW camps and no one even talks about being gay as though it might be an option. Arthur flails around ruining lives, including his own, but what other choice did he have? I'm a sucker for stories of pathetic lost love and this is one of the best I've read. Plus, Stanley, the Japanese boy, is clearly so gorgeous and so beautifully described that I was a bit in love with him too.
(One of the most interesting things about this book for me was that I had somehow heard absolutely nothing about it before reading it, which seems odd given it's shortlisted for a Miles Franklin. Seems my library didn't even bother getting it until it was longlisted: I was the first person to borrow it, the day they entered it in the catalogue.)
Anyway, it's heartbreaking and so frustrating and sad and just such a waste of a life. This calmly written slice of one poor man's life was brilliantly done, capturing the utter hopelessness of being a boy in love with another boy who is Japanese at a time when everyone's brothers and sons are in Japanese POW camps and no one even talks about being gay as though it might be an option. Arthur flails around ruining lives, including his own, but what other choice did he have? I'm a sucker for stories of pathetic lost love and this is one of the best I've read. Plus, Stanley, the Japanese boy, is clearly so gorgeous and so beautifully described that I was a bit in love with him too.
(One of the most interesting things about this book for me was that I had somehow heard absolutely nothing about it before reading it, which seems odd given it's shortlisted for a Miles Franklin. Seems my library didn't even bother getting it until it was longlisted: I was the first person to borrow it, the day they entered it in the catalogue.)
March 15, 2017
I was a little bit disappointed by this book. My Beautiful Enemy has all the right ingredients for a terrific novel, and in some ways it is exceptionally good – but somehow it didn’t quite hit the mark with me.
Cory Taylor is the award-winning author of Me and Mr Booker which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the Pacific Region. She’s an author willing to take risks, and with My Beautiful Enemy has abandoned the rather predictable themes to which so many Australian authors surrender. Set in Australia during World War II, My Beautiful Enemy is the story of a young man confused by his own sexuality and conflicted by his ambivalent attitudes towards the enemy. Arthur Wheeler is a narcissistic and somewhat hypochondriac young soldier stationed at the Tatura Internment Camp when he meets – and is instantly attracted to – Stanley Ueno, a quixotic Japanese youth.
The story is narrated by Arthur and the elegiac tone is set by the wisdom of hindsight in the first paragraph:
Everybody has dreams about the life they might have led. For years I mourned the life I could have shared with Stanley if only the times had been different. I blamed my unhappiness on the war, and then I blamed it on my wives. Now I see that I was unhappy for the same reasons as everyone else, at one time or another, is unhappy. We define ourselves by what we do not have, by the people we are not, and we do this because we must. (p. 1)
Arthur’s infatuation is doomed from the outset. He is enlisted in a homophobic organisation in a homophobic society, and even if Australia had not been engaged in a vicious war with Japan, Australian racism was institutionalised by the White Australia Policy. Stanley, for his part, toys with Arthur, sometimes flirting with him and at other times breaking his heart with disdain or hostility. Like the other internees (many of whom had not lived in Japan for many years) he is torn between his affection for Australia and his loyalty to Japan, culminating in a dramatic attempt to stay here when the war is over and the Japanese are being deported. For Arthur - aware of Japanese atrocities on the battlefield, witness to the grief of his bereaved girlfriend and subject to the demonising propaganda of the enemy that occurs in any war – passion for Stanley is tinged with anguished feelings of guilt and disloyalty. The skill with which Taylor draws out these complex emotions in characters on either side of the military conflict is exceptional.
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2013/06/14/my...
Cory Taylor is the award-winning author of Me and Mr Booker which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the Pacific Region. She’s an author willing to take risks, and with My Beautiful Enemy has abandoned the rather predictable themes to which so many Australian authors surrender. Set in Australia during World War II, My Beautiful Enemy is the story of a young man confused by his own sexuality and conflicted by his ambivalent attitudes towards the enemy. Arthur Wheeler is a narcissistic and somewhat hypochondriac young soldier stationed at the Tatura Internment Camp when he meets – and is instantly attracted to – Stanley Ueno, a quixotic Japanese youth.
The story is narrated by Arthur and the elegiac tone is set by the wisdom of hindsight in the first paragraph:
Everybody has dreams about the life they might have led. For years I mourned the life I could have shared with Stanley if only the times had been different. I blamed my unhappiness on the war, and then I blamed it on my wives. Now I see that I was unhappy for the same reasons as everyone else, at one time or another, is unhappy. We define ourselves by what we do not have, by the people we are not, and we do this because we must. (p. 1)
Arthur’s infatuation is doomed from the outset. He is enlisted in a homophobic organisation in a homophobic society, and even if Australia had not been engaged in a vicious war with Japan, Australian racism was institutionalised by the White Australia Policy. Stanley, for his part, toys with Arthur, sometimes flirting with him and at other times breaking his heart with disdain or hostility. Like the other internees (many of whom had not lived in Japan for many years) he is torn between his affection for Australia and his loyalty to Japan, culminating in a dramatic attempt to stay here when the war is over and the Japanese are being deported. For Arthur - aware of Japanese atrocities on the battlefield, witness to the grief of his bereaved girlfriend and subject to the demonising propaganda of the enemy that occurs in any war – passion for Stanley is tinged with anguished feelings of guilt and disloyalty. The skill with which Taylor draws out these complex emotions in characters on either side of the military conflict is exceptional.
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2013/06/14/my...
August 6, 2014
Review also found at http://kristineandterri.blogspot.ca/2...
I received an advanced copy of this book via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Although it showed that the book was to be released on August 5th, Goodreads says otherwise so I believe that this is a re-release.
I am having a difficult time figuring out how I really felt about this story. In one sense it was moving and on the other it was annoying.
I will start with the positive. This is truly a story about a young man's struggle with his sexuality and the conflicts of his journey as a result. In one sense a love story but with more focus on Arthur trying to come to terms with his feelings. Particularly during the time in which this story takes place at the end of WWII this was not an easy time to embrace anything outside of a conventional relationship.
Where I felt the story lost it's impact is that Arthur was not at all likable. Without giving away any of the plot I found that he was insecure (understandable) but also a liar and had no real regard for others. I also found his obsession with Stanley to be completely one sided and therefore was unable to sense any type of connection to him. He did many things in his journey that I deem unforgivable and I didn't feel it necessarily was connected to his struggles with his sexuality.
Overall this was an interesting story however I do not think I will be recommending it. Although I can't pinpoint exactly what it was it simply lacked something for me.
I received an advanced copy of this book via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Although it showed that the book was to be released on August 5th, Goodreads says otherwise so I believe that this is a re-release.
I am having a difficult time figuring out how I really felt about this story. In one sense it was moving and on the other it was annoying.
I will start with the positive. This is truly a story about a young man's struggle with his sexuality and the conflicts of his journey as a result. In one sense a love story but with more focus on Arthur trying to come to terms with his feelings. Particularly during the time in which this story takes place at the end of WWII this was not an easy time to embrace anything outside of a conventional relationship.
Where I felt the story lost it's impact is that Arthur was not at all likable. Without giving away any of the plot I found that he was insecure (understandable) but also a liar and had no real regard for others. I also found his obsession with Stanley to be completely one sided and therefore was unable to sense any type of connection to him. He did many things in his journey that I deem unforgivable and I didn't feel it necessarily was connected to his struggles with his sexuality.
Overall this was an interesting story however I do not think I will be recommending it. Although I can't pinpoint exactly what it was it simply lacked something for me.
June 20, 2014
My Beloved Enemy makes for an interesting pairing with Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which follows the fates of Australian and Japanese soldiers on the Thai-Burma railway, also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin prize. This time though it is the Japanese who are prisoners in regional Australia, where beyond the fence of the internment camp is an open paddock of flocks of sheep and cockatoos.
The characters are wonderfully and warmly drawn. Stanley is clearly one of the most beautiful people to walk the earth (reminded me of Achilles in Madeline Miller's Song of Achilles, which verged on Twilight-level adoration), but he is refreshingly complex and inscrutable, to us and to narrator Arthur Wheeler.
Thematically the book doesn't stray far from the perils of denying sexuality (and by extension other parts of your identity) but here it feels fresh - the isolation and imprisonment mirrored in the fate of Japanese internees, the relationships (one character explains that Arthur's 'aloofness' is why he has no mates), and the perversity of finding freedom in a time of conflict.
The characters are wonderfully and warmly drawn. Stanley is clearly one of the most beautiful people to walk the earth (reminded me of Achilles in Madeline Miller's Song of Achilles, which verged on Twilight-level adoration), but he is refreshingly complex and inscrutable, to us and to narrator Arthur Wheeler.
Thematically the book doesn't stray far from the perils of denying sexuality (and by extension other parts of your identity) but here it feels fresh - the isolation and imprisonment mirrored in the fate of Japanese internees, the relationships (one character explains that Arthur's 'aloofness' is why he has no mates), and the perversity of finding freedom in a time of conflict.
December 27, 2014
This may have suffered from being read back-to-back with Flanagan's opus about the Burma railway, Narrow Road to the Deep North. Flanagan's book is a work of great and delicate complexity, whereas Taylor's piece, also dealing with theme of wartime prisoners, and Japanese-Australian relations, is a relatively simple tale of one man's inability to realise his own sexuality, and the way that eventually costs him a full life. The tale is almost languid in pace, giving the novel a dreamlike feel that suits the setting. I found it difficult to like the protagonist for much of the novel, his helplessness in the face of homophobia and the self-absorbtion of the late teens were drawn well, sometimes painfully.
The Japanese, seen through the eyes of a protagonist wrapped in his own world, are fuzzy, shadowy figures, objects of fear and pity, with the exception of Stanley, the object of our protagonists passion, who emerges like a golden statue, gleaming and perfectly opaque.
The tale works at what it does, I just couldn't help wishing it did a little more.
The Japanese, seen through the eyes of a protagonist wrapped in his own world, are fuzzy, shadowy figures, objects of fear and pity, with the exception of Stanley, the object of our protagonists passion, who emerges like a golden statue, gleaming and perfectly opaque.
The tale works at what it does, I just couldn't help wishing it did a little more.
October 21, 2014
This is the second novel I have read recently with a World War Two internment camp as the main location for the narrative and character development. I liked this better than After The Darkness, mainly because of its universal theme of love and loss and also because of its restrained tone and the convincing voice of the narrator, Arthur. Arthur was a guard at a camp for Japanese internees and fell in love with a young Japanese prisoner, Stanley (or Saburo). Arthur has spent his life denying his homosexuality, going on to marry more than once. The character of Stanley is more enigmatic. He has been a circus performer and the reader is always uncertain about how much of Stanley's behaviour is a performance. Arthur's visit to Japan many years after the war is finely written, with the understated prose masking painful emotions. A touching and sensitive book, with some excellent characterisation, including May, Arthur's first wife.
May 28, 2013
This is a beautifully written novel about the relationship between a soldier and a young Japanese prisoner of war from their youth to old age, and the love that is never able to be acknowledged due to circumstances and the attitudes of the times. The author's language is simple and understated, but evocative and at times emotionally wrenching. Arthur, the soldier, is the narrator of the story - he is a flawed character with some unlikable qualities, yet due to the author's skill in his portrayal I found myself empathizing with him and gunning for him to find happiness. A poignant story that left me moved at the end. Cory Taylor does forbidden love very well, as evidenced in her first novel, Me and Mr Booker.
August 6, 2018
It is 1945 in Australia, and World War II is coming to an end. Arthur Wheeler is 17 years old and filled with torment about his sexual identity. He lives at home with a loving mother and a brutish father who delights in criticizing and humiliating him. Though Arthur is conflicted about his desires, it is with acceptance rather than intention to change.
Fatefully, a neighborhood girl, May, falls heavily for Arthur and pursues him doggedly. Arthur tries his best to dissuade the relationship, and though May discerns the real issue, she is determined to marry Arthur. He decides that serving his country in the war is probably the best option for him, but he fails to qualify for the Air Force because, as his instructor told him, he “lacked character.” Disappointed and jaded, Arthur immediately enlists in the army. Once again, luck is against him, and a recurrence of a childhood illness, “loosely described as ‘weak nerves’” has Arthur relegated to non-combat assignments. Thus, he finds himself stationed on guard duty at a camp for Japanese enemy aliens. He hates this double denial at his chance to do something heroic.
Soon, however, a Japanese “prisoner” turns up in the form of Stanley Ueno, real name Saburo Ueno. Stanley is smart, reckless, penetratingly perceptive, and, of course, the “beautiful enemy” of the book’s title. He only wants to escape from this camp and return to Chicago in America. He immediately perceives Arthur’s hopeless and instant attraction towards him. Though quite restrained in his behavior, Arthur is obsessed with Stanley, and the bulk of the story is about their interactions in the camp, alternating between hostile and amorous driven entirely by Stanley’s moods. While most of Arthur’s fellow soldiers are understanding, one teases him mercilessly.
Author Cory Taylor’s writing is compact, restrained, and deeply psychological. Arthur’s first-person narration of the story is dispassionate and blindingly honest. Within months, the end of the war is in sight, and Arthur’s life is now complicated by the fact that May is pregnant, the result of her pressuring Arthur three months earlier to give things a try. Arthur drifts into marriage and fatherhood, but is unhappy to his core. Suddenly, he decides to leave wife and son in a search for Stanley, who has been repatriated to Japan.
The search for Stanley becomes Arthur’s unshakable mission and the drama of My Beautiful Enemy. Driven by emotion and memory of camp days, Arthur is propelled in his endeavor, though he is uncertain of what he will do should he succeed. Taylor succeeds in enlisting the reader to Arthur’s side, and the novel’s conclusion is touching beyond imagination. Arthur is as solid a character as any contemporary fiction has produced. His depth of self-awareness is as extraordinary as the way he lives his life: stoical, proud, and wholly unapologetic. My Beautiful Enemy is a compelling and satisfying read.
[Note: I reviewed Cory Taylor’s nonfiction work, Dying: A Memoir in May 2018.]
Fatefully, a neighborhood girl, May, falls heavily for Arthur and pursues him doggedly. Arthur tries his best to dissuade the relationship, and though May discerns the real issue, she is determined to marry Arthur. He decides that serving his country in the war is probably the best option for him, but he fails to qualify for the Air Force because, as his instructor told him, he “lacked character.” Disappointed and jaded, Arthur immediately enlists in the army. Once again, luck is against him, and a recurrence of a childhood illness, “loosely described as ‘weak nerves’” has Arthur relegated to non-combat assignments. Thus, he finds himself stationed on guard duty at a camp for Japanese enemy aliens. He hates this double denial at his chance to do something heroic.
Soon, however, a Japanese “prisoner” turns up in the form of Stanley Ueno, real name Saburo Ueno. Stanley is smart, reckless, penetratingly perceptive, and, of course, the “beautiful enemy” of the book’s title. He only wants to escape from this camp and return to Chicago in America. He immediately perceives Arthur’s hopeless and instant attraction towards him. Though quite restrained in his behavior, Arthur is obsessed with Stanley, and the bulk of the story is about their interactions in the camp, alternating between hostile and amorous driven entirely by Stanley’s moods. While most of Arthur’s fellow soldiers are understanding, one teases him mercilessly.
Author Cory Taylor’s writing is compact, restrained, and deeply psychological. Arthur’s first-person narration of the story is dispassionate and blindingly honest. Within months, the end of the war is in sight, and Arthur’s life is now complicated by the fact that May is pregnant, the result of her pressuring Arthur three months earlier to give things a try. Arthur drifts into marriage and fatherhood, but is unhappy to his core. Suddenly, he decides to leave wife and son in a search for Stanley, who has been repatriated to Japan.
The search for Stanley becomes Arthur’s unshakable mission and the drama of My Beautiful Enemy. Driven by emotion and memory of camp days, Arthur is propelled in his endeavor, though he is uncertain of what he will do should he succeed. Taylor succeeds in enlisting the reader to Arthur’s side, and the novel’s conclusion is touching beyond imagination. Arthur is as solid a character as any contemporary fiction has produced. His depth of self-awareness is as extraordinary as the way he lives his life: stoical, proud, and wholly unapologetic. My Beautiful Enemy is a compelling and satisfying read.
[Note: I reviewed Cory Taylor’s nonfiction work, Dying: A Memoir in May 2018.]
October 7, 2019
My Beautiful Enemy by Cory Taylor (shortlisted for the 2014 Miles Franklin Award) is a sensitive, beautifully rendered tale of a love that could not be.
Arthur Wheeler is a young guard in a Victorian internment camp for Japanese aliens during World War II.
(After Darkness by Christine Piper, Vogel Award winner from the same year was also set in an alien internment camp in the Riverland of South Australia, although its themes were quite different.)
Arthur's natural inclination is to despise the Japanese internees, of the view that they are genuine enemies of Australia, representing a threat in a time of war.
But when he meets young Stanley (Ueno Saburo-san) for the first time, he is immediately smitten, 'blinded by his beauty'.
In 1940s Australia, homosexuals were certainly not free to overtly display their preferences and desires, and Arthur was naturally forced to conceal his infatuation and sexual urges for Stanley from his co-workers. Only the matron of the camp infirmary understood the true nature of the attraction, and kindly tolerated and even supported it.
Arthur had to pretend that he was a straight man, keen for sexual relations with women, just like his co-workers. He met May at a local dance, and she, attracted by his handsome looks, set about seducing him.
Even May noticed Arthur's shyness and reluctance, but she was convinced she could help him overcome his inadequacies. She fell pregnant, and despite some initial reluctance from her family, they were married.
But as soon as Arthur became aware that Stanley and his family were about to be deported to Japan after the war, he deserted his wife and son, never to return to his marriage, and set out in search of Stanley.
Arthur was married two more times in order to maintain appearances, but each relationship was short-lived. Each of his wives complained that Arthur was never really 'present'.
In 1963, many years after the war, Arthur acts on information he is given to track down Stanley in Japan, where he is now a successful businessman in Nagasaki. But Arthur soon discovers that the past is not to be rekindled.
Taylor relates this heartbreaking narrative in a style that is simple and effective. In Arthur and Stanley, she has created two wonderful characters and a forbidden relationship that is complex and enigmatic. She has quite deliberately not overplayed the emotion or tied to moralize too much.
She has captured the mood and attitudes of the times with aplomb, and reflects evocatively on the nature of love and acceptance in a manner that remains relevant and timeless.
Arthur Wheeler is a young guard in a Victorian internment camp for Japanese aliens during World War II.
(After Darkness by Christine Piper, Vogel Award winner from the same year was also set in an alien internment camp in the Riverland of South Australia, although its themes were quite different.)
Arthur's natural inclination is to despise the Japanese internees, of the view that they are genuine enemies of Australia, representing a threat in a time of war.
But when he meets young Stanley (Ueno Saburo-san) for the first time, he is immediately smitten, 'blinded by his beauty'.
In 1940s Australia, homosexuals were certainly not free to overtly display their preferences and desires, and Arthur was naturally forced to conceal his infatuation and sexual urges for Stanley from his co-workers. Only the matron of the camp infirmary understood the true nature of the attraction, and kindly tolerated and even supported it.
Arthur had to pretend that he was a straight man, keen for sexual relations with women, just like his co-workers. He met May at a local dance, and she, attracted by his handsome looks, set about seducing him.
Even May noticed Arthur's shyness and reluctance, but she was convinced she could help him overcome his inadequacies. She fell pregnant, and despite some initial reluctance from her family, they were married.
But as soon as Arthur became aware that Stanley and his family were about to be deported to Japan after the war, he deserted his wife and son, never to return to his marriage, and set out in search of Stanley.
Arthur was married two more times in order to maintain appearances, but each relationship was short-lived. Each of his wives complained that Arthur was never really 'present'.
In 1963, many years after the war, Arthur acts on information he is given to track down Stanley in Japan, where he is now a successful businessman in Nagasaki. But Arthur soon discovers that the past is not to be rekindled.
Taylor relates this heartbreaking narrative in a style that is simple and effective. In Arthur and Stanley, she has created two wonderful characters and a forbidden relationship that is complex and enigmatic. She has quite deliberately not overplayed the emotion or tied to moralize too much.
She has captured the mood and attitudes of the times with aplomb, and reflects evocatively on the nature of love and acceptance in a manner that remains relevant and timeless.
April 27, 2023
I was interested to find out about Japanese Australian citizens incarcerated in camps in Victoria, Australia during WWII. Japanese Australians were herded into camps in case they were spies. Another shameful chapter of Australian history. The love story I found unconvincing.
December 2, 2017
An incredible story of love, longing and regret. Beautifully written and deeply moving. Simply beautiful.
July 23, 2016
Set primarily in country Victoria during the latter stages of World War II, My Beautiful Enemy is a small, simple story about first love that ultimately speaks of much bigger things.
Told through the eyes of Arthur, a 17-year-old working as a guard in an alien internment camp in Tatura during 1944, the story focuses on his relationship with Stanley, a young Japanese internee. When Arthur literally falls in love at first sight with Stanley, his growing understanding of his sexual identity terrifies him enough to push him into May's arms.
May is open, safe and ordinary in contrast to Stanley who remains a fascinating enigma throughout the book, almost toying with Arthur in terms of his feelings. The implications of so many things left unsaid between the two haunt Arthur for the rest of his life. He marries May and becomes a father before suddenly abandoning them to try to save Stanley from deportation to Japan. After his son hits the nail on the head one night almost 20 years later, Arthur finally starts to face up to the truth about himself.
I found My Beautiful Enemy heartbreaking in its depiction of life, and love, unfulfilled and admirable in its depth beyond the love story. It speaks of racism, homophobia, xenophobia - the attitudes and treatment of internees, for example, could apply just as well today albeit - sexual identity, gender roles, secrecy, war.
The characters are well drawn, Arthur, Stanley and May in particular but even supporting characters like Matron Conlon, McMaster, Riley, Bryant and May's parents are memorable. The writing is exceptional - at one stage I found myself admiring a passage of dialogue for its effortless brilliance, which is not something i ordinarily do.
On the surface My Beautiful Enemy comes across as an easy read, a simple love story but it is, quote simply a tour de force.
Told through the eyes of Arthur, a 17-year-old working as a guard in an alien internment camp in Tatura during 1944, the story focuses on his relationship with Stanley, a young Japanese internee. When Arthur literally falls in love at first sight with Stanley, his growing understanding of his sexual identity terrifies him enough to push him into May's arms.
May is open, safe and ordinary in contrast to Stanley who remains a fascinating enigma throughout the book, almost toying with Arthur in terms of his feelings. The implications of so many things left unsaid between the two haunt Arthur for the rest of his life. He marries May and becomes a father before suddenly abandoning them to try to save Stanley from deportation to Japan. After his son hits the nail on the head one night almost 20 years later, Arthur finally starts to face up to the truth about himself.
I found My Beautiful Enemy heartbreaking in its depiction of life, and love, unfulfilled and admirable in its depth beyond the love story. It speaks of racism, homophobia, xenophobia - the attitudes and treatment of internees, for example, could apply just as well today albeit - sexual identity, gender roles, secrecy, war.
The characters are well drawn, Arthur, Stanley and May in particular but even supporting characters like Matron Conlon, McMaster, Riley, Bryant and May's parents are memorable. The writing is exceptional - at one stage I found myself admiring a passage of dialogue for its effortless brilliance, which is not something i ordinarily do.
On the surface My Beautiful Enemy comes across as an easy read, a simple love story but it is, quote simply a tour de force.
July 10, 2016
This is a very enjoyable book and you should read it if you are gay, Japanese Australian or have an interest in the Australian home front in WWII, but it has a couple of shortcomings that would stop it from appealing to people outside those groups.
The book has very little emotional range. It strikes a note of poignant regret early on and then just keeps playing it throughout the majority of the story. This is particularly problematic because it reflects the fact that the protagonist, Arthur, doesn't seem to change at all throughout the book. So we are left with quite an entertaining story about what some people did at a very interesting time of history, but nothing deeper.
The writing is good, with the actions described clearly and a good balance between description, action and thoughts/emotions. However the position of the first-person narrator is a little unclear and at times I found myself wondering why I should trust a narrator who lies so casually to others. Sometimes an unreliable narrator is used deliberately by authors, but in this book it was never addressed and didn't seem to feed into the story. This also relates to the fact that the narrator is not particularly likeable or sympathetic and so once again the reader is left a little isolated from the events in the story.
This whole review has basically been a justification for why I am not giving this book four stars, despite enjoying it. There are plenty of enjoyable three star books out there (three stars means "i liked it" according to goodreads), but they generally don't stay with me. I'm afraid that this book falls into that category.
The book has very little emotional range. It strikes a note of poignant regret early on and then just keeps playing it throughout the majority of the story. This is particularly problematic because it reflects the fact that the protagonist, Arthur, doesn't seem to change at all throughout the book. So we are left with quite an entertaining story about what some people did at a very interesting time of history, but nothing deeper.
The writing is good, with the actions described clearly and a good balance between description, action and thoughts/emotions. However the position of the first-person narrator is a little unclear and at times I found myself wondering why I should trust a narrator who lies so casually to others. Sometimes an unreliable narrator is used deliberately by authors, but in this book it was never addressed and didn't seem to feed into the story. This also relates to the fact that the narrator is not particularly likeable or sympathetic and so once again the reader is left a little isolated from the events in the story.
This whole review has basically been a justification for why I am not giving this book four stars, despite enjoying it. There are plenty of enjoyable three star books out there (three stars means "i liked it" according to goodreads), but they generally don't stay with me. I'm afraid that this book falls into that category.
May 21, 2014
Taylor manages to write something both epic and intimate, in this brief but moving novel. She tenderly creates a barely-adult narrator, who is grappling with his sexuality amid a POW camp in Melbourne at the last days of WWII. However the novel spans his time at the camp, as well as post-war Melbourne, Tokyo in the 60s and the present day. She perfectly encapsulates the feeling of first love and attraction, and the sadness when this is frustrated. However, she skirts around the narrator's relationships with women, which is also quite vital to the story. Also, she makes the object of his affection, Stanley, just a trifle too elusive. While this is his appeal to Arthur, the narrator, there's not quite enough to sustain both the reader, and, I think, a later-in-life Arthur. Yet, this is still a successful novel on many fronts - involving, well paced, and emotionally engaging. I would definitely consider future novels by Cory Taylor.
September 16, 2013
A beautifully written story about the relationship between a young Australian soldier and a Japanese boy "resident" of a WW2 internment camp in rural Victoria (Australia). The young soldier is in love with the Japanese boy, but is restrained by the accepted culture and social values of the age. The story traces their lives from their first meeting and presents the struggles of the young soldier as he tries to live a "normal" life, whilst always wanting another one. I found it quite sad in parts, with a atmosphere of compassion for the young soldier whose life can never be complete. I found it an easy read, but a very enjoyable and involving one. Recommended.
July 10, 2014
This is a gentle story despite its setting in a WWII Japanese internment camp in rural Australia. The main character Arthur Wheeler is a young man, enlisted in the homophobic and racist AIF, who is struggling with his sexuality and overwhelmed by his passion for a young Japanese internee. Looking back from his middle years he reflects on his childhood and youth. His confusion and search for love is very moving and is the major strength of the novel. Unfortunately, the elusive nature of Stanley, the young Japanese internee, is frustrating and by the end of the novel the reader and Arthur have only limited understanding of what motivated his behaviour.
March 24, 2016
Arthur is a young 17 year old joins the Army in 1945 and finds himself guiding Japanese interns at a camp in middle Victoria. Here he meets a 15 year old Japanese who he falls in love with and who he spends the next 30 years wondering what life he could have had.
Arthur knows he is different but tries to live a "normal" life and marries three times.
This is a sad story, told with great sympathy, as Arthur accepts he will never be happy.
Arthur knows he is different but tries to live a "normal" life and marries three times.
This is a sad story, told with great sympathy, as Arthur accepts he will never be happy.
May 5, 2014
The writing is lyrical and moving in this understated, introspective book. It's melancholy and sad, even when there are snatches of happiness. It's not a love story but a story of how losing, or never quite grasping, love can make someone so lonely.
I liked Cory Taylor's last book a lot and this is much different, but equally good. I thought she did a great job creating a strong sense of place and the dialogue worked really well.
I liked Cory Taylor's last book a lot and this is much different, but equally good. I thought she did a great job creating a strong sense of place and the dialogue worked really well.
August 25, 2014
Surprised it made the Franklin shortlist for 2014. The last 20 pages earned the third star, found this book thoroughly predictable and rather twee. The strong point is the way Taylor has conveyed the utterly stupid intolerances of the 40s,50s and 60s. I found the main character, Arthur, pathetic and weak and think he probably deserved the complete stuff up he made of his life, couldn't feel sorry for him at all.
July 13, 2014
Beautifully written tale about a young man's obsession with a male Japanese prisoner while he's a guard in a POW camp in Victoria in late WWII. However I liked this novel more for the poignant portrayal of how the Australian government dealt with Japanese people living in Australia during WWII, and the dichotomy between the humanness of the Japanese POWs and the 'evil' Japanese soldiers.
February 5, 2016
Anthony Wheeler knows he's different and is reigning in his sexuality. He's 17, run away from a abusive home, joined the military, and is spending the last days of the WWII as a guard at an Australian Japanese internment camp. When he spies Stanley, a Japanese youth, at the camp, the rest of his life is forever changed by this infatuation and love.
September 5, 2014
Some interesting and poignant moments - enough to keep me reading but a little repetitive and meandering at times - Australian guard falls in love with his Japanese prisoner during the internments of WWII and it's a love that haunts him for the rest of his life.
June 11, 2013
This is a very moving story of unrequited love, written with flair. Also the author vividly reveals part of Australia's suppressed history.
July 20, 2017
A sad and sorrowful study of lost love and denial. Beautifully written, sparse prose that evokes empathy and pity for the main character, Arthur, as he struggles to come to terms with his sexuality.
February 23, 2020
This book has a lot of ingredients that make it great. A WWII love story with a gay couple and the eternal struggle that exists with living as LGBT+, specifically in older times, it sounded perfect. The love aspect itself is, no doubt, very sweet too. The main characters tease each other, have an adorable rapport and chemistry, and though their romance itself is brief, it’s certainly an impactful one. With that being said...
When I first read that Stanley was a prisoner at a Japanese internment camp and Albert a guard in this book, I had deep reservations. These continued throughout the book. I really wanted to love it, and I feel like I would have if the circumstances surrounding it were different, but in the end, this is the kind of era that I just don’t appreciate seeing love stories stem from. It gets to me in a similar fashion to how Holocaust love stories involving Nazis and prisoners do- a vast discomfort, querying of the tangible reality, and distant revulsion at the concept (irrespective of sexual orientation). I’m incredibly skeptical of any story where the captured can love their captors. While I know that this kind of romance could have happened, I just ended up hoping Stanley would find a lovely man somewhere else, someone who wasn’t ‘guarding’ him.
The language used is incredibly readable, the characters lovable, and I’m sure that I would have put this a lot higher on my list if it didn’t have that bitterness of wrong place, wrong time.
When I first read that Stanley was a prisoner at a Japanese internment camp and Albert a guard in this book, I had deep reservations. These continued throughout the book. I really wanted to love it, and I feel like I would have if the circumstances surrounding it were different, but in the end, this is the kind of era that I just don’t appreciate seeing love stories stem from. It gets to me in a similar fashion to how Holocaust love stories involving Nazis and prisoners do- a vast discomfort, querying of the tangible reality, and distant revulsion at the concept (irrespective of sexual orientation). I’m incredibly skeptical of any story where the captured can love their captors. While I know that this kind of romance could have happened, I just ended up hoping Stanley would find a lovely man somewhere else, someone who wasn’t ‘guarding’ him.
The language used is incredibly readable, the characters lovable, and I’m sure that I would have put this a lot higher on my list if it didn’t have that bitterness of wrong place, wrong time.
May 1, 2018
4 out of 5 stars / 79% out of 100%
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