Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

by Laurens van der Post

Filmed as Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence starring David Bowie & Tom Conti. This is war as experienced in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Java in 1942. It's the story of two British officers whose spirit the Japanese try to break. Yet out of the terrible violence & hardship strange bonds of love & friendship are forged between the prisoners & their jailers.
Christmas Eve: A bar of shadow
Christmas morning: The morning after
A brother
The initiation
The growth of nothing
"The day far spent"
The sowing of the seed
Christmas night: The sword & the doll

Genres: Fiction, War, Historical Fiction, Japan, World War II, Literary Fiction, Military Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Sir Laurens Jan van der Post was a 20th Century South African Afrikaner author of many books, farmer, war hero, political adviser to British heads of government, close friend of Prince Charles, godfather of Prince William, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer, and conservationist.

Reviews

[Mark Lawrence]

This is just my lame way of getting a Merry Christmas from Mr (Dr even!) Lawrence into your feed!

Have a good one, everybody!

(I saw the film when it came out. It's good.)

[Lyra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I became aware of this book, unsurprisingly, through the adapted movie Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence directed by Nagisa Oshima. I enjoyed the movie tremendously and was curious about the source material that made the movie.

The book is elegantly written and incredibly moving. It digs deep into the minds of its characters and presents them as they evolve. The writing is intimate and profound not only for how it reveals the genuine nature of the characters, but also in a way that is closely tied to the author's personal experiences and contemplation.

The book examines war in the scope of individuals. Even though the narrative is carried forward by the unnamed narrator, Lawrence and Celliers, all from the side of the allies, it offers a sincere attempt at understanding the essence and the motivation of the Japanese officers in their own context. Only with such an understanding of your enemy the way you have for an individual, by 'mak[ing] the universal specific, the general particular, the collective individual, and what was unconscious in us conscious', could we begin to truly comprehend life.

Other themes such as redemption (well not in the sense of a villain's redemption), faith, the conflict between personal awareness and traditional values that society has imposed upon men and women, are equally worthwhile as the writing goes. Personally, it will be one of the books that I fully intend to revisit in the future.

Here is one of my favourite passages to conclude:

'We may not be able to stop and undo the hard old wrongs of the great world outside, but through you and me no evil shall come either in the unknown where you are going, or in this imperfect and haunted dimension of awareness through which I move. Thus between us, we shall cancel out all private and personal evil, thus arrest private and personal consequences to blind action and reaction, thus prevent specifically the general incomprehension and misunderstanding, hatred and revenge of our time from spreading further.'

[George Ilsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence! That was the title of the movie starring David Bowie; and in this case the movie is much better known and more highly regarded than the source material: The Seed and the Sower. One thing the book lacks is the haunting soundtrack from the movie.

Took me ages to get through this uneven book. Parts are brilliant, parts are mushy and incomprehensible. A section when he talks about male/female relations felt prehistoric— although maybe it was current in the 1940s.

All in all, these are linked stories, not a novel. The introduction to the first edition mentions that the first story, A Bar of Shadow, was “published separately some years ago.” It appears that the reception received by this story induced the publication of these three stories together, but as I said the result is uneven.

In this instance, it is best to stick to the movie.

[George Ilsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence! That was the title of the movie starring David Bowie; and in this case the movie is much better known and more highly regarded than the source material: The Seed and the Sower. One thing the book lacks is the haunting soundtrack from the movie.

Took me ages to get through this uneven book. Parts are brilliant, parts are mushy and incomprehensible. A section when the author talks about male/female relations felt prehistoric— although maybe it was current in the 1940s.

All in all, these are linked stories, not a novel. The introduction to the first edition mentions that the first story, A Bar of Shadow, was “published separately some years ago.” It appears that the reception received by this story induced the publication of these three stories together, but as I said the result is uneven.

In this instance, it is best to stick to the movie.

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently re-watched Nagisa Oshima's masterful Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence and realized through the Criterion extras that the film is based on the writings of South African author Laurens van der Post. Post is a fascinating character who had worked in Japan as a journalist and had some Japanese language knowledge so that when he was captured he could communicate with his captors better than most. He went onto become a celebrated traveler and writer. This explains why Oshima choose a story written by a Japanese captive who was somewhat sympathetic to the Japanese rather than a Japanese memoir or story. In addition I think Oshima saw elements of themes that he would pursue in his later film Taboo; how war brings men closer together with homoerotic undercurrents. There are three novellas in Post's collection, The Seed and the Sower (1963): A Bar of Shadow, The Seed and the Sower, and The Sword and the Doll. I was surprised by how closely the screenplay followed the events of the book, I had thought that Oshima had taken several liberties to make the sexuality ambiguous, but it was already there in the novellas told from the point of view of the narrator, John Lawrence, and Jack Celliers. I was also surprised by the almost mystical musings of the survivors of war and the lyrical prose:


"For it was not that how great things began in the tiny seed of the small change in the troubled individual heart? One single, lonely, inexperienced heart had to change first and all the rest would follow."

"If only we could all re-learn to speak out of our common suffering and need we would be surprised to find how close we are to another."

[Mollie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best book I've read in a long time. Van Der Post has something really important to tell us in these three beautifully written novellas. The stories are recalled by two men who had been through the war and prison camp together when they meet again at Christmas time. The episodes are set in a Japanese prison camp, in battle fields, and torture chambers--all places you would least likely expect to find love, compassion and brotherhood. I highly recommend this book. It's out of print so check the library or the internet for a used copy.


Favorite excerpt: "Had I not learnt lately that death is not something that happens at the end of our life? Is is imprisonment in one moment of time, confinement in one sharp uncompromising deed or aspect of ourselves. Death is exclusion from renewal of our present-day selves. Neither heaven nor hell are hereafter. Hell is time arrested within and refusing to join in the movement of wind and stars. Heaven is the boulder rock unrolled to let new life out. It is man restored to all four of his seasons rounding for eternity" (p. 135).

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great writing, the boys in Africa part was exceptional. Which is funny because it was the worst bit of the movie. Tom Conti wasn't really Mr Lawrence, but I can see why they went for David Bowie as Jacques Celliers.

"when the ground under the feet of Hara's war lords was cracking and reverberating from the shock of the explosions at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and when the legendary twilight of the submerged racial soul of Japan must have been dark and sagging under the weight of the wings of dragons coming home to roost, Hara never trembled nor wavered once."

"Finally he was brought up for trial on the charge of 'Wagamama' - Lawrence would recognize the charge as the worst crime of which a soldier could be guilty in Japanese eyes – 'the spirit of wilfulness.'"

"In the midst of that stillness I heard his skin squeak at the point of my knife and then snap like elastic. A look like the brush of a crow's wing passed over his face – and for a moment he reminded me of my own brother."

[Adrian Gaunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yeah yeah yeahhhh I know I know bit of a biased score since the film this book is based on is one of my favourite films but my god this is such a beautiful and tragic read 🚨boner alert🚨

[Franklin P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, so I loved the film based on this book, and having now read the book its safe to say the film edited brilliantly the book.
Its a good book, but meandering all over the place. Celliers segment in South Africa was far too long winded in particular the strange God story. The final book was totally aside from the rest of the story.

So in essence the Merry Christmas bit was brilliant and I really enjoyed Hara/Lawrence. The Yanoi vs Celliers section was as moving as I remember the film being.

I cant say I enjoyed this as much. But I DID enjoy it.

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A birthday present from my wonderful son. I love this copy with the silhouette of the fence and the watch tower. Thoroughly enjoyed re-reading it- such a lot I'd forgotten in the thirty years since I last read it! My wonderful son also bought me the DVD (with David Bowie as Jaques Celliers).

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In these three interconnected stories, two old friends meet for Christmas 5 years after the end of World War II and talk over wartime experiences including their time in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Conflicts between Eastern and Western culture and mores are shown in an intuitive, almost spiritual Jungian perspective with respect for both, despite descriptions of brutal actions which would seem to foreclose understanding. Read for online book group.

[Louise Webber-Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

The film did not do this book justice. I a hard read in places, but the underlying message of admiration, friendship, and respect under such adverse circumstances will stay with me.

[Vigga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stor respekt til hvem end der valgte at prioritere Yonois screentime i filmen fremfor lillebrorens💯 Bowie som Celliers og Sakamoto som Yonoi = GENIALT🎉

[Tom Bache · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has it’s ups and downs. Between the flowery and boring filler there are sections that are very captivating and raw. Ending is lame

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great, I loved the flowery and lengthy descriptions and most of the book was very captivating although the last section of the book (i e the last story) really fell flat for me and felt incredibly dated. The religious overtones became a bit annoying at times, also it isn't so much a novel than it is a collection of three distinct stories with some interlinking characters and themes. It was interesting to see how the filmakers of Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence managed to tie and cleverly merge these stories into a single work. I have to say that i found the movie, overall, to be superior to the book. Oshima took the best aspects of the book, elevated them, and left them with his own particular style and tone. The book and the movie are very different pieces, and both are perfectly enjoyable reads on their own. (just skip the last 60 pages of the book if you're pressed for time..)

[Jason Prodoehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are times in this book you will wonder what kind of strange tangent the story is taking. It's worth it. This author is so incredible in his descriptions, and he finds a way to describe complex emotions. It also makes me see beyond the moment and the action, to what is happening to the heart. Do note this book describes events during WW II. Even though the Japanese were the "enemy" of the Allied forces, I was surprised and pleased that the author describes those fighting against as human beings.

[Gianfranco Furboni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sono anni che volevo leggere questo libro, ho amato il film (Furyo/Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence) e devo dire che il libro, composto da tre storie indipendenti, mi ha consentito di approfondire aspetti solo accennati nell'opera di Oshima.
Magistrale la descrizione di Hara, così come il momento finale del secondo libro, quello del faccia a faccia tra Celliers e Yonoi.
Assolutamente consigliato a chiunque desideri approfondire il tema dello scontro tra culture.

[Aras · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://electric-pages.livejournal.com...

[Saski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m mixed on the book. First off, I am not especially enamored of a narrative where the author has the characters tell each other the story. It is too removed for me – I prefer a more direct tale. On the other hand, it is one of those rare books in which something completely horrific is told incredibly beautifully. I was reminded of Elie Wiesel’s Night. I thoroughly appreciated the author’s skill.

However, these comments only apply to the first two sections of the book. You see, the book is both a short novel and a collection of three short stories. The first two – A Bar of Shadow and The Seed and the Sower – are tightly connected. The third, though a continuation of the visit, is so very different in terms of style and content, and especially purpose that I almost didn’t finish it. He should have stuck to analyzing men. He doesn’t know women at all and his condescension infuriates me. For example:
It was for me a sign of how greatly women long, in their deepest being, to help men to bring up into the light of day what is uncertain, fearful and secret within them. So deep is this instinct that they tend to be less afraid of the unpleasant facts of human nature than we are, and to mistrust profoundly only that which shuns the light of truth within us. No matter how unpleasant our secret of how awful the consequences of self-revelation many be for them, all that is best in woman feels triumphant because of the act of trust that makes emergence of the secret possible. (171-72)

Argh!

Quotes that caught my eye

I seemed to move as appropriately to my environment as does a gilt-edged fish with its silky swish in an amber sea. (45)

But I was shackled not so much to my good looks as to what people, after seeing me, first imagined and then through their imaginations compelled me to be…. Yet I was not Narcissus-bound to any lilied reflection of my physical body. I never saw myself as good-looking. I have stared often enough in mirrors and shop windows but not with pride, only furtively, as if afraid of seeing also in the reflection what I felt myself to be. For, despite the plausible object evidence to the contrary, I have known always that I was also an ugly person. I knew that what others found to attractive was only an outer aspect of something greater to which both it and this other ugliness were equally and irrevocably joined. In some mysterious way I was conscious that there was never one but always a pai of us, always a set of Siamese twins sitting down nightly to sup at the round-table of myself, a pair of brothers designed to nourish and sustain, yet also inexplicably estranged and constantly denying each other…. Like the slow gleam behind the glassy surface of a particular pool which used to lie in our black bush-veld wood like a wedding ring in the palm of a Negro’s hand. (46-48)

I wish I could say why, but the discomforts of the spirit are beyond reason. Suffering is only a stroke of Time’s implacable Excalibur dividing meaning from meaninglessness. (48)

Finally, when the rough old greatcoat of the earth was turned inside out and its antique lining lying velvet in the sun,… (51)

Fever is Time grown strange wings, the mind feathered to range great distances between an anguished brittle moment in the present and one’s first drop into being. (113)

And yet now that He had come the occasion was so ordinary that I was not surprised that He was not recognized. How hard to learn that our own brief wonder is not worked in heaven but in the grains of sand at our feet; that miracle is not in the stars but in the fearful flesh and blood piled on the moon-bone beneath our own shrinking skin. The men now huddled about Him could not see the miracle for, in their fear, they were looking too far or too high.
…………..
It was therefore no surprise to me that instead of answering the invitation directly, he asked instead with some suddenness. ‘But why are you not all here?’
‘Indeed, we are all here,’ one of them replied.
He shook His head decisively, answering, ‘Judas is not here.’
The amazement on their faces was great partly, perhaps, because of the implication in tone that He wished Judas to be there; and also, perhaps, because He evidently did not seem to know fo Judas’s fate which was by now common knowledge throughout the land.
Then, in my fever, I saw one of them stand slowly to his feet and answer, ‘But surely … Master … you know Judas is dead. He hanged himself.’
Both by his action, words and tone I knew that at last revelation had come to that questioner.
At this the Resurrected One turned His back on the speakers and spoke out clearly yet with anguish. ‘This cannot be true. If I fail in this I fail in all else besides.’ He looked up. ‘Father this life which You have set beyond men needs Judas jus6t as it needs Me. His deed, too, is redeemed in the love which exacted it of him.’ (114-15)

The day came so swiftly that night could have been the mere showdown of a cloud passing across the sun. (115)

Had I not learnt lately that death is not something that happens at the end of our life? It is imprisonment in one moment of time, confinement in one sharp uncompromising deed or aspect or ourselves. Death is exclusion from renewal of our present-day selves. Neither heaven nor hell are hereafter. Hell is time arrested within and refusing to join in the movement of wind and stars. Heaven is a boulder rock unrolled to let new life out: it is man restored to all four of his seasons rounding for eternity. (118)

“Yonoi intervened!” Lawrence exclaimed incredulously. He half-whistled and then asked what seemed the most inconsequent of questions: “Celliers was very fair in colouring, wasn’t he?” (122)

He was a striking person we both agreed, perhaps the most handsome Japanese we had ever seen. He had an ascetic, almost a priestlike face, round head and an aquiline nose. His eyes were well spaced and though slanted in the manner of his race, were brilliantly compelling. He was also taller than most and straightly made. He is the tidiest Japanese officer I have ever known too, his uniform always well cut and spotless and his jackboots polished and shining. He carried himself with a conscious air of distinction which most of us put down to vanity….one understood nothing about Yonio and his people unless one had some intimation of the deep moon-honour always beckoning them in the great darkness that surrounded their overcrowded little lives. (123)

Lawrence would remember those sturdy native soldiers from the island of Ambon for we had had many of them in prison with us. They were the finest of all the soldiers in the old Netherlands East Indies Army, devout Christians, and born mercenaries in the best sense of the word. They and the Menadonese, so akin to them, were almost the only Colonial troops there who had seen action. (128)

… and each night as the darkness fell they sang their sombre Dutch hymns. (128)

… he went deeper into that dense silent jungle of the southern Sunda land guarded by giant and reeking volcanoes lazily blowing fumes like cigar smoke into the faces of the great white thunderclouds striding the high sky above them. (129)

… Celliers had explained to me that he had come to realize that life had no meaning unless one was obedient to one’s awareness of it. (130)

In dealing with peoples whose language one cannot speak one’s physical appearance can be all important. And the Japanese have a natural eye for beauty of all kinds. I can see clearly how a fellow of “Straffer’s” looks would have set their imaginations in motion. (133)

… I noticed something about this storm that before I had never fully realized: the strange harmony at the heart of it. At all sorts of moments, sometimes in the lowest trough of the wind when the voice of the storm was little more than a sigh, or again on some great Everest crest when the individual sounds were torn alive and screaming from the immense trees thrashing in our tender, elegiac English earth, all the many and various noises would suddenly blend and a moment or two of pure music would float over the heaving waters of darkness and chaos. Sometimes the music had a twang-like accompaniment as if plucked from a great harp; sometimes it was like a rounded blast of Rolands’s horn summoning the spirit of Man to turn about and stand; at others it was a scamper up and down the scales. But in its most gentle moments the sounds resembled the opening notes of a theme on the Shaku-hachi flute of Hara’s own people, which sings not only the song willed upon it by the player but also out of its nature of the fountain of green which once surged up through its native shoots of bamboo. (167-68)

The laughter and defiance had gone from the red faces of the gin and beer-swilling men like the text of the previous day’s lesson which had been wiped off the school blackboard by some caretaker in the night to make room for the lesson to come. (180-81)

In a state of heightened perception brought about in him by that immense world-drama so swiftly sweeping to its climax, the jungle appeared like a tiger crouched patient, watchful and at ease in the night, ready to spring on the village the moment the back of man was turned. (187)

[Frank Balamatsias · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just a classic Van Der Post book. Didn't know what to expect when I first picked it up as the title itself could mean any of two things. Either the sower planted the seeds with good intentions and outcomes or conversely not enough care was taken when when the seed was planted resulting in a bad outcome. Well the three stories sown in this book have made for a great read.
The three wonderful stories, all true accounts, of being locked up as a prisoner of war during the Japanese occupation of south east Asia, the tale of two brothers from South Africa and the intertwined fate that they both shared, and the valour of both men and women and the roles they have had to assume and play in humanity's common struggle to overthrow the evils of this world have all been wonderfully blended into one another.
I was in particular fascinated by his accounts of the Japanese character during his time as a POW as he goes onto some length in describing it. From cultural upbringings right through to its manifested form as an adult. Trained and disciplined to take orders where honour and servitude precede any individual goals, thoughts or self development. Also the cultural differences he draws between the West and Japanese cultures as having very little in common and the use of symbols he makes between these two cultures in drawing his conclusions all makes for a fascinating read.
What's more his description of the sword and doll and what they have meant is probably the best bit of romance and respect I have read between the sexes and the roles they have had to play. It was good to reminded of this and how really we shouldn't forget how important its been to us. He gives it I find its true meaning. The account of a British soldier in Java the night before the Japanese invasion and the Dutch beauty he meets is a story of love I have seldom accounted in any book. What true romance.

[Lucinda Elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

There have been strong posthumous attacks on van der Post's character.
How far they are true, seems to be a matter of debate still.
A lot of the criticisms seem to be trivial, but it does seem that at the least, he allowed himself to be drawn into a sexual relationship with a very young girl entrusted to his care.
That can't be excused, but I don't believe in 'cancelling' an artist or writer's work because of contentious, inadmirable or downright bad conduct in his or her real life. Everyone would deserve 'cancelling', frankly. Too much culture would be lost. We will all seem disgusting to future generations for various reasons (meat eating, car use adding to global warming).
Therefore, I tried to set the aside this when re-reading this favourite novel of mine,and concentrate on the writing.
'I had a brother once, and I betrayed him...'
Strong writing and the gripping stories of a series of cruelties, misunderstandngs, betrayals, sacrifice and synchronicities centred about a Japanese prisioner of war camp in the Java of World War Two, which were later made into the outstanding film, 'Merry Christmas, Mr Laurence.'
The intertwined stories of the golden and successful Jacques Celliers and his brother (never named throughout: he is the universal brother) - who seems in some form to represent Jung's Shadow to most of those who victimise him - are brilliantly and movingly recounted.
I found the descriptions of South Africa's terrain, wildlife and climate particularly absorbing.I have never been there, but I felt I could see it.
I have to say that while I was disappointed with the lack of a strong female character in the first two stories, I didn't really feel that third story, which presumably is meant to redress the balance, is successful. The writing doesn't seem to be as strong and inspired in this.
Nevertheless, an outstanding achievement.

[Shane Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saw the film when it was in cinemas in the 80s. Purely because it starred Bowie, Sakamoto and the music was by David Sylvian and Riuichi Sakamoto. All cultural and creative icons of that period, still are today to a greater or lesser degree I reckon, and I was a fan of all of 'em!

It was a movie that 'had to be seen' at the time and much pretentious pontificating on its merits took place in the boozer afterwards. Looking back (the score apart and the scene at the end where Lawrence goes to see Hara the night before his execution) it was actually piss poor!

Bowie's mime scene was embarrassing and made me cringe at the time and Sakamoto's pouting (not mention the amount of slap on his kite) was just ridiculous; though i'd never have admitted it back in those days!

However, I always fancied having a crack at the novel. And that I did; 30 odd years later :).

If i'd have read this book back in the 80s at the time of the film, I'd have pretentiously dubbed it great literature without really understanding it, after it taking me AGES to get through it, if indeed finishing it at all.

With the benefit of greater age and reading experience it was a whole different kettle of monkeys! I really liked it and found it poignant and extremely sad (so much so that I had a little blub to meself in the garden when I finished it on Sunday). The middle book was a little 'wordy' but I think allowances can be made for this because of the fact that the majority of it is narrated, largely, by a character other than Lawrence; Jack Celliers.

So there ya have it. A right cracking read!

[Rod Humphris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may sound a bit mad, but when I read this, it took me back to school. In a bad way. The terribleness of being in the in the power of others. The compression and inescapableness. The way your intrinsic nature comes out. Even how they won't look at you before they hurt you.

What was wonderful for me about this book is that it's such a clear telling of how captivity and unequal power play out in people. That I recognised so much of it, which was all about the adult world; a prisoner of war camp; was affirming of my own experience and my own understanding of the experience.

I know the author was a liar and a charlatan, by any reasonable standards, but I don't care. He was also very insightful and has written a lot of things about life that few others have said so clearly. This is one of them.

[Mary Rude · Rating 3 out of 5]

After watching the disturbing film "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence," I was curious to see what the book that film was based on was actually like. It was so dramatically different, both in tone and message, and I really don't feel like the film did the book justice. The book goes deep into the history of the Celliers character, and it was interesting to read about his life in South Africa and the spiritual journal he goes through during the war, with an ultimate message about how the seeds we sow in life can affect others, who in turn go on to sow their own seeds across the world. Some parts of the book were quite beautiful, but I did feel it got a little bogged down in flowery language, and sometimes I struggled to understand the relevance of what was being described. But still, an interesting novel with a very unusual perspective on the men who fought war in the Pacific.

[Shrek · Rating 3 out of 5]

i feel like i am too young to fully appreciate this. also, i feel like i would've enjoyed this a whole lot more if i actually had a physical book instead of the ebook. still, the story of major celliers' was beautiful (altho i got really bored during his memoir bit), as was the last chapter about the sword and the doll. "without the sword the doll would have no life; without the doll the sword would have lost its meaning" is definitely my favorite quote from the book. i'd never reread this book but i will rewatch the movie cuz the movie is just spectacular, they did a realllyyyyyyy good job converting the story to a different medium. also i love david bowie. but anyway yeah. great stories, but the writing was above me and dragged on and on

[Daniel Gargallo]

A gorgeous book that cuts through the identity of the Second World War to bring us together with humanity. This book shatters the taboos of the topic and setting and—with first hand experience—delivers us truth. It is a work written with remarkable dignity and elegance, for however it may expose us as creatures, it accords upon us a touching respect. Humans have the potential to be unspeakably cruel, but they shall always remain human. No convention or ideology shall deprive us of this and life itself shall blossom our reconciliation. Merry Christmas.

[Darren Betts · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best part of this triptych of stories is the novella at its heart. A profound meditation on guilt and shame and the harbouring of things that don’t need to be harboured. Let it go. Make amends. Be free. Gorgeous writing, sometimes over written and a bit chewy, but some beautiful imagery and the sequence where Celliers visits his brother and makes amends as the rain comes to save the land is exquisite. A gorgeous and underrated book, now, I suppose rather old fashioned, but none the worse for that.

[Chuck Chaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I thought this novel unnecessarily prolix, but that was just the cynic in me. For upon reaching the final chapters I was astounded by the beauty of the prose; evident in Van der Post's love for the towering jungles and mountains, the people that stand even taller than the geography, and the bruised god-scarred sky.
A precise yet ponderous journey into the soldiers' mindset amidst the narrative of the Japanese invasion of Indonesia. Both a bolster and an auger for any reader's phlegmatism in the face of brutality.

[Sue Maycock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book a deeply profound and thought provoking read. I will not go into writing a lengthy review as others that have given this book a 5 star rating have already done it so much more eloquently than I ever could. This book with all of the pathos of life's journeyings will stay with me for a long while. I have no desire to see the film that others refer to as I think it would spoil my internal images.

[Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started this book last winter break and finally came home again to finish it. Every part of the book abt Lawrence & Celliers & Yonoi & Hara are superbly moving, esp the last section about Yonoi’s request to Lawrence.

To me the movie is. Superb in the same manner, if not more so than the book bc it cuts out much of the condescension against women & also Japanese / Asian ppl — and I think by that virtue renders Lawrence a much more sympathetic character.