Wonks

by William Reese Hamilton

World War II, The Philippines. Johnny Oldfield tells what it's like to grow up in a Japanese prison camp, his pivotal teenage years filled with danger and defeat, adventure and intrigue, cruelty and betrayal, starvation and death, survival and liberation.Johnny calls himself a WONK (from the Chinese "won gau," yellow dog) a mongrel running with a pack of rebellious kids and viewing his society from the ground up. Separated from his father by the Japanese invasion, he gets his life lessons from a diverse cast of characters: his mother Ruth, a nurse with a strong and independent spirit; Harry Barnes, a storyteller who arrives from China carrying the urn of a friend's ashes; Southy Jack, an ex-pro boxer who trains boys in the manly art; Polecat, a mestizo pal with an all-consuming hatred for the Japanese; the Colonel, a wise old plantation owner who gives advice on survival; Haverford, a disgruntled alcoholic from Manila's high society; and Abiko, the feared officer of the Japanese camp guard.This dramatic tale is played out in the heart of Manila, a city once called "the Pearl of the Orient," now being destroyed by massive bombing, strafing, artillery barrages and mortar attacks.

268 pages, Paperback

Published January 12, 2019

Reviews

[Curlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/vie...

I finally got my review published.
Feel free to leave feedback and constructive criticism about my writing on the link above.
It's one of the books I enjoyed reading this year due to its funny scenes and heartbreaking moments.
It is set in my country during World War II as told in the eyes of young John Oldfield, one of the American prisoners of war.

[BookTrib.com]

Robert Frost, who often used a farmer’s plain-spoken philosophy, had a neighbor say “Good fences make good neighbors.” But like Frost, I’m not so sure. For over three years of my youth, I lived behind the tall masonry wall of Japanese Internment Camp Number One at Santo Tomas University in Manila, the Philippines, and every prisoner lived with the knowledge that that wall was the line you did not cross.

My father had been working for Citibank in China and was reassigned to Manila when Japanese troops advanced in China. We had lived there just nine months, when the Japanese invaded the Philippines and imprisoned all non-Asians in internment camps. The camp was in the heart of the capital city, a city known as the “Pearl of the Orient.” We remained incarcerated there for over three years. This experience inspired my novel, Wonks.

For adults, the primary challenge was to organize 4,000 inmates into a society that could function, providing food and shelter. For children, chaos provided adventure. But that adventure was coupled with severe consequences. Three young merchant marines decided to test the uncrossable line one night, went over the wall, were captured before they could get out of Manila, and were executed.

Hate was my constant surrounding as a child, and depression became a common malady within the camp walls. With the defeat of U.S. forces in Bataan and Corregidor, inmates knew they were in for the long haul. For the first year and a half, everyone was quartered in crowded classrooms, 40 to 50 per room, 600 on the gymnasium floor. Men and women were segregated. No one was starving yet, but everyone looked to be on a diet.

The rest of our article written by the author: https://booktrib.com/2019/06/what-it-...

[Scott Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really memorable book. Most impactful was the wonderful detail in these characters and the many rich images and stories about their lives in a crisis. Not just another war story, the author brings to life the realities of life as a prisoner of war through the wise eyes of a young boy as he comes of age in the most extreme of circumstances.
I highly recommend this book for anyone fascinated by how WWII stories continue to tell us more about the human condition - but are looking for real detail and understanding from the characters in the stories . In addition, this audible recording really benefits from the wonderfully sensitive reading by the author Bill Hamilton.
Fair warning: Johnny Oldfield, Polecat and Harry Barnes and their exploits will stay with you long after the end of the book.

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonks je sasvim solidna knjižica o malom Džoniju koji se zatekao kao ratni zatvorenik u Manili.

Ako volite filmove poput Empire of the Sun, ovo bi bilo baš po vašem ukusu. Knjiga je napisana više kao neki memoar, jer svako poglavlje opisuje drugi događaj. Ono što mi se posebno dopalo kod ove knjige je što nije previše sentimentalna i nema holivudski tok radnje. Ok štivo da se malo preseče regularni program.

Moju dužu recenziju na engleskom možete naći ovde: https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/vie...

[Joseph Spinale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written first hand account of life in a Japanese interment camp