Клавел наистина има добри попадения изледвайки живота в един лагер на военнопленници по време на втората световна война. Жаждата за живот и омразата към високопоставените изяжда душите на всички. Благодарение на приспособилият се към живота в лагера Цар и сечащият му като бръснач ум преживяват и всички останали. Но те са твърде заслепени от завистта си, за да оценят факта, че дължат преживяването си на Царя. С черна търговия и хитрост той винаги съумява да е на ръба между охолният си живот в лагера и ужасният пагубен затвор Утър Роуд.Мръсни сделки и нечестиви души вършеят и оцеляват благодарение на забравените добродетели и животинските си инстинкти. Животът в лагера Чанги погубва всеки срам и приличие у човека. Разболява здравият разум, но не и състраданието дори към врага. ----------------Ако не сте чели книгата, но възнамерявате, не продължавайте с коментарите ми по-долу--------- Изключително много ми хареса края, сравнението на Царя с плъха Адам и изключително краткото, но точно и ясно сравнение на съдбата на плъховете с живота в лагера, а и не само-но и с живота такъв какъвто го познаваме всички ние. Отрезвяващо!Има четива, в които просто се загубваш, ти си в тях, героите стоят до теб и ти сякаш си част от всичко наоколо. Аз се загубих в това четиво, искрено исках да прегърна Питър когато разбра за ръката си, когато полудя пред приятелите си и когато се влачеше полумъртъв към оградата за парите.Искрено исках да прегърна Царя в края на четивото. А от самото начало до края исках да избия комплексите на Грей с някой як шамар... Изпитах истински жал когато онзи млад мъж трябваше да се раздели с кучето. Ужасно отвращение към огощението на Царя за рожденият му ден.Шон, моя загубена душа- не трябваше да се погубваш по този начин! И все пак Питър остава моят любимец в това произведение! Такъв трябва да бъде истинският приятел; точен, верен, предан, искрен!
This could almost be billed as the serious, Asian version of the movie 'The Great Escape', and so I was not entirely surprised to discover that James Clavell wrote the screenplay for that film, and the book has a cinematic quality to it. POWs in barracks and digging trenches or tunnels are a feature of both. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the film or book 'Empire of the Sun', the TV series 'Tenko' or even the film 'Bridge Over the River Kwai'. This is full of incident, great characters, a surprising amount of understanding and tolerance for all points of view and an understandable amount of horror.I had always dismissed James Clavell's books as too popular, too thick and not worth taking the time to read. Anyone alive in the 1980s seemed to have 'Shogun' and 'Tai-pan' on their bookshelves and there are a suspiciously large number of them floating around secondhand bookshops and being passed on through BookCrossing and bookswap shelves. 'King Rat' was donated to my expat club's bookswap and I was going to pass it on without reading, but then I noticed it was set in a POW camp in Singapore and was intrigued as I enjoy books set in different countries and times and it was only 320 pages long, so not one of his usual doorstops. I am really glad I read this and am now considering reading another of his books. In fact, apparently two of the main characters here, Marlowe (the main character) and Grey (the troublesome military policeman), feature in a later novel, 'Noble House'. If the story is as well told as 'King Rat', it will be worth reading.As the author was interred in Changi Camp himself, we can assume a high level of historical accuracy; though the story does not claim to be a true account of one man's experience, it has the ring of truth about it. There must have been men there who behaved just like those in the story and the incidents Clavell describes probably took place too. I couldn't help but be reminded of J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun, based on his own experiences in a Japanese POW camp in China. The descriptions of the King's set-up in 'King Rat' with his bed next to the window and an overhanging canopy and his lackeys carrying out his every command could have come straight from the film version of 'Empire of the Sun', with the boy Jim running errands for a character similar to King, Basie.EDITED TO ADD:Here is a blog with stills from the film - http://pyxurz.blogspot.nl/2011/08/kin.... I'm pretty sure I've never watched it, something I will have to remedy.It also occurred to me that there was something in the book which puzzled me; there was no mention of what happened to the Japanese and Korean guards once the war had ended. Apart from that, the end of the book gave a good impression of the utter disbelief about the concept of a single bomb which could destroy a city and the confusion and fear for the future as a war comes to an end. 'King Rat' does an excellent job at painting an accurate picture of the conflicting feelings and moral dilemmas of war and captivity.
What do You think about King Rat (2009)?
A brutally realistic account of soldier's survival in a Japanese WWII prison camp.Clavell doing what he does best; making history come to life with very interesting and entertaining fiction.Back for more...i just found out that King Rat is in part autobiographical. Clavell was apparently a POW himself. That explains are great deal. i was very much awed that a fictional book could be so incredibly detailed and convey the day to day struggle of the characters so well. JC was writing from experience. Incredible!
—Paul
Whenever a guy who doesn't read tries to date me I tell them I don't date non-readers, so they say "ok, I'll read, recommend me something". And I always recommend them this. I actually got two guys to read using this book.
—Lawrence FitzGerald
I first read "King Rat" as a young teen as part of Clavell reading binge that followed the initial broadcast of his mini-series, Shogun. Living in Singapore and touring WWII historical sites here reminded me of Clavell's semi-autobiographical novel of the dehumanization of POW's in Changi Prison during the war. I recommended this novel to my teen son and then re-read it myself. King Rat still details the psychological abuse and breakdown of ordinary men in sub-human conditions better than any ot
—Mary
