Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
I guess I was on a Richard Flanagan kick this summer. This one blew me away. Really. Dorrigo Evans, born a poor Tasmanian, reflects on his life. The World War II years in the forests of Japan, where his platoon is captured and enslaved to build a railroad to nowhere. Dorrigo and his compatriots suffer through sickness, delusions, and in some cases literally dropping dead right where they sit. Yet he survives to return to the woman he loves but can’t have.
Told from the end of his life, decades after he’s made himself a well-known, wealthy man, Dorrigo has survived the worst life has to throw at him. It’s a story of loss and missed chances, but ultimately a life well lived.