King Rat by James Clavell Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of King Rat
Book Review: Fantastic!
Summary: 5 Stars
Great book! Compared to Clavell's other works, this is a short book, although most of his works read very well. Also, "King Rat" has a great ending that really sums up the meaning of the entire book, as opposed to "Shogun," which was a great book, but didn't really leave the reader with one lasting "lesson."Book Review: Functionalism over form
Summary: 4 Stars
King Rat serves up a tale of advantage and envy in a less than desirable enviroment, the Changi prison. Changi prison becomes a microcosm of human nature and how base it can really sink when all the comforts and luxuries that so many take for granted are stripped away. A vicious Darwinism takes over as those who can survive and those who can't barely exist or worse. Is the Rat wrong to make himself (& his cohorts to a lesser extent) as comfortable as possible during his stay in Changi? That is the question the reader has to ask themselves after reading this novel. Some of the King Rat characters are referenced further in Clavell's chronicle of the Straun family & Asian business intrigue, "Noble House".Book Review: Great Book
Summary: 5 Stars
For those of you who might think that a Clavell novel might be a little too long for you, this book is great, and the shortest of the six books in the Asian Saga. Plus it stands out in its own right as a book that will leave an impression on you. Emotionally, and as a result of reading a good bookBook Review: Great adventure
Summary: 4 Stars
An American corporal manages to swindle and manipulate his way to being the "King" of a Japanese POW camp. The one thing that sets this aside from Clavell's three other novels that I have read, aside from being semi autobiographical is the protagonist. The King has a rascal like charm to him that makes the character highly readable and fun. He is the underdog. Plotting and conniving to make a buck and sticking it to his superiors and relishing it. A man in the right place at the right time. He befriends a British Lieutenant by the name of Marlowe (A nice little nod to Joseph Conrad) whose honor and integrity is arguably the the conflict in the book. Finally, on the opposite end of the spectrum, you have the dutiful yet pitful antagonist Lieutenant Grey. Who, while morally and lawfully in the right, alienates himself by taking himself too seriously. These three make for some great tension and are the main drive of the story.I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was not an epic, despite this being his most personal story. However, Clavell fans will not be disappointed. The protagonist thinks two steps ahead of everyone else (I would hate to play chess with the author) and I would not be surprised if King's shrewdness was a precursor to Toranaga in Shogun. Any less qualified author would have made this story into glorified genre pulp. For those struggling for a visual reference, think Bridge on the River Kwai and Pappilon. A great read and highly recommended.
Book Review: Join the Rat Race
Summary: 4 Stars
Writing about a POW camp during WWII, where British, American and Australian soldiers were kept for several years by the Japanese - in the infamous Changi prison near Singapore - is a daunting topic. After all, it is rather depressing and there is not that much of a plot. Clavell does very well at describing the inhuman situtation and how some - the king Rat - of the title do better than others in this kind of circumstances. The prison world dehumanizes most of them, Peter Marlowe, is one the exceptions holding on to his upper class principles as much as can be expected under these circumstance. There is a lot about the relationship of the different classes in Englands and the lack of that in the USA. There is sort of a happy ending when most of the principal characters hang on their lives until their liberated with the end of the war. At the same time this looks like the downfall of the admired King Rat of the title, who when stripped of his power, has no friend left and dows nt seem to look forward to going back to freedom after the powerful postion he had enjoyed in the camp.
It is powerful book and especially the ending makes it a book hard to forget. It does not have the wide range of other Clavell novels but it makes up for this by creating the claustrophobic world that was Changi. Quite recommendable.