King Rat by James Clavell Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of King Rat
Book Review: Most Interesting Ending
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an excellent book, and of the Clavell books I have read (all except Gai-Jin), this has the most interesting, if not the best, ending. It seemed to me that Clavell got slightly redundant with the "natural disaster" ending, but he managed to avoid it in this book. I found that the way the story and the character's individual stories were resolved (or rather unresolved) fit perfectly with the insanity that would be occurring in a WWII prison camp. Oh yeah, the rest of the book is pretty cool, tooBook Review: Much more action oriented than other Clavell work.
Summary: 4 Stars
Great! Reminded me of The great escape only without the escape. Very moving.Book Review: My first Clavell read
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all this is the first book I have read by James Clavell and I really enjoyed it. Some of my first thoughts were that the prison was not quite as horrible as I expected, but that is where Clavell did a good job allowing us to see the prison through the eyes of the prisoners. This was a really drmactic page turner for the specific reasons that there are so many levels of plot development and happenings.
The two main characters are a British air officer named Marlowe and an American named the King. This book is of course about the psyche and human nature of survival in the face of insurmountable odds. When you read through the book you will think King is not so bad and doing what it takes to survive. By the end you will see the results of his behaviors, actions, and results. The last few pages are poetic and intense. I have read a lot of novels, and this one in my opinion is up there with the classics. Also King Rat could be read by people with all kinds of varying interests and enjoy it!
Book Review: NOT AS COMPELLING AS IT SHOULD BE
Summary: 3 Stars
This is my first James Clavell novel. In a nutshell, it is a Japanese version of Stalag 17. It is the story of American, British, and Australian POW's at Changi prison camp. A place where the real world is turned completely upside down. In addition to being prisoners, the POW's find their ranks are meaningless. Devoid of societal/military rules "the strong" survive. #1 is "the King," an American corporal who runs the prison camp from the inside. The King effectively manipulates everyone in the camp from Colonels on down, through his payroll system. If you want money, eggs, cigarettes, medicine, you have to see the King. If you want to sell something, everyone knows you go through the King.
Suspense is derived from the near misses of getting caught by the Japanese or the pip-squeak MP, Captain Grey. Grey's sole motivation is catching the King "breaking the rules." Much of the action is seen through the eyes of Peter Marlowe, an affable English lieutenant to whom the King takes a liking due to his command of the local language and it's value to the King in trading and conversing with the guards.
The King teeters on the edge of good and evil throughout the book, never completely falling off the fence to either side. Under the circumstances, the reader tends to forgive the King's "business" dealings over this lack of compassion for the suffering around him. But when the suffering befalls Marlowe, the King reacts as a true friend and saves Marlowe's arm from amputation.
The finale is somewhat ambiguous and anticlimactic. The man who was once on top, the King, is reduced to a lowly corporal again and the many officers and outranking enlisted men are quick to see the King put back into his place when they are rescued and order is restored.
The books is adequate at best as there are no major conflicts or plot twists. But it is one of the few books telling the story of a Japanese POW camp.
Book Review: Not For the Faint at Heart
Summary: 4 Stars
Warning: this is a disturbing book. It is gripping and enthralling, but horrifying. It shows men being tested to the utmost, and the many bad qualities this brings out. But it also shows true friendship and cooperation against adversity.
Clavell truly brings to life a POW camp of Englishmen and Americans (captives of the Japanese) and the horrors they were subject to. Men help each other survive, but also betray each other, and are jealous of each other's success. The King, an American soldier, is especially envied because he is extremely skilled at trading and making deals. He and the Englishman Peter Marlowe are the main characters, but there are also stories of other men and how they survive.
The ending is perhaps the most frightening part of the whole book. The prisoners are freed at the end of WWII, and as they leave the camp, they must learn to be part of the world again, and not the world they created. I won't spoil anything more. For anyone who can handle its intensity, "King Rat" is an eye-opening read.