The Railway Man

By Eric Lomax,

Book cover of The Railway Man: A POW's Searing Account of War, Brutality and Forgiveness

Book description

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING COLIN FIRTH, NICOLE KIDMAN AND JEREMY IRVINE

During the second world war Eric Lomax was forced to work on the notorious Burma-Siam Railway and was tortured by the Japanese for making a crude radio.

Left emotionally scarred and unable to form normal relationships Lomax…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Railway Man as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is a story about brutality, justice, and mercy, set amongst the aftermath of Lomax’s experiences as a POW in WWII. With a steady gaze he faces the depths of human barbarity and reckons with his own emotional responses.

Lomax confronts his previous captor wanting retribution, but instead makes an astonishing decision that changes the course of hatred for both him and his perpetrator. I also grappled with the shadows of dark acts committed against my family - even all these years later. 

From Georgina's list on truth-seeking post WWII.

This book inspired a movie by the same name. This is an autobiographical book by Eric Lomax, a British Army officer who was sent to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in 1942, where he was tormented and tortured nearly to the point of death. Decades after the war is over, he is made contact to the Japanese interrogator who harshly mistreated him. The both of them would eventually meet in Thailand near the area where he was a prisoner. Eric finds the man is deeply remorseful for the crimes he committed and asks for forgiveness. Railway Man has a touching ending…

From James' list on surviving impossible odds.

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