Burma Boy (Ulverscroft Large Print) [Import] [Hardcover]

Biyi Bandele (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd; Large Print Ed edition (February 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847820948
• ISBN-13: 978-1847820945
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A novel that honors the soldiers in the WWII Burma campaign as well as any history, July 11, 2009

By 

Donald M. Bishop (Virginia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Burma Boy (Hardcover)

This coming-of-age novel of a Nigerian soldier, humorously named Ali Banana, in the Burma campaign during World War II is simply marvelous ... enchanting ... charming ... and unforgettable. It's comic and tragic. The merry verve of Nigerian English infuses the dialogs. So does the banter of Hausas, Yorubas, Ibos, and Tivs thrown together in the same unit -- and the reactions of their sometimes perplexed British officers and NCOs.

As the Nigerians deploy into Burma, the lighthearted scenes turn horrific as they fight off Japanese suicide formations attempting to dislodge them from White City. And there are ... the leeches.

The gifted Nigerian playwright Biyi Bandele took the war stories he heard from his father and added what he learned from background research on the troops from Britain's African colonies fighting the Japanese in Burma, the 1944 campaign of the Chindits, and the legendary commander of the Chindits, Major General Orde Wingate.

"Burma Boy" (the American edition is titled "The King's Rifle") is fiction. Yet this lively novel commemorates the campaign and honors its ordinary soldiers as well as any history.

The personal account of the Burma campaign written by George MacDonald Frazier, "Quartered Safe Out Here," is one of the best memoirs written by a private soldier from any nation during the entire war -- take John Keegan's word for it. "Burma Boy" well merits a place on the bookshelf next to it.

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