Railway Man: A POW's Searing Account of War, Brutality and Forgiveness [Paperback]

Eric Lomax (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1980

Here is a remarkable true story of forgiveness--a tremendous testament to the courage that propels one toward remembrance, and finally, peace with the past. A classic war autobiography, The Railway Man is a powerful tale of survival and of the human capacity to understand even those who have done us unthinkable harm.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Eric Lomax, a British army soldier, was captured by the Japanese during the Singapore campaign of 1942. A railroad buff since a child, he took strange pleasure in his work as a POW on the Burma-Siam Railroad, which was later the subject of the film Bridge Over the River Kwai. When his captors discovered his detailed drawings of the railway, he was suspected as a spy and tortured for years. Fifty years later he discovered that the interpreter during his tortures was still alive. The two arranged a meeting and Lomax forgave him. Here is the exciting, moving and truthful account. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Lomax, a British Army signals officer, was captured by the victorious Japanese during the Singapore campaign in 1942. Fascinated by railroads ever since his childhood in Edinburgh, he took what pleasure he could in the irony of his slave-labor assignment as a POW: the construction of the Burma-Siam Railroad, made famous later in the David Lean film Bridge over the River Kwai. When guards discovered his lovingly detailed map of the right-of-way, Lomax was turned over to the Japanese secret police as a suspected spy. In the subsequent torture sessions, the interpreter, a young man named Nagase Takeshi, played a prominent role in the effort to break him down. Half a century later, by what he calls "an incredible and precious coincidence," Lomax learned that Takeshi was still living. A meeting of reconciliation at the Kwai River, which Lomax at first suspected was a fraudulent publicity stunt, was arranged. His graceful and restrained account of how the two men eventually became "blood-brothers" after Lomax granted Takeshi full forgiveness is deeply moving.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (December 1, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393334988
• ISBN-13: 978-0393334982
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #128,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #83 in Books > History > Military > United States > Veterans

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The human side of war, October 17, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Railway Man: A Pow's Searing Account of War, Brutality and Forgiveness (Hardcover)

In this work of Eric Lomax, one finds direct contrasts between brutality and meekness, revenge and forgiveness. The author was a signals officer in the Pacific Theater of the war and was captured after the fall of Singapore. He was then sent to the POW camps involved in the construction of the then Siam- Burma railway (Remember the "Bridge Over the River Kwai"?). There he had first-hand experience of the Japanese's brutal treatment of POWs, himself included. He never forgot the face of the Japanese interpreter accompanying the soldier who beat him to a pulp. He narrates how he had to cope psychologically with normal life after the war, how his wartime experiences kept on haunting him. Coincidentally, he chances upon some information regarding a Japanese trying to make reparations for his wartime brutalities, and indeed confirms that this was his former tormentor. After a lot of soul-searching, he finally meets the Japanese in a war memorial beside the Kwai River bridge, and the process of reconciliation and healing begins. A very touching story of man's capacity to perhaps not to forget, but yes, to forgive.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Special Book, April 28, 2003

By 

Stephan H. Small (Fairfield, IA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Railway Man: A Pow's Searing Account of War, Brutality and Forgiveness (Hardcover)

This is a book that will move you. Eric Lomax is a man of depth, intelligence and keen perception. His writing is vivid, his story one that you can't put down. I strongly urge anyone interested in what the POW experience is like, and anyone interested in a powerful story, to buy and read this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply moving, October 12, 2006

By 

T. J. Martin "TJ Martin" (Saugus, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Railway Man: A Pow's Searing Account of War, Brutality and Forgiveness (Hardcover)

I read this book when it was first published about ten years ago and the moving experience has remained with me since I finished the final sentence. It is an incredibly vivid book that you will not be able to put down.
What Eric Lomax went through as a POW, and his eventual reconciliation with one of his torturers 50 years later displays a depth of humanity that is deeply moving.