Customer Reviews

South by Java Head

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't think it was one of his best books. The tale seemed to drag on for me. Yes, it had MacLeans normal twist and turns but I don't think the story was as strong or as interesting as it has been in many of his other books. I feel each time he started a new chapter it lost its flow entirely, and it took several pages to get reinterested in the story. I think most all of his books start off real slow, but once you're in, you are hooked. Not so with this one. He is an entertaining author so that's why the 3 stars, and because he has written worse. I still recommend "Puppet on a Chain", "Where Eagles Dare" or "Satan Bug" among others.

I always loved Alistair MacLean novels. For adventure, I found him to be one of the most consistent and satisfying authors out there. This is one of his best. It has twists and turns, as always, but is also a bit more harrowing than some of his other novels. All of which sets everything up nicely for a great denouement.

Alistair MacLean's 1958 "South By Java Head" is evidence both of his tremendous talent as a story teller and that he was still learning the writing trade with this early novel.

"South By Java Head" is set in the fall of the British stronghold of Singapore to the Japanese Army in February 1942. A mixed collection of soldiers, nurses, fleeing civilians, a small boy, and at least one spy attempt to escape the burning city aboard the Kerry Dancer, a battered freighter manned by a disreputable captain and crew. When the Kerry Dancer is crippled by Japanese war planes, the refugees are rescued by the Viroma, a tanker also fleeing the Japanese. Thus begins a terrible ordeal, as the Viroma itself is sunk by the Japanese and the survivors take to open boats. Led by stalwart First Officer Nicholson, they will attempt to flee to safety across the South China Sea, relentlessly pursued by the Japanese and equally at risk from traitors in their midst.

"South By Java Head" has touches of real brillance. The description of the fall of Singapore is as moving as anything MacLean would write after "HMS Ulysses", and the twisting plot presages what would become the standard of MacLean's adventure stories. Although Johnny Nicholson doesn't even make an appearance until the second act of the story, he is clearly the hero; the rest is told from his point of view. He is a perfectly adequate Maclean hero, honorable, humane, but tough and enduring in a crisis; he is ably assisted by a strong, silent side kick who seems to rise to every occasion.

Unfortunately, MacLean tries to pack too much adventure into the storyline. The core characters roll from one life-threatening crisis to the next; their continuing survival becomes less and less credible. MacLean gives himself rather too many characters to manage. Several get promising introductions, only to be killed off as plot devices. The secret that gives rise to several betrayals hardly seems worth the trouble it costs both the pursuers and the traitors. Nicholson is given a promising love interest, but the romance doesn't get a lot of development. The Japanese, fair or not, are flatly portrayed as savage monsters.

"South By Java Head" is highly recommended to Alistair MacLean fans. The casual reader will likely find it to be an entertaining adventure story.

After success with the more conventional wartime thriller 'The Guns of Navarone', Maclean's third book feels like a return to the "epic" scope of 'HMS Ulysees'. We follow a large and disparate variety of characters (wounded men, soldiers, nurses, pirates, and the crew of an oil tanker) as they attempt to flee the fall of Singapore. Through circumstances all these people come together, and are forced to brave Japanese attacks and the harsh environment in a seemingly hopeless quest to reach Java Head and the protection of Allied forces. While the plot revolves around some secret Japanese plans, this is not really central to the story. For most characters, the goal is simply survival.

With such a large and varied cast, it is inevitable that some either fade into the background or are jarringly killed off, but there are some well-drawn characters. Johnny Nicholson is a fairly standard Maclean hero, with other crew members such as McKinnon also fitting the Maclean mould. More interesting are the enigmatic duo Farnholme and particularly Van Effen; the latter is arguably the best developed of the lot. And, three books in, Gudrun Drachmann is the first female character and love interest to appear in a Maclean book. Drawing three-dimensional heroines was never a Maclean strong point, but Nurse Drachmann is one of the best of them; courageous, dedicated and intelligent. Note that in contrast to the Germans of the first two books, Maclean has no sympathy for the Japanese whatsoever. They are portrayed as ruthless and inhuman, with their actions disturbing even their allies. Whether or not this is historically accurate, it does add to the tension considerably.

In all, the book is not quite as strong as 'Ulysees' or 'Navarone', although when Maclean describes the hellish chaos of wartime Singapore, or the relentless heat and humidity of the environment, the book comes close to reaching the heights of the first two. The circumstances are a little too unrealistic to be believable, and there are perhaps one too many lucky escapes and fortunate twists to satisfy (an issue that also arose in his next book, 'The Last Frontier'). And the romantic subplot is a bit clumsy, although I do think Gudrun's presence and her scarred face add a strong emotional element to proceedings. These flaws aside, 'South by Java Head' is a strong entry in the Maclean catalogue and a worthy successor to his first two classics.

This is an outstanding book for those who enjoy stories loaded with adventure and intrigue. I've read many Alistar MacLean novels and enjoyed every one.

What I find quite stunning is one reviewer claims MacLean's depiction of the Japanese Military of the time is "racist" while another says MacLean depicts the Japanese conquerors as "savage monsters". I've got news for you...they were indeed savage, brutal monsters. Many of the leaders of the Japanese Imperial Army during those times were the most rabid of racists. The reviewers obviously have never spent time in SE Asia and talked to any of the inhabitants that were alive during the Japanese occupation of those countries. They'll be the first to tell you how absolutely cruel and brutal the Japanese Army truly was. These reviewers have no idea of the incredible hardships imposed by the ruthless Japanese conquerors on the people of Viet Nam, the Phillipines, Malaysia, Burma, Thailand, etc. I look at such reviews as incredibly naive.

Talk to a survivor of the Bataan Death March about the humanity of the Japanese Army. Wake Island was captured shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. When food supplies started to run scarce on the island, the Japanese lined up a large group of American civilian contractors they had taken prisoner and shot them all to death on the beach. The non-racist Japanese convinced the civilians living on many of the islands they had conquered not to surrender themselves to the Americans who the claimed would enslave them and torture them to death. They ordered those people to hurl themselves off tall cliffs and kill themselves rather than surrender to the Americans. Unfortunately countless numbers of those civilians believed the Japanese and followed their orders. Savage, brutal monsters indeed!

South by Java Head features fundamentals I find so promising: a nautical adventure set in Southeast Asia during World War II, written by a prominent screenwriter. Nonetheless, the story falls flat and I found it just barely compelling enough to finish; the plot moves slowly, punctuated by one clumsily executed plot twist after another, the descriptions of action are confusing, and the characters mere outlines devoid of development. I hoped this book would be as good as a 1950's nautical adventure i highly recommend, The Wreck of the Mary Deare, but unfortunately Java Head is just disappointment. For other SE Asia World War II fiction, Clavell's King Rat is also a good place to start.

This book is classic Alastair MacLean! The action is non-stop but it is blended with the characters in such a way to make them come alive as it keeps the plot plausible. It is not just "action for action's sake." I know this is an older book but it is well worth the time is takes to read it!

I have to agree with one of the other reviewers that this is not one of MacLean's best. Realistic story lines have never been one of MacLean's strong suits, but this one can get a little ridiculous at time. The plot never really seems to go anywhere, and in my opinion, the ending is very disappointing. The book is entertaining, however, and an easy read. If you are a MacLean fan, this book would be alright for you. However if you are new to the author's works, start somewhere else: "Where Eagles Dare" or "Guns of Navarone".

This was Macleans third novel and it is one of the weaker books that he wrote.

It starts in 1942 with the fall of Singapore and we get to see a bedraggled group trying to get out of the country before the Japanese catch them. One of the characters has some important military papers on him and he must get to the safety of the allies so that he can pass the papers on to them.

As always with his books, we get a ragtag collection of individuals and throughout the course of the books, their character is tested where some fail and some shine. The plot is quite unlikely and the adventures that they go through are farfetched even for Maclean.

This is not one of his best books but it is an entertaining adventure story that moves along well, there is limited violence (nothing graphic) and the romance is kept to a minimum (this is a trademark of Macleans).

One surprising aspect is the authors strong depiction of the Japanese soldiers as being totally without redeeming qualities. He was quite vicious in their portrayal while in this book and other novels, he was careful with his depiction of German soldiers. Found this to be a little surprising but as someone who fought in the Second World War, maybe the author had had some experiences with the Japanese.

MacLean is a fine writer but this is not his finest novel. In my view, the opening chapters are the best: the description of Singapore under assault from the Japanese has an `end of the world' quality that is both eerie and threatening. The problem is that the opening chapters seem to set the scene for a quite different novel. They promise a gritty realism comparable with, for example, `The Cruel Sea'. In fact, the book quickly turns into a thrilling adventure on the high seas. There is lots of stiff-upper-lip heroism against the rather two-dimensional Japanese villains. In spite of many injuries and deaths, the improbability of some of the heroic escapes stretch the reader's credulity. MacLean is very good at evocative description - for example, describing the feel (the pressure wave) of a bomb exploding rather than just its sound. But most of the characters are very thin indeed. You could lift many of them bodily out of this novel and put them into an Agatha Christie mystery and they'd feel right at home.

So, this is a bit of a mix bag, on the whole. My advice would be: don't be deceived by the opening chapters. This is not a serious depiction of people at war. It is a fast-action, ripping yarn. As such, it succeeds moderately well.