This story of the invasion of Hong Kong by the Japanese in World War II, attacked the same day as Pearl Harbor, relates the first-hand experience of a thirty-six-year-old Standard Oil employee: the escape across Hong Kong harbor while bombs are falling, hiding in Victoria hills, and the subsequent internment in a prison camp. The hopeful and hopeless situations in the fight for survival are relayed in detail, followed with the jubilation of repatriation. This memoir is indeed a compelling story of the perils of war and widely divergent human reactions to heart-wrenching experiences.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Could be much, much better,
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This review is from: Taken in Hong Kong: December 8, 1941: Memoirs of Norman Briggs World War II Prisoner of War (Paperback)
This memoir could be much, much better.... due mostly I fear to poor editing, although I think that it could have also been much better had the author himself been able to go over his own memoirs a few times to clean them up as well (I don't know if he did or didn't).
I will start by saying that this story, generally, is a great one and paints a really wonderful picture of what life was like in Hong Kong under Japanese occupation. The daily life, the window into this period is quite extraordinary. This book COULD have been a great seller, but it's not. There is bad editing throughout, once or twice using "then" instead of "than", e.g., a very common mistake that even the most inexperienced book editor, and writer, should catch. The first few chapters have the feel of a simple rote memory telling of a timeline, rather than a story. Once the occupation begins there is much more storytelling. At times the chapters seem to switch from actual diary/memoirs to a post-event reflection on what happened. This back and forth caught me unaware the first time and after that I had to keep it in mind as I read. This would have been solved by simply sticking to one or the other, OR by using subtitles which clearly indicated the book was reflecting. The end of the chapter pieces by the wife, her diary, what she was doing at that period, while probably authentic, felt somewhat fabricated. I had the feeling that perhaps they were written years afterwards. They didn't have the feel of an actual diary entry, which is what they seem intended to be. Perhaps they are authentic, I don't know, but in any case this could have been fixed by simply providing the date for each diary entry. As it is, there is no date, just what appear to be diary entries, but what may be more accurately marked as recollections. Still valuable and I think this was a great device for the author to use! Finally, about the content of the memoirs, Briggs is clearly anti-British and anti-missionary. The reader has the distinct feeling that Briggs simply didn't like anyone who had different ideas than his own. This was okay the first few times but there are constant references to anti this or that throughout the book. I'm conflicted about making this comment because from a historians perspective (which I am coming from) it is quite useful to have the actual feelings of the participant, honest and uncleansed.... the book often comes across as a story teller, a conversation, which historians like, rather than polished, guarded, comments. But, one wishes that his negativity would have been slightly less or at least a bit more artfully worded. In fact, one gets the idea that the author liked his Japanese captors more than he liked the British or missionaries. Positive comments throughout regarding the Japanese, regarding treatment, etc. I'm sure this was not his intention, but this is what comes through. Bottom line, if you interested in WWII history, particularly Hong Kong, this is a good read, but you'll have to look past some irritating points (mostly due to editing) throughout. It is VERY good at shattering the myth that the Japanese were handed out brutal treatment to everyone in all of the occupied areas in China and most of the rest of Asia. Briggs account shows a Japanese Army that is mild and quite orderly, not brutal in the least. He comments, several times, that the local Hong Kong Chinese were more disorderly and violent than the Japanese and provides stories to back it up. If the author's daughter had been able to find a better publishing house, and I can't imagine why shouldn't have, it's a great story she's got, this book would have been a five-star. One can live with the impartial opinions of a memoir writer, but one has a much harder time looking past bad editing. STILL.... it's worth reading, particularly if you live in Hong Kong, as I do. I will now take my own sons to visit Stanley, where Briggs was in prison, and try to find some of the places that he mentions.
5.0 out of 5 stars
serious but entertaining account of a prisioner's life,
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This review is from: Taken in Hong Kong: December 8, 1941: Memoirs of Norman Briggs World War II Prisoner of War (Paperback)
Carol Waite has excellently presented her father's memoirs about his time spent as a prisoner of war. His observations are broadminded for the most part. I liked his unaffected accounts of his everyday experiences, sometimes sprinkled with humor. I enjoyed Ms. Waite's inclusion at the end of each chapter her mother's thoughts about how the family was managing at home and how she perceived what was happening to her husband with the limited information available to her. I was glad I took the time to read this book.
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