Customer Reviews

My own River Kwai

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The 'Foreword' says these are his memories of his personal adventures during WW II. People asked him where he got the inspiration for his famous novel. The background and details are based on his personal experiences, recorded after the war in his memoirs. This is another fast-paced book. The first part tells about his experiences in Indo-China. Boulle left Malaysia in 1939 to join the French Army. When this war ended he returned to Singapore to join the Free French. They planned to prepare for the war with Japan. Boulle drove a Buick on the Burma Road to reach Kunming in China. He explains the rules of Chinese courtesy and bargaining (p.65).

The third part of this book is about his experiences in China. Their behavior often violated the laws of courtesy. They left Kunming to travel to an outpost on the border of Indo-China (Tonkin). Their travels over the mountains were difficult until they reached Thailand. Their plans were to secretly infiltrate into Indo-China (Hanoi) and help the war effort. Boulle chose to travel by raft down the Nam-Na river to Hanoi (p.129). The sketch of his raft faces page 130 (its design mistake was a square front). This chapter tells of the difficulties rafting down the river in the dark. At Laichau he was stopped by Thai villagers, arrested and sent to Hanoi as a suspect (he had no papers).

The last part tells of his imprisonment. Boulle was deprived of sleep and food for 15 days during questioning. The court martial found him guilty of treason and sentenced him to life imprisonment at hard labor. He tells of "the great Dr. Bechamp", killed by a lack of proper medical treatment (p.187). Dr. Bechamp was among the first who backed the Free French (p.189). The progress of the Allies led to better conditions in prison for Boulle and William Labussiere (p.196). Friends on the outside engineered an escape for them when they were being transported to another prison. It was all very civilized (p.209). Boulle was flown in an RAF aircraft to Calcutta.

After the war ended Boulle returned to the rubber plantation in Malaya, but decided to quit it and become a novelist. Boulle had a scientific education (electrical engineering) and had never read novels. [This is his partial autobiography.] Some have claimed that Boulle spoke no English based on his appearance on a Hollywood show. This book tells of his familiarity with English, he posed as a citizen of Mauritius and read "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (as a secret agent).