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Book reviews for "Ooka,_Shohei" sorted by average review score:

Fires on the Plain
Published in Paperback by Tuttle Publishing (01 May, 2001)
Authors: Shohei Ooka and Ivan Morris
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Good Novel, but Confusing at Times
as part of a WWII Class I had to read this novel in addition to George Neill's Infantry Soldier. That way we got a perspective from both sides of the war. Ohka's tale is less glamerous, as his tale is about his experiences in a defeated Japanese Army, that is essentially waiting to die. Ohka does a superb job at portraying the futileness, sickness and malaise experienced by his comrades and himself. Ohka also manages to get through a message about the inhumanity of war, and how it leads men to turn into animals. This is done quite well, both figuratively and literally. My only qualm with the novel is certain points where the reading gets too abstract. But I admit, I may be a little biased, as I expected a straight war narrative. While Ohka provides that, he also manages to throw in questions about man, and humanity, and asks what the point is to all the fighting.

Fires on the Plain
The part that gave me a shiver was when the protagonist's own left hand stopped him from cutting up a dead soldier's body to eat the flesh and he found it God's hand, not his. Such a beautiful scene. It still makes me cry.

A treat for all the senses -- beautiful and bizarre.
Ooka Shohei's Fires on the Plain (Nobi) is vividly transcribed and will leave readers with a lasting impression. The author manages to merge stunning literary description with the horrors of war as seen from the point of view of a losing army. The protagonist's slow descent into madness is sublimely rendered -- at once painful to read yet impossible to put down. Like another reviewer posting here, I too read this on a plane and found myself transported 50 years and thousands of miles to the Philippines, amid lush jungles and the fallout of armed conflict. The impact of this novel's stunning end must be experienced to be appreciated. An engaging and educational read that speaks eloquently to our most basic human needs, desires, delusions and taboos.


The Shade of Blossoms (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, No. 22)
Published in Hardcover by Univ of Michigan Center for (1998)
Authors: Shohei Ooka, Ooka Shohei, and Dennis Washburn
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time well spent
I previously read "Fires on the Plain" by Shohei Ooka and so I was interested when I noticed a review about a new book by the same author. "The Shade of Blossoms" is a short novel about an aging Geisha. Everyone knows who Geishas are but it has been my experience that no one ever spells it out. You get a fair idea from this book. There's not a lot of time for background in the 119 pages of this novella but we do get a good look at a woman who seems to lack any control over herself or her destiny. She has lost her past, can't figure out her present, and avoids any effort to create a future. There are developments in her life that seem encouraging but the self-destructiveness of the main character makes this work a tragedy. It is a tragedy worth reading as well as a brief look beyond the imagery of a Geisha.


Taken Captive : A Japanese POW's Story
Published in Hardcover by John Wiley & Sons (03 April, 1996)
Author: Ooka Shohei
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Taken Captive
Taken Captive a P.O.W. Story by 0oka Sh0hei, is about a Japanese man name 0oka Sh0hei who was drafted into the Japanese Imperial Army to fight the American Forces On January 25, 1945. Being captured from the Americans. This book is is an okay book. There was some action in it,wich was great. It was okay to thouse who are interested in an middle-clsss scholar who tries this to survive the life of the prison. this would be the book for you. If you are interested in action, i would not sugest this.

This is a very good book
For eight months during 1945 I served as a Japanese interpreter (U.S. Marine Corps) at the Japanese POW Camp on Guam. I met and interviewed many Japanese prisoners during that time. This is the first account published by a former Japanese POW that I have seen since the War. American POWS have published but no Japanese for reasons made obvious by the author. I was on the outside looking in. To view prison life from the other side of the fence was most interesting, The book is superbly written. It is factual and honest.For anyone who fought the Japanese in the Pacific this book will open windows and offer to you a view that you might never have expected to look upon. T


The Burdens of Survival: Ooka Shohei's Writings on the Pacific War
Published in Hardcover by University of Hawaii Press (2003)
Author: David C. Stahl
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