Being a French reader, I have long cherished this book in its original French version. Never before has an author described with such honesty the love-hatred relationship that existed between the colonial officers and Indochina. It reads as the memory of an old man torn betwwen betrayal of reason and betrayal of his country.

Read this book to learn how men who long for adventure and grandeur sometimes come to regret it. Or read it because Schoendoerffer is such a storyteller, and this story is to die for.

This lovely book -- winner of France's highest literary award -- is an unjustly ignored masterpiece, and one of those books that comprise my 5 or 10 personal favorite novels of all time. The tale of two friends who were stationed together in French Vietnam, the book is mostly about the effect the one friend -- vibrant and full of life -- has on the other, who is quieter, more philosophical and introspective. Full of contemplation, atmosphere, and starkly beautiful poetry, the novel builds up to a meeting of the two friends in the middle of the north Atlantic many years after their friendship has waned, and becomes a tale of what one does with one's life. what influences people have upon each other, and a reckoning of what one's done with one's talents. I discovered this book quite by accident in the library one day years ago, and have been recommending it to people ever since. If you're lucky enough to happen upon it yourself, I hope you find it as meaningful and profound as I have.

When two British soldiers parachute into Borneo in 1945, intending to incite a tribal uprising against the Japanese, they are shocked to find that one tribe is actually led by an Irishman who styles himself, Learoyd, King of the Muruts. Initially resistant to their overtures, Learoyd eventually joins them in what quickly deteriorates into an incredibly brutal guerilla war, with disastrous consequences for himself and his newfound people.

Borrowing elements from Bridge on the River Kwai, Joseph Conrad, The Man Who Would Be King, and Shakespeare, the Academy Award winning photojournalist Pierre Schoendoerffer, crafts a brisk, violent meditation on the insanity of war and the futility of Western colonial pretensions :

'...To devote one's life to...No, I mean to let oneself be possessed by another race is sheer delusion...It's selling one's soul to the devil. A renegade. There's no greater curse than being a renegade...Being a deserter, perhaps ? The devil can't be reckoned with. One fine day you have to betray one or the other of them.'

In the fighting that follows, Learoyd, who the Muruts say is "...afflicted of God," must indeed choose between the needs of the Allies and those of his followers and the British officers must make choices between Learoyd, who has served them well, and the demands of the Dutch who want their colony pacified. It all makes for an exciting mixture of combat, sacrifice and betrayal, with overtones of tragedy thrown in. If it doesn't quite measure up to all of the author's ambitions, it's still well worth reading.

GRADE : B