Behind Bamboo

A book that was very interesting but also at times frustrating. Author Rohan Rivett no doubt led a life. This link tells of being born into a privileged family and also his extraordinary life.

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rivett-rohan-deakin-11533

This link says that this book, Behind Bamboo “....was written in October-November 1945 while its author was recovering from the rigours of captivity; reprinted eight times, it sold more than 100,000 copies.” That to me seems to make it a huge best seller for its times and no wonder! There is a story to tell.

First the frustrations. As a modern reader it felt that it was written “for the times”. No issues with that per se but I always feel more comfortable with fiction being written for its times when using racist terms as an example. Yes this is autobiographical and written while the wounds were still raw but it can make uncomfortable reading for me personally. I am not going to check how correct the facts and figure are when Rivett discussed, as another example, POW numbers. I doubt he knew the entire facts at the time of writing but a war weary world was probably ready for a first-hand account of the trials and tribulations of an eyewitness to those that had suffered at the hand of their captors so I suppose that one should be aware of that when reading books such as this. I would also suggest that modern editor may have cut this book by a good third as the miniature detail became tedious for this reader. Some of the humorous incidents, and there are plenty told, are also a case of “one having to be there” I suppose.

Is all that Rivett's problem? No, it's mine and all these gripes aside I think this is an important book for anyone with an interest in the life of an eyewitness to the barbaric treatment of POW's by the Japanese Imperial Army in WW2. He wrote for that post war audience and for me to complain is in truth not fair. Rivett wrote this with the wounds still fresh.

If one reads this autobiography of his times from the fall of Singapore to the final surrender and his journey back to his hometown of Melbourne, the sheer banality of the appalling treatment, the lack of food, the terror of being bombed by one's own side through to watching your comrades die is itself a life of tedium I would suggest.

In short Rivett was working for the Malay Radio Corporation at the fall of Singapore and announced the invasion of the Island. With other comrades he ended up on a ship that took him to Muntak in the then Dutch East Indies and from there they rowed a boat in the direction of Batavia, present day Jakarta, but were captured with Rivett being sent from one POW camp to another before ending up on the Burma railway. Rivett was supposedly the only non-military person within the POW camps but this was withheld from the Japanese as they may have considered him a spy. The writing itself is of a literary nature that I could not imagine the average run of the mill digger writing. Rivett for example quotes Kipling. During his time in the camps he held such events as historical discussions to break the tedium. These seemed to be popular with the more well read.

The edition I have read is part of a 4 part compendium called The Australian war Classics Collection and is reviewed here on its own. The cover used in this review is from a Penguin reprint from 2015 and I welcome its republication. I do feel that a modern audience with little interest in the subject will find it a difficult read. None the less I feel this is an important book and is recommended to anyone with an interest in the subject.