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James Clavell Genre Fiction English
eBook King Rat (CH) ePub

eBook King Rat (CH) ePub

by James Clavell

  • ISBN: 0708981755
  • Category: Genre Fiction
  • Subcategory: Literature
  • Author: James Clavell
  • Language: English
  • Publisher: Charnwood (March 1, 1984)
  • Pages: 576
  • ePub book: 1653 kb
  • Fb2 book: 1313 kb
  • Other: txt rtf docx mbr
  • Rating: 4.7
  • Votes: 896
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Description

King Rat is a 1962 novel by James Clavell and the author's literary debut.

King Rat is a 1962 novel by James Clavell and the author's literary debut. Set during World War II, the novel describes the struggle for survival of American, Australian, British, Dutch, and New Zealander prisoners of war in a Japanese camp in Singapore-a description informed by Clavell's own three-year experience as a prisoner in the notorious Changi Prison camp. One of the three major characters, Peter Marlowe, is based upon Clavell's younger self.

Praise for james clavell. and His Spectacular Bestseller. KING RAT. A magnificent nove. cintillatin. ibran. xpert. Six weeks later King Rat was completed. Pages that give a glimpse of seven women’s lives during the war-girlfriends, mothers, and wives of men in the camp.

Home James Clavell King Ra. Maybe that’s a special type of rat, like a special mosquito carries malaria, Dino said hopefully, his dark eyes roving the men.

Home James Clavell King Rat. Home. Part of Asian Saga series by James Clavell. Rats can carry plague, sure, the King said, shrugging. And they carry a lot of human diseases. But that don’t mean nothing.

In King Rat, James Clavell succeeds in doing what countless other authors usually fail at: taken actual experiences from his life and distilled them into a gripping dramatic narrative. And this praise is perhaps the most damnable understatement the book can receive - Clavell isn't writing about "experiences," he is writing about the cauldron from which he was "reborn" - his time in Changi, a Japanese POW camp in Malaysia during WWII.

The time is World War II. The place is a brutal prison camp deep in Japanese-occupied territory. com User, May 29, 2008.

This is the fourth book in James Clavell's "Asian Saga". You cannot go wrong with a Clavell story. It is also the first book he wrote and the one that is closest to being autobiographical. King Rat really can be read as a stand alone novel. It was not difficult to read, and the story flowed well. The plot was not always predictable, and there were some surprises in how the prisoners of the Japanese responded to being freed by the Allies.

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James Clavell, the son of a Royal Navy family, was educated in Portsmouth before, as a young artillery officer, he was captured by the Japanese at the Fall of Singapore. It was on this experience that his bestselling novel KING RAT was based. He maintained this oriental interest in his other great works: TAI-PAN, SHOGUN, NOBLE HOUSE and GAI JIN. He later became a successful film maker producing. King Rat is named after the central character in Clavell's spellbinding masterpiece about the brutality of prison camp life in Japanese-occupied, World War II Malaya.

The time is World War II. The place is a brutal prison camp deep in Japanese-occupied territory. Here, within the seething mass of humanity, one man, an American corporal, seeks dominance over both captives and captors alike. His weapons are human courage, unblinking understanding of human weaknesses, and total willingness to exploit every opportunity to enlarge his power and corrupt or destroy anyone who stands in his path.

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Comments

Ahieones Ahieones
This is the fourth of five excellent volumes in Clavell's asian masterworks. It reads well, connects well to the other volumes, and is a massive read compared to most works of fiction. This book is the shortest of the set, quite short in fact in comparison, but still about normal book length.

The Kindle version I received contained extra sections that were edited out of the original work, and frankly, I can see why. After reading a bit of the extra content, and knowing how the book was originally structured, I just skipped the new stuff (frankly, I think the original editor was right: it doesn't fit or flow well.) You should read the introduction, which explains the rationale for including this other material.

Having said that, still, highly recommended both on its own and as the fourth in the whole series. Be sure to read the books in order for the most enjoyment; they're connected although quite distant in time from one another, and by reading them in order, the history of the current book you're reading will be deeper and your comprehension of what is going on, and why, will be much better:

1) Shogun -- read first
2) Tai-pan
3) Gai-jin
4) King Rat
5) Noble House -- read last
MeGa_NunC MeGa_NunC
A story of survival in the WWII prisoner-of-war camp at Changi, Singapore. Like a rat, an American corporal known as the King uses his wits to survive and adapt in the prison camp. He has had a rough life and after the war will probably be sent to military prison for his activities in the camp. His life at Changi is probably the most successful period of his existence. At one point he devises a successful scheme to breed rats and to sell their
meat to the officers as that of the small mammal called a mouse-deer or Rusa tikus which is considered a delicacy. It is about the size of a rat. Although there is a lot of resentment toward the King, his machinations keep the other prisoners alive and striving. As news of the war's end reaches the camp, the King's incredible network of power crumbles and his future looks grim. The King is based on Clavell's experience as a prisoner of war.
Mardin Mardin
I first read this in the early 80’s as I was progressing through Clavell’s Shogun series; while I have read most of the books of the series a couple of times, I hadn’t with this one as I lost the paperback copy during a move. I found myself thinking of it quite a bit over the years, which for me is unusual based upon the number of books I read a year, and was glad to see it available on Kindle.
This is what I would consider a timeless book, Clavell’s writing is just as fresh today as when I read it over 30 years ago, and you feel as if you are a participant in the prisoner camp instead of just a reader. What a great read. While part of the series, it really could be a standalone to the Shogun series. I would highly recommend this book no matter what your favorite genre may be.
Terr Terr
This is the fourth book in James Clavell's "Asian Saga". It is also the first book he wrote and the one that is closest to being autobiographical.

King Rat really can be read as a stand alone novel. It is only about 350 pages long and doesn't involve any characters from previous novels (even though Peter Marlowe and Robin Grey appear in Noble House). It is about a Japanese prisoner of war camp called Changi in World War II.

The King is an American soldier who trades camp members' valuable items to the guards for money which can then be used to buy contraband food. This is against Japanese rules and, thus, camp rules but most officers turn a blind eye to the trading. Robin Grey is the exception and he sets out to catch the King and humble him.

King Rat is a very accurate depiction of Japanese prisoner of war camps in World War II and shows that the only true rule in the camp is to survive.

The forward of the book mentions that the original publication had removed the women's perspectives. I am glad they added those parts back in, even though I wish they could have been a little more fleshed out. The big question at the end of the book is "what happens when the surviving soldiers go home?" We don't learn the answer to that question (even though we know a few things about the people left behind that the men aren't aware of) but that is the point. Changi has been the entire world for these men for so long and now that they are free, how do they go back to "normal"?
Marg Marg
This version of the book is enhanced. Mr. Clavell's daughter wrote the forward, explaining that her father's editor originally pulled out all the "women's stories" in the initial publication, which were included in this book.

I found the women's stories did not add much to the overall story. I had read the original book and while I initially enjoyed reading what happened to some of the wives, I realized that learning their side took away from the isolation and the disconnectedness the men felt. They did not hear from their loved ones, they did not know if they were alive or dead, faithful or cheating. We shared in that sense of isolation and disconnectedness, so at the end of the original book, when the Red Cross is talking with the prisoners and filling them in on where their wives and fathers are, we were also shocked and hit in the gut at learning their fates. We know what happened to Larkin's wife and Grey's wife before they did, so I felt the impact was lessened. Mr. Clavell's editor was right to remove these stories.

King Rat is still an excellent book and the ending still packs a punch.
huckman huckman
I enjoy reading James Clavell books and the Asia Saga books in particular. This novel, King Rat, was the toughest to read so far as it touched on very painful aspects of World War 2. While the book is fictional and not a true story, I found myself living out the horrors experienced in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Others have told their true stories of similar experiences. I am really glad I read this but it is far from what I would consider to be entertaining, rooted as it is in human suffering and survival.