A Story about reading a story

This is really an article about a book and a movie. This one I did right...saw the movie first. That way I don't go all ballistic on behalf of the author of the book! In this case, A Town Like Alice is actually one of the 200 best known and loved books of all times! I was so glad to find this out as it is one of the few books on World Was Two that I have read. Unless one counts Tolkien and Lewis' works during those times?

A Town like Alice was historical fiction. I was always sure it was based on fact. Fact was the Japanese were not nearly as kind and warm hearted as the book portrayed them to be. Where that came from I do NOT know...the cruelty is there nearly from the stat of the book. The hero, Joe, is actually crucified! The heroine, Jean, is just that, a heroine. Strong and true and frightened but does the best she can. She has her love for Joe, though she lies to him and lets him believe she’s married, but love each other they do, all the same. But it is more of the love she holds for the women of the group, companions that they are, through the horrible walk, the love and comradeship of the women in her group. All over Malaysia. Being marched would be hard enough, being marched by enemies, through places that were sometimes afraid, sometimes crueler than the Japanese. Until finally, they are accepted by one village, though after Joe is crucified. It was here at this one village the women worked alongside other women and finally, were saved, at the end of the war.

To me, it is one of the first books that enlightened me of the struggle for women, not just today, but at all times. We may not wear the shackles. But chained we are. It is though our love for one another and the belief of something greater than ourselves that keeps us going. That keeps us coming back and eventually, brings us to exactly the one place, one person we really need to feel whole. A book that shows no matter how long you go on believing a thing, it can be changed in an instant, in this case for the better when she finds that Joe is alive and living in his beloved Outback.
barbara bethard