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Heavy as a Mountain

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Heavy as a Mountain

By: Vincent Connolly
Narrated by: James Saunders
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About this listen

 When a young Japanese fighter pilot is shot down and captured in the 1942 Darwin bombing, he knows in his heart he should be dead. Duty is heavy as a mountain, death as light as a feather. That’s the Military Code and it means fight to the death, never surrender or you’ll bring a bitter shame on yourself and family. He conceals his true name to protect his family. Suicide is a possibility, but he’s drawn away from his military indoctrination by experiences with ordinary Australians, drawn towards living out his own individuality. But the young bride he left behind had vowed she would kill herself if he died. He could write to tell her he lives, but would that reveal his cowardice, shame his family? And must he sacrifice his individuality to join the growing number of Japanese prisoners in their ferocious plans for a murderous and suicidal breakout? A tale of the Australian WWII experience, seen through the eyes of this deeply troubled man.©2020 Vincent Connolly (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing Historical Fiction Fiction Heartfelt Military

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Profile Image for sandra d.

Gets better midway with a superb ending

Insightful look at Japanese indoctrination and the herd mentality towards war and dying honorably for their power hungry emperor sadly hiroshito was never tried for being the war monger that he was thanks to mcarthur
I particularly loved the main characters summation of the futility of war in the last few paragraphs

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Looking at history from within.

Well told and from a Japanese airman 's perspective . An insight into historical events made to come alive. Narrator easy to understand.

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Great perspective

Incredible to see the war from the opposite perspective with different values and expectation. Great historic fiction grounded in reality

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Profile Image for Frankster

Magnificent!

A beautifully-told story of the complex impact of war on ordinary people and the power of friendship and true love.

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Profile Image for Anonymon

Historical Fiction

To my shame I did not know about Australia’s POW camps such as that at Hay and Cowra.
This story shares so much. It shows the pride and dedication of the Japanese in war along with their misguided desire to kill or be killed, preferring suicide to capture. These characteristics make for a dangerous for.
A moving story, sensitively written and ell narrated.

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A Good Read

Loved it. It gave a look at Japanese thinking as it was under Australian charge of it's World War II prisoners.

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Not my cup of tea.

Tried for 20 minutes, but the narration didn’t grab me so neither did the story.

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