Review: The Brave Aussie
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 20, 2014
This is the second true account I have read about someone taken prisoner by the Japanese in SE Asia at the start of WWII. The level of cruelty revealed is hard to comprehend, both its application and its being borne by the victims.  That anyone survived is miraculous and a testament to human grit.Mr.Harrison is an unusual man in that even in the midst of his suffering, he has a perspective of his situation as one of a great adventure that he just might get to survive. Indeed, he does and the telling is harrowing. There were times during my reading of this account that I was ready to put the book down for inability to tolerate the suffering I was reading about. But like Mr. Harrison, you can get through on the strength of his writing and the spirit that comes through it.That this man witnessed the immediate aftermath of the nuclear bombing of Japan as a released POW is transformative for him and for the reader. In an odd way, the crushing suffering of war is revealed as an object lesson for us all that we all suffer terribly whether we win or not.  Even after unspeakable treatment at their hands, Mr. Harrison reveals himself to be a compassionate man.This books works of more than one level. Very worthwhile.