Reviews
"More than sixty years after two atomic bombs ended the Second World War, popular perceptions of Japan in the west have barely moved on. Partly because of Japan's own reluctance to acknowledge, let alone atone for, its wartime enormities, the land of the rising sun remains, to many western eyes, alien, inhuman, steeped in incomprehensible medieval codes of cruelty and honour. All the more reason, then, to welcome this brave fictional attempt to gently dissolve such stereotypes.
In a beautifully written debut, TV journalist Justin Kerr-Smiley confronts the two clashing cultures of east and west when Strickland, a Spitfire pilot, is saved from certain death by Hayama, samurai commander of a Japanese garrison marooned on a South Pacific island that the war has by-passed. The novel starts shakily when sketching in Strickland's background as an RAF veteran. No Battle of Britain cliche is left unvisited - from our stoical hero getting burned in combat and losing the popsy of his dreams; to his refusal to let his CO ground him. Once the scene moves to the Pacific and Strickland's capture, however, Kerr-Smiley effortlessly hits his stride as a writer and a profoundly moving and gripping story unfolds.
In tracing the development of the triangular relationship between captor and captive, and Hayama's Christian orderly - a bond that begins in brutality, and passes, not without a hint of homo-eroticism, to a brotherhood literally sealed in blood; Kerr-Smiley goes beyond the myths of the war and that earlier Axis of evil, to show that the buds of common humanity can flower in the most unpromising soil. The story, too, harsh though it is, is shot through with moments of tender lyricism in its evocation of the lush Pacific landscape - not least the mouth-watering descriptions of the meals that the unlikely friends share. Despite the sensuality, this is not a sentimental story - indeed it revolves around three gruesome deaths - but the author, with his strong religious sensibility, manages the difficult feat of showing how love, understanding and pity can transcend even the terrible enmities of war.
The Reportage Press is a new venture that publishes novels and non-fiction set abroad in a deliberate counter-attack against the insularity and trivia of bigger publishers. A worthy aim - but 'Under the Sun' is not a worthy book. Instead it is a small masterpiece; the best novel that I have read about war since that other flawed island story 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin'. It can well stand the comparison."
The Sunday Telegraph
"The gripping and beautifully paced debut of an intriguing new talent."
William Dalrymple
"This thought provoking novel explores the psychology of conflict and how men cope with the immense trauma and terrible stresses of war. The narrative skilfully navigates around the complexities, contradictions and absurdities inherent in the wartime concept of 'the enemy' and how impossible it is to sustain such an idea in a conflict-free environment. The novel is set on an idyllic Pacific island largely untouched by the savage winds of WWII. The two protagonists, the English pilot Strickland and the Japanese officer Hayama, slowly bridge the immense cultural gulf which divides them and in the process discover the meaning of true friendship. The duo have very different philosophical outlooks and the sometimes sharp contrast between the pair forms a central theme in the novel. The book is extremely well researched and will be enjoyed by those already familiar with Japan as well as the ordinary reader. It is an impressive first novel by Justin Kerr-Smiley which grippingly depicts the suffering and pain of conflict and the humanity that lies within us all."
Sean Curtin Editor Japan Book Review
