Books I've Read: The Twilight World

 

Werner Herzog is a film director whose work is an insta-watch for me.  From his early work in the German New Wave, to his period of collaboration with Klaus Kinski, to his more recent documentaries, there is always something unique and compelling about his work.  Not to mention he has one of the coolest voices in the world!

I first heard about this book in an article I read somewhere where Herzog was being interviewed and mentioned this book.  So when I saw it in the library, I jumped on it.  It's a slim volume and a quick and easy read.

It's based on the story of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier posted on an island in the Philippines toward the end of WWII.  He was told he was on a covert mission and not to believe anyone except his commanding officer.  Undercover and deep in the jungle when the war ended, he never knew it was over.  He remained on the island, defending it against enemies until the 1970s.  Attempts were made to inform him that he could leave his post, but he dismissed them as enemy propaganda.

Given the eccentric characters Herzog's work has explored in the past, it's not surprise he'd be drawn to this figure.  And in this book, Herzog takes the real Onoda, who he met and spoke to many times, and imagines what all those years were like for him.

Some of the book is incredibly compelling, but it doesn't entirely work.  It's almost like Herzog can't help taking a step back behind the camera to observe Onoda rather than delving under his skin to find out what really makes him tick.

There is also a framing device in which Herzog inserts himself into the story - not a bad thing in itself, but in this situation is further distances the reader from the subject.  But overall, I enjoyed this story.  It's somewhat fantastic, but through Onoda's eyes, it starts to make sense.  Especially given the location of the island.  One of the reasons he never believed the war was over is because of the amount of US traffic in the area because of the Korean and Vietnam Wars.  If you don't know, you don't know...

I enjoyed reading this book, but it did frustrate me a little.  I wanted it to dig deeper under Onoda's skin and really show me what was going on in his head.  This did a little of that, but too often stepped back and observed.  And it was so short, it didn't really give enough time to a 30-year story, focusing instead on individual incidents - probably because the majority of the time Onoda spent must have been incredibly mundane.

But I'd still recommend it just because it's such an odd little story and so much the kind of character Herzog has explored throughout his career.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb: 

The great filmmaker Werner Herzog, in his first novel, tells the incredible story of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who defended a small island in the Philippines for twenty-nine years after the end of World War II

In 1997, Werner Herzog was in Tokyo to direct an opera. His hosts asked him, Whom would you like to meet? He replied instantly: Hiroo Onoda. Onoda was a former solider famous for having quixotically defended an island in the Philippines for decades after World War II, unaware the fighting was over. Herzog and Onoda developed an instant rapport and would meet many times, talking for hours and together unraveling the story of Onoda's long war.

At the end of 1944, on Lubang Island in the Philippines, with Japanese troops about to withdraw, Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda was given orders by his superior officer: Hold the island until the Imperial army's return. You are to defend its territory by guerrilla tactics, at all costs. . . . There is only one rule. You are forbidden to die by your own hand. In the event of your capture by the enemy, you are to give them all the misleading information you can. So began Onoda's long campaign, during which he became fluent in the hidden language of the jungle. Soon weeks turned into months, months into years, and years into decades--until eventually time itself seemed to melt away. All the while Onoda continued to fight his fictitious war, at once surreal and tragic, at first with other soldiers, and then, finally, alone, a character in a novel of his own making.

In The Twilight World, Herzog immortalizes and imagines Onoda's years of absurd yet epic struggle in an inimitable, hypnotic style--part documentary, part poem, and part dream--that will be instantly recognizable to fans of his films. The result is a novel completely unto itself, a sort of modern-day Robinson Crusoe tale: a glowing, dancing meditation on the purpose and meaning we give our lives.