The Bird in the Bamboo Cage

This was a great read. I have to say Hazel Gaynor is a go to author for me. I have read 5 of her books and none have been below a 4* read for me. This book I read in 3 days. About a school of children in China who are taken to internment camps upon the Japanese invasion of China during WW2. It focuses on several of the girls at this school who also happen to be Girl Guides and their teacher. We also see them after the war at a reunion. It was essentially about how they coped in this situation and gave me ‘Tenko’’ ( 1980’s tv series) vibes. I loved it. 5*

I absolutely loved this book. I thought the emotional pulse pitch perfect and loved the characters of Nancy, Mouse, Joan and Elspeth their teacher. Their voices as they navigate life after the imprisionment of a whole school in China during WWII and Japanese occupation are haunting. I thought the novel beautifully structured reaching back from 1975 to those terrible events, vividly depicted throughout. In fact, the story was so fascinating that when I find time I shall read further. Hazel Gaynor reaches deep into the heart of her characters . She makes them so alive and multi dimensional you feel they are right beside you. I also loved the sunflower imagery and the girl guide aspect channelled throughout the novel. Above all , despite the difficulties , horrors , hunger and struggles I loved the optimism and stoicism that prevailed. It’s a superbly researched book and one that will remains in my thoughts and in my heart for years to come. A book to treasure.

I agree with the reviewer who found this book childish – I would think about 10 years old would be a suitable age. I wondered if I’d bought a child’s book by mistake? And the obsession with Girl Guides which runs throughout was really irritating to me, and just confirmed my opinion that this should be described as a book for children.

Hhmmm, not sure what to say really. I was hoping to get much more out of this than the continual dib dib dib of the girl guides,which is an ongoing annoyance throughout. I was hoping for Tenko, I was hoping for strong women coping in appalling conditions. I was hoping for some truth about this awful subject that doesn’t seem to get written about much compared to other areas of WW2.

I bought this because I was blown away by ‘The Lighthouse Keepers Daughter’, where the writing is almost poetic and taught me so much about the two eras and the strong female light keepers.
However this seems to have been written by someone else! It was tedious with not a lot going on really. I couldn’t engage with any of the characters and the lack of atmosphere and detail made it feel like it could have been on a field anywhere other than the China. Such a shame!!!

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