Empire+of+the+Sun

'Empire of the Sun' by JG Ballard

Based on the athor's real-life experiences while interned in Shanghai during WWII//, Empire of the Sun// depicts the horror and privations of the camps throgh the eyes of Jim, an eleven year old child to whom they are just part of normal life.

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The story so far: We saw the life Jim and his parents were living, with parties and casual disregard of the suffering around them. Jim admires the Japanese, whom he sees as lonely and imagines himself as the dead airman. Thinking his semaphor starts the Japanese attack, he witnesses the take-over of the British and American ships. He gets separated from his father and ends up in hospital. He is told to go home and, alone and vulnerable, he narrowly avoids getting his hand cut off. He excapes through a checkpoint and realises the Japanese, ostensibly his enemies, are actually his protectors in this post-assualt town. Jim gets home to find the house abandoned and his mother's barefoot footsteps surrounded by bootmarks...