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Death Is Lighter than a Feather

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-07-02
Summary: "Very good, and very authentic"

A few days I was chatting with a friend, and he told me that occasionally, when he finished a book, he would say to himself "I've just read a good book". We agreed, between the two of us, that this verdict stands if you can remember the book a while later, perhaps a year or two. Well I read "Lighter than a Feather" when I was in high school, probably 16-17; that translates into about 35 years ago. Not only did I read it, I remembered some of the characters and the turns the plot takes as the book goes forward. I'm not sure I could remember anything from any other book I read back then (actually, I probably can dredge up a few things) but this is remarkable.

David Westheimer is probably best known for writing Von Ryan's Express, a book about a bunch of World War II POWs trying to escape from their camp in central Italy. It was made into a Sinatra movie in the mid-sixties. "Lighter than a Feather" was written in 1971, long before much scholarship on the end of World War II in the Pacific had been written. At the time, there were various "revisionist" historians popping up, trying to argue that dropping the atomic bomb had been unnecessary. Various rationales were put forward to explain why it was used anyway, ranging from racism to Harry Truman trying to start the Cold War early by bullying poor innocent Joe Stalin. One of the "facts" put forward constantly by these revisionists was that supposedly the Japanese were on the verge of surrendering when the bombs were dropped, rendering them gratuitous.

"Death is Lighter than a Feather" is a newer edition of the book, published about 15 years ago by a university press in Texas. The book looks at the plans the Allies had for the invasion of Japan, and it supposes that the Allies never invented the atomic bomb, so that the Japanese are encouraged to continue resistance after the fall of Okinawa. The book itself consists of a series of vignettes following various participants and bystanders during the invasion, everyone from soldiers, airmen, sailors, and so forth around to Japanese civilians who are caught up in the whirlwind the war brings to their island. Many of the characters are killed at the end of their little vignettes, as the war gets progressively bloodier.

I can remember enjoying this book a great deal the first time around, three and a half decades ago, and I enjoyed it the second time too. This edition has a four-page afterword by John Ray Skates, who wrote one of the better non-fiction books on the subject some years ago. Oh and by the way: those revisionists I was talking about? For the most part, no one takes them seriously any more.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-03-15
Summary: "Japan invasion"

Probably one of the best and by far the most graphic novels regarding Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan. This one deals with Operation Olympic, the first phase of Downfall, the invasion of Kyushu. It bounces around a number of 'players' on both sides, and goes into the mentality of the Japanese military man as well as members of the civilian population. Some very graphic portrayals of some of the brutality exhibited by the Japanese and very well detailed combat scenarios.

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Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2009-03-24
Summary: "One of the better "What If" books, though faults exist"

What if the US either did not use the atomic bomb or didn't have it?

What if instead, the planned invasion of the Japanese Home Islands had taken place.

What if the story was told in the form of a novel?

That's what 'Death is Lighter Than a Feather ' is all about.

Author David Westheimer - probably most well-known for his POW escape story 'Von Ryan's Express - brings good story-telling but somewhat weak character development (there is too high a reliance on stereotypes which results in one-dimensionality, to a quite plausible and historically accurate narrative to his novel. The invasion of Kyushu is told in a series of over-lapping vignettes that blend the two opposing forces view together. In many cases, the events are identical save for the differing PoVs involved.

This style carries the story, the characters and the reader along smoothly from start5r to finish. The ending being is as pre-ordained as any Greek tragedy; it remain constant - some may disagree - by virtue of Westheimer's inclusionm of forward/preface that sets the stage up to the date of the invasion using historical fact.

If there is a fault, it lies in the fact that the character-vignette approach tends to blind the reader to the greater mayhem that would have been part of this conflict. When the gunners on a transport die as the result by two men on a manned suicide torpedo, for example, no mention is made of the thousand or so troops and crew who must have died also. While there are occassional reports on men and material lost, the descriptions -which read like communiques from the front - downplay what is ultimately a battle to the death between two wildly different cultures, both intent upon the complate and total destruction of the other.

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Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2008-10-26
Summary: "Stories of an invasion that never was"

One of the more popular "what ifs" of the Second World War is that of Operation Downfall, the projected invasion of Japan. Planned as a massive two-part operation, the surrender of Japan in September 1945 rendered it unnecessary. Yet such a scenario has intrigued a number of authors who have written fiction and non-fiction accounts hypothesizing on what might have occurred had such an invasion proven necessary.

David Westheimer's novel offers one such exploration. It consists of a series of fictional vignettes depicting the experiences of the Americans and Japanese involved in an invasion of Kyushu. Though their stories he unfolds his novel gradually, describing the invasion through the soldiers (and in the case of the Japanese, the civilians) on both sides involved in it. Unlike the novels of such alternate history authors as Harry Turtledove the characters change from story to story; there is little continuity between the stories apart from the overall context, and the characters themselves suffer a fearful death rate. Yet Westheimer spends time fleshing them out while telling their tales, turning what could easily have been one-dimensional figures into distinctly-realized individuals.

In this way, Westheimer offers a grim depiction of an invasion that never was, one that ranks among the better works of alternate history. Readers looking for the hypothetical strategic chess game will be disappointed here, as Westheimer never focuses on the high command or explains why the invasion becomes necessary in his imagined scenario. Instead, what readers get is an absorbing set of stories that show the terrible cost that might have been paid by everyone had such an invasion came to pass, and one that leaves readers grateful that it never did.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2008-09-20
Summary: "Fascinating book"

I really enjoyed this book. Many wonder how an individual can enjoy a book of alternative history, when the actual events are well known, such as the end of World War II. In this book Mr Westheimer paints a picture of an alternate scenario, the land invasion of Japan.

He pored over records, planning documents, analyzed the personalities involved and has constructed a detailed "what if" about a fictional invasion of Japan. He attempts to portray both sides as human beings caught up in a great struggle, the struggle to preserve a country and the countless struggles to stay alive in conditions that were at best horrific.

I urge you to read this book to understand, in the context of the times, the ferocity of war and why our politicians and military leaders may have decided to use an atomic bomb rather than go through the events portrayed in this book.

I was in Japan in 1970 on my R&R from Vietnam, when a Japanese citizen, asked me in a curious but not condemnatory way why we had used nuclear weapons on Japan and did not use them in Vietnam? My gut level answer was this, our government was never afraid of the Vietnamese, we were afraid of the Japanese during World War II. She was pensive and thanked me for my answer, I don't believe she had ever heard an answer like that before. It wasn't an official answer but it was my answer, right or wrong. At that time we were afraid of the Japanese, they had mauled us in battle, imprisoned thousands of our soldiers and citizens, and were, for a long time, unvanquished in battle.

One other personal note,about the time portrayed in the book, my Dad. a US Army sergeant, was aboard the USS Ranger as she made a record setting trip across half the world, loaded with American troops, who were being positioned to invade Japan and end the war. My Dad had fought in North Africa, Sicily and Italy and when the war was over in Europe was being sent to the Pacific Theater.

I am happy he did not have to take part in his fourth amphibious invasion. I felt I had a much better understanding of what he might have faced after reading this book

Bottom line an extremely well researched and entertaining book that brings many situations to life and and gives us much to think about and understand.