The Iron Gates of Santo Tomas: The Firsthand Account of an American Couple Interned by the Japanese in Manila, 1942-1945 Book

I read this book mostly to gain a better understanding of what my great-grandfather experienced ' like the author, he was interned by the Japanese in Manila during World War II. The only other book I'd read about the subject was Bruce Johansen's So Far from Home, and that was somewhat lacking in personality as it mostly listed the mundane details of the internees' lives, based on the committee logs and some private journals.

Emily Van Sickle's book, however, really humanized the experience. She's actually an incredibly good writer, and I often wondered while reading why she waited so long to publish her account. It is all from her perspective, of course, and details what she and her husband experienced personally during this period. She describes the people she regularly interacted with ' some of whom were truly unforgettable characters ' and she has a startlingly wonderful insight into events and people's thoughts and feelings. I even liked a lot of her turns of phrases, which were often visual and lyrical. It was just beautiful writing ' I honestly don't know why she didn't choose to make a living as a writer when she got out.

Anyway, there were only brief mentions of the "old-timers" ' the group of veterans to which my own great-grandfather would have belonged. All the same, I found Van Sickle's account compelling enough not to care about the lack of information on that end. She belonged to that class of Manila citizen with money enough to fare relatively well during the internment; she and her husband at least had enough to build their own shanty and live somewhat well, considering. She had compassion for others, though, and often shared what she had.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and would have given it a five had I not seen a few typos and other small editing errors here and there. It was a near perfect book.