The Special Prisoner: A Novel: Jim Lehrer: 9780375503719: Amazon.com: Kindle Store
The Special Prisoner: A Novel Hardcover – May 2, 2000
by Jim Lehrer (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 48 ratings
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Following the enormous success of his two bestselling previous novels, White Widow and Purple Dots, Jim Lehrer takes on a new and controversial subject in this ambitious story about an Ameri-can soldier who, many years after the fact, is forced to relive his harrowing experience in the Second World War.
The Special Prisoner takes its title from the designation the Japanese government gave U.S. airmen held prisoner during World War II--an indication of the severity with which these foreign devils responsible for bombing Japanese cities were to be treated. John Quincy Watson was a skilled young pilot flying B-29s over Japan when he was shot down and taken prisoner in 1945. Fifty years later, now a prominent religious figure nearing retirement, Bishop Watson believes he has long since overcome the excruciating memories of his months as a POW. But a chance sighting of the now equally elderly Japanese officer who repeatedly tortured him instantly transports the Bishop back to that unendurable time, and he finds himself overwhelmed by an un-controllable desire for vengeance. The result for Watson is both a vivid return to the horrors of his past and the triggering of a new series of events that are also horrific--and tragic.
Engaging and emotionally poignant, The Special Prisoner delves into the complicated issue of war guilt and forgiveness, starkly portrayed in the characters of an officer from a country that refuses to admit any wrongdoing and a clergyman who is committed to a belief that to forgive is divine. This is new and controversial territory for Lehrer, and he treats it with passion and respect, while writing in the highly readable, engaging style that is his trademark. This fascinating story of what's fair in war--and what's fair afterward--is a dramatic new novel from the veteran Washington author and newscaster.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
An overwhelming sense of symmetry permeates The Special Prisoner, but it doesn't come in the lovely, harmonious, balanced variety. Instead it's the terrifying symmetry of life at its most basic, of innocence, guilt, death, and rebirth. Jim Lehrer's hero, Bishop John Quincy Watson, is imprisoned alternately in physical and metaphysical realms throughout the novel, a "man of God and grace" who comes to wrestle with a "long-dormant barbaric monster ... waiting in his soul."
This retired Methodist is an all-American boy who did his duty for his country in World War II at a high personal cost. Shot down over Tokyo on his 17th mission as the young pilot of a B-29 Superfortress, Watson spent the rest of the war in a Japanese POW camp. Designed specifically for bomber crews--who were considered the worst of the White Devils--it was run by a particularly ruthless guard called the Hyena. As the novel opens, the now 70-year-old, crippled Bishop has just spotted Tashimoto, the Hyena, in an airport in Texas, casually boarding a plane. Memories of the camp come flooding back and slam head-on into what Watson had presumed was a rock-solid wall of spiritual piety, and he quickly sets off on a mission of revenge. He tracks his prey to a hotel room in San Diego, and what happens next plunges him into recollections of unspeakable horror, changing his life irrevocably. The novel becomes a vicious game of back and forth between past and present, captor and captive; the Bishop unwittingly slides in and out of each role as he confronts the demon without and ousts the demon within. But is Tashimoto really the demon he seeks? If not, what monsters of delusion has the Bishop actually let loose?
Lehrer explores questions of guilt, shame, forgiveness, and self-examination with an obvious passion, if not intellectual rigor, and his eye for detail is sharp. He intertwines the stories with the precision of a chainlink fence, using such devices as the interplay between the Hyena's bamboo stick and the crippled Bishop's cane. The Special Prisoner is a densely packed, suspenseful read that gets more captivating as it gathers speed. --S. Ketchum
From Publishers Weekly
As in his previous novel, White Widow, the plot of newscaster-writer Lehrer's newest book turns on a chance encounter. In this case the pivotal meeting is between retired Methodist Bishop John Quincy Watson of San Antonio, Tex., an elderly ex-B-29 pilot and POW, and a Japanese businessman in whose eyes Watson sees the stare of the interrogator who tortured him. Incredulous that his old nemesis could have survived, Watson nevertheless discovers that the stranger has checked into a San Diego hotel under the interrogator's last name, and he decides to confront him. Mr. Tashimoto, however, denies he is the former camp official his prisoners nicknamed "the Hyena" because of his sadistic laugh. With this tension-filled standoff underway, Lehrer suspensefully alternates between Watson's harrowing memories of WWII and his present-day cat-and-mouse interrogation with the roles reversed. The first half of the narrative is a provocative, at times wrenching, dramatization of racism, war crimes and revenge--with right not necessarily on Watson's side--but the second is deprived of much of its drive when Watson tragically loses control of the situation and is brought to trial for his violent behavior. Although the ending does not satisfactorily resolve the moral ambiguity of its tantalizing premise, Lehrer's novel successfully illuminates still-sensitive issues for both the U.S. and Japan. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The title of Lehrer's 14th book, a harrowing novel of redemption and revenge, refers to the designation the Japanese gave to captured U.S. airmen, for whom they reserved the most horrific torture. In alternating chapters, the first half of the novel ricochets between John Quincy Watson's World War II experiences as a B-29 bomber pilot and (mostly) Japanese POW and his present-day encounter--he is a retired Methodist bishop--with the man he knew as his Japanese torturer, Tashimoto. The second part of the novel, a trial, condemns both the brutality of Japanese treatment of POWs and the U.S. bombing attacks on Japan, along with lingering U.S. racism against the Japanese. While the lean prose and fast pace mean that some of the men in the prison camp are too sketchily drawn for us to care about them, both Watson and his friend Henry Howell are fully realized. Lehrer offers no easy answers in this gripping, sorrowful story that moves well beyond the satire that characterizes his earlier works. Recommended, especially where World War II novels are popular.
---Francine Fialkoff, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Some of PBS anchor Lehrer's popular novels have been fairly lighthearted, but this one is deadly serious, and likely to generate controversy. A chance airport encounter sends retired Methodist bishop John Quincy Watson to San Diego, following a man whose too-familiar eyes drag Watson 50 years into the past, to a Japanese prisoner of war camp, where the then youthful, red-haired B-29 pilot became a "special prisoner" when captured after parachuting from his dying plane. His pursuit of the interrogator he knew as Tashimoto, the Hyena, alternates with the minister's memories of the horrors of Camp Sengei 4. It is Watson's religious faith that builds tension here: Watson returned from Japan impotent, with a gruesomely weakened leg, but seminary education and his pastoral assignments gave him time to work through the hatred he had carried back from Japan. Or did they? Confrontation between aging former enemies in a San Diego hotel room forces Lehrer's characters--and readers--to meditate once again about essential moral questions. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Advance praise for The Special Prisoner
"This account of an American prisoner of war in
Japanese hands rings with truth. Lehrer, himself a Marine,
has captured the reality of what it was like. The brutality, the sadism, the horror, and, above all else, the triumph of will that got
the prisoners through the experience are all here. Lehrer's book is honest, factual, and a tribute to the men who endured and
prevailed over the worst existence imaginable."
--Stephen E. Ambrose
"Riveting...I couldn't put this book down! The Special Prisoner delves into the full complexity of human evil and revenge."
--Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking
"Gripping...a harrowing novel of redemption and revenge."
--Library Journal
From the Inside Flap
wing the enormous success of his two bestselling previous novels, White Widow and Purple Dots, Jim Lehrer takes on a new and controversial subject in this ambitious story about an Ameri-can soldier who, many years after the fact, is forced to relive his harrowing experience in the Second World War.<br> The Special Prisoner takes its title from the designation the Japanese government gave U.S. airmen held prisoner during World War II--an indication of the severity with which these foreign devils responsible for bombing Japanese cities were to be treated. John Quincy Watson was a skilled young pilot flying B-29s over Japan when he was shot down and taken prisoner in 1945. Fifty years later, now a prominent religious figure nearing retirement, Bishop Watson believes he has long since overcome the excruciating memories of his months as a POW. But a chance sighting of the now equally elderly Japanese officer who repeatedly tortured him instantly transports
From the Back Cover
Advance praise for The Special Prisoner
"This account of an American prisoner of war in
Japanese hands rings with truth. Lehrer, himself a Marine,
has captured the reality of what it was like. The brutality, the sadism, the horror, and, above all else, the triumph of will that got
the prisoners through the experience are all here. Lehrer's book is honest, factual, and a tribute to the men who endured and
prevailed over the worst existence imaginable."
--Stephen E. Ambrose
"Riveting...I couldn't put this book down! The Special Prisoner delves into the full complexity of human evil and revenge."
--Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking
"Gripping...a harrowing novel of redemption and revenge."
--Library Journal
About the Author
Jim Lehrer is the anchor and executive editor of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS and the author of numerous novels, nonfiction books, and plays. He was a 1999 recipient of a National Humanities Medal for his journalism and writing. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Bishop John Quincy Watson, a man of God and grace, was yanked back into his ordeal of hate and horror by a pair of eyes.
They flashed at him from out of the crowd in a concourse at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport-DFW as it was known by those who knew airports. He stopped with a jolt and turned around. He fixed his sights on the backs of people walking past.
None of the backs looked familiar.
He walked toward Gate 32A, where he was to board a flight to Washington's National Airport.
The bishop hadn't seen the face, only the eyes.
Whose were they?
Then he knew. It came to him cleanly, clearly, and absolutely. The eyes were those of a man he knew fifty years ago as "the Hyena." He knew it with a crushing certainty that was as unshakable as John Quincy Watson's faith in the Almighty.
For reasons of exercise and pride, the bishop seldom used the motorized carts provided at airports for the old and lame, choosing instead to make his way slowly on his own with his ivory-headed cane. He was seventy-one years old and retired from his post as the Methodist bishop of San Antonio, Texas, but he did not see himself as an old man. Not yet. He was still active, traveling extensively around the world as a guest lecturer and preacher. He was on his way now, in fact, to address an ecumenical prayer breakfast at a large Methodist church in one of Washington's Virginia suburbs.
Now he did raise a hand to hail one of the carts, which fortunately had no other passengers. He told the young man driving that he was in a terrific hurry to get to the opposite end of the concourse.
They beeped their way through the crowd of people and their various rolling suitcases. "Right here, son," said the bishop to the cart driver after several minutes. "Let me off right here, please."
There he was, the man with the eyes. It was him-his height and build, his bearing and presence. There he was handing his boarding pass to a female flight attendant at the grate. There was the man John Quincy Watson would never, ever forget. Watson walked as fast as he could, but the man was down the boarding corridor and out of sight by the time the slow-moving bishop reached the flight attendant. He ignored the other passengers in line and went right up and asked, "Was that man's name Tashimoto?"
The flight attendant, a forty-ish woman with short brown hair, looked at him as if he were a potential bomber or masher. But after a second or two of further inspection she must have concluded he was safe because she looked down at the stack of tickets on the stand in front of her. "Yes, that's what it says
on the ticket-T-a-s-h-i-m-o-t-o ' " she said. "Now, if you'll
move out the way, sir, so we can resume boarding?"
Bishop Watson said, "Where is this plane going, please?"
"To San Diego," she said, pointing to an electric sign near the door that said just that.
"I'd like a ticket, please."
"We're already overbooked, but see the agent at the counter.)
The agent confirmed that there were no seats on the plane, and Watson couldn't convince him or the attendant at the gate to let him on for just a few minutes to simply look at the passengers. He told them that he saw a man board whom he had known many years ago.
Against the rules, they said. Permission denied.
In a few minutes the boarding door was closed. Bishop Watson stayed right there and watched through the large plate-glass window as the plane-he recognized it as a Boeing 757-backed out from the gate. Now and then he had wondered what it would be like to fly one of these jetliners compared with Big Red, his B-29, and the other propeller planes he had flown in World War 11. But it was only an occasional wonder. In fifty years he had never even entered the cockpit of any kind of airplane.
By the time he started walking again toward Gate 32A, he realized that it was already ten minutes past the departure time of his flight.
It didn't matter. The Hyena was alive! The little Jap was here in America, on a plane for San Diego!
Bishop Watson felt shame for thinking of the Hyena as a Jap. But it was an unavoidable reflex. For the bishop, this man could never be anything but a Jap.
Product details
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Random House; 1st trade ed edition (May 2, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375503714
ISBN-13: 978-0375503719
Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars 48 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#672 in Political Fiction (Books)
#19186 in American Literature (Books)
#3106 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
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jim lehrer special prisoner john quincy years later quincy watson main character prison camp world war fifty years bishop watson well written american pows highly recommend japanese captors reading this book face to face methodist bishop taken prisoner years ago compelling story
Top Reviews
Laura Dorais
5.0 out of 5 stars The Special PrisonerReviewed in the United States on October 2, 2013
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Jim Lehrer writes a compelling story of a B52 bomber all of 18 years old who has many bombing missions over Tokyo before his plane is shot down and he is taken prisoner. This story is one of survival and then 50 years later it becomes a story which questions our ability to will peace into our lives and our own psyche. A surprising event 50 years later. I cannot tell you the plot, but it is a serious morality tale and extremely well written. Loved this book!!!
2 people found this helpful
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Sharon Adams
5.0 out of 5 stars A special story...Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2000
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I'm not a regular reader or necessarily a fan of short or long fiction. When I heard this book hyped on IMUS, I decided to give it a try. Of course, I've been a fan of Jim Lehrer for years -- his no nonsense approach to journalism.
"The Special Prisoner" is an easy terrific read -- short but surprisingly complex in its treatment of major issues associated with war and theology.
The book's essence is heavy and somewhat depressing. There is nothing the least bit light and funny about this story. A great story to read in remembrance of our veterans who gave so much that we might be free.
Highly recommended.
31 people found this helpful
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Colette K. Wagner
5.0 out of 5 stars My first Jim Lehrer novelReviewed in the United States on October 12, 2013
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
This was a special novel, very interesting & suspenseful. I couldn't put it down until I finished. It took a Saturday morning. Can't wait to read more Jim Lehrer.
2 people found this helpful
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John Bowes
4.0 out of 5 stars A most unusual revenge taleReviewed in the United States on June 26, 2004
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I recalled the line from "The Wolfman" after reading this well written tale ("even a man with a pure heart" or something to that effect). An unforgetable read. Past sins may be forgiven, but never forgotten. Get this one.
2 people found this helpful
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Bob Dean Wing
5.0 out of 5 stars A good read...Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2014
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
After reading this novel, I found it hard to believe it was fiction.
Every chapter was interesting!
Not a big reader myself but I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in history of WWII.
3 people found this helpful
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Elizabeth Foster
5.0 out of 5 stars Five StarsReviewed in the United States on June 18, 2016
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Great read
2 people found this helpful
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jcs
4.0 out of 5 stars very good, much to thinkReviewed in the United States on July 20, 2014
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
very good, much to think about
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W. Powell
4.0 out of 5 stars A Very Readable POW NightmareReviewed in the United States on July 10, 2012
Format: Paperback
A very likeable story with some unexpected turns. I was doing the old two books at one time when this book just took over my attention completely. Though the writing itself is nothing extraordinary, the story is one easily imagined and presented in a fairly convincing and thought-provoking way. This book touches on so many issues that its hard to say what the author wanted readers to take from it. Crimes take place, judgements of guilt or innocence are made and punishments are carried out; some more brutal than anything you've ever read. Through it all the morality of what takes place is questioned.
I suppose the Prisoner of War issue is what drives this story. Everything that is said, thought and done is mostly due to our main character's POW experience. Can religion heal the horrors of war?
While reading this book I was faced with having to ask myself what I would do if in the same situation. Not only the situation of being a tortured prisoner but also being a clergyman battling feelings of guilt and vengeance. "The Special Prisoner" is very clear in sending one message; the traumatic effects of war on those who witness it up close remain long after the fighting and killing have stopped. Something to seriously think about when watching CNN news reports on modern day wars. Many of the innocent victims of war are children who are killed or grow up wanting to kill. War is Hell! And it leaves many scars.
Good Read!
2 people found this helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars A Great Plot Idea That Doesn't Quite ClickReviewed in the United States on September 20, 2000
Format: Hardcover
As a B-29 crewman [navigator] who flew a number of missions over Japan, I looked forward to reading this book. The treatment of POWs by the Japanese was deplorable, a fact that only in recent years has been publicized. We B-29 crewmen were briefed late in the war that, if captured, we could tell the Japanese anything we wanted, rather than the name, rank, serial number response. In retrospect, this was likely because through intelligence we had discovered that B-29 crewman were often killed within a day after capture, and it was hoped this might ease our lot if we fell into Japanese hands.
But I came away disappointed. Lehrer does replicate many of the horrors of a POW, and he brings in various incidents from actual accounts. But it is difficult for me to fully believe the plot line as to Bishop Watson's reactions after running into his presumed Japanese torturer--the "hyena." A lot of the writing seems melodramatic and hastily done, and while he explores the important moral issues here, he does not probe beyond some surface generalities. Likewise the Sermon given by Watson at the end of the book is not reflective of the type of sermon I've heard Methodist and other clerics preach. Another serious defect in the book, important only to those who actually served in the AAF during WWII, is the erron-filled time-line of training to be a pilot--from entry into the AAF to flying a B-29 in 9 months is not plausible--nor is the sequence of events of low-level bombing raids or of Lehrer's placing Saipan 1500 miles east of Japan [it's actually almost 1500 miles due south]. Several other questionable or poorly explained events mar the factual foundation for the novel. For those who know little about the Pacific War, Lehrer's account will likely pass muster, as many reviewers attest. Those with greater background and familiarity with the events of the time will find, as I did, the book promising but in the end frustrating and unsatisfying.
13 people found this helpful
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Patricia A. Powell
5.0 out of 5 stars This novel is too short!Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2000
Format: Hardcover
This extraordinary book is too short. On the surface it's a simple story of one WWII U.S. pilot who was shot down over Japan, and survived as a POW. As it unfolds it is a complex story of the life long effects of brutality, racism, Christian forgiveness, denial and rage.
The story starts now in an American airport where John Quincy, now a retired Methodist bishop, sees his former Japanese tormentor. He follows, then catches up with him and confronts him in a San Diego hotel. There the Japaneses man claims that John Quincy is simply mistaken. But the bishop is certain. You see, he could never forget the Hyena's eyes.
The story of the POW days is told through flash backs to his captivity. Beatings, and death are daily events; there appear to be quotas. Torture is the entertainment of the captors. Many POW's die, some at the discretion of the Japanese, some provoking the event, and some just willing it to happen. More unfolds as to the permanent damage our pilot sustained as a POW. He had forgiven his Japanese captors year ago as part of his own healing. And yet, when faced with the absurd denials in that San Diego hotel room, he found all that healing was incomplete and temporary.
If I go on with the events, it will spoil the story for the future reader. And so, I have left out many of the twists and turns that Lehrer adroitly put into his novel. He does not pander to political correctness; nor does he ignore racism... on both sides.
If you want an actual account of the Japanese brutality in WWII consider the assault on China, and read "The Rape of Nanking." But, if you are looking for a serious novel about a unique experience, with unresolved conflicts, I recommend that you read "Special Prisoner."
8 people found this helpful
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