BOOK REVIEW:

THE GURKHAS by John Parker

PREPARED BY:

PREPARED FOR:

1.0 Introduction

The book The Gurkhas is a book about the infamous world s most feared soldier, The Gurkha army. The Gurkhas are Indian soldiers from the east who have been on the British Empire s frontlines since 1815. Their service during the First and Second World War covered the famous battles such as Monte Casino and Tobruk, war with Japanese in Far East, Western Desert, Italy, Greece and also North Malaya to Singapore. This book concentrates on the two century long association of this Gurkhas brigade with British Army.

1.1 The Author

John Parker is a British Journalist, editor and writer. His published works consist of military and investigative pieces. Often shadowed by highly rated writer like Tom Clancy, John Parker manages to contribute this genre of writing a sheer amount of great storytelling. He owns a website as his platform at http://www.john-parker.co.uk.

1.2 The Book

The book serves as an insight view of the story of Indian soldier The Gurkhas who were serving the British Empire in wars during that time. The soldiers triumph and legacy are experienced firsthand by the author who managed to capture the incredible bravery and sacrifice from the inside. The cover of the book features an image of a pair of Kurki knife, the symbolic close combat weapon used by the Gurkhas in battles. The tagline The Inside Story of the World s Most Feared Soldier defines the content vividly. The boldness of the title is highlighted with the Gurkhas motto, Better to Die Than to be a Coward right in front of the cover page.

2.0 Overview of the book

2.1 Writing style

2.1.1

Narration The book was written in a form of documentary, closely revealing the life of Gurkhas soldier right from their first encounter with the British Army. The author has fondly highlighted the army s bravery and fearsome reputation. Not many insights are revealed, but the author managed to make his points clear through clean and precise writing.

2.1.2

Point of view The book is written in the 3rd person point of view an overview

from the author himself, describing the events in wide viewpoints. Whilst the author is not present in the story, his writing manages to take the readers to a trip into the history of the Gurkhas army.

2.1.3

Elements Being a factual piece of work, there is not very much aesthetic features in this book. Straight to the point narration has somehow saved the readers from getting confused to the twisted storylines.

2.2 Issue The book deals with the history of the first two century of Gurkhas army association with British Empire. They have fought side by side with British army through various wars and showed immense bravery and skills even though they were fighting in other people s lands. As the tagline suggests, the book is made up mostly on the account of bravery and triumph of Gurkhas army which is inspirational and motivational for military fans.

Tactical combats are featured for a dose of action, albeit being entirely narrated in a form of documentation. Some military scandals and issue are portrayed in this piece of work, which helps the readers to keep up with the current situation during that era.

3.0 Public Acceptance The book was not the first of its kind during the release, as the book competes with various other books of similar topic, such as Byron Farewell s The Gurkhas, John Cross Gurkhas at War, and E.D. Smith s Valour: A History of the Gurkhas. The book received good reviews and feedbacks, although most readers compare the book closely with John Cross Gurkhas at War, which is a more recent publication.

4.0 Evaluation The book is a good read, an excellent choice of leisure reading material. Since it is informative, the book also can be used as reference for history related to the Gurkhas army. Even though the book is shadowed by various related titles, especially the more recent publication by the author John Cross, this book remains an admirable title due to Parker s skillful storytelling. The book itself is well presented I personally admire the choice of words used in the title of the story and also the presence of the Gurkhas motto in the cover page. This is one of the things that attract readers to this book, as people do judge book by its cover. In a nutshell, the book is worth the buy, and I recommend this as a good read for those military oriented readers out there.