This haunting novel about the extreme undoing of a man by war is generally regarded as one of the most important war stories of our time. As the might of the Imperial Japanese Army is crumbling, so too are the tenuous ties with human society held by a sensitive soldier of World War II. Lacking hope and nearly devoid of the will to survive, he hears of a port still in Japanese hands, and struggles to walk through the American lines. Eluding American victors, Private Tamura becomes an outcast verging on cannibalism. Powerful and shocking, the novel's greatness lies in its uplifting vision during a time of ultimate horror.