It might have been even more effective if the novel had been Clavell's usual 1000+ pages. One could've really empathized with the soldiers for their imprisonment if the depiction of their predicament had been longer. With its shorter length, the novel is instead rather eventful. It was hard-hitting nonetheless.
Clavell didn't straight up write his namesake into the novel but apparently one of the two protagonists, British Flight Lieutenant Peter Marlowe, is his author surrogate. Peter later appears in Noble House as a director and novelist. His character is also most likely intended to be a descendant of Lieutenant John Marlowe who Clavell placed in Gai-Jin.
Life in Changi Prison was extremely tough. The Japanese didn't know what to do with the thousands of prisoners -- having been caught alive meant their honor had been lost by Japanese standards. They were left to be guarded mostly by themselves since there really wasn't anywhere to go outside the prison anyway. The prisoners were supplied with barely enough food to survive and nothing else.
In addition to trying to get by with bare minimum nutrition, the prisoners had to do their best to avoid getting sick or injured. Medical aid didn't exist and anything more serious led to an almost certain death. Everyone in the camp, regardless of their military rank, was thin and scrawny. Everyone but the King.
The King's real name is King too but he is referred to with the definite article. In the Finnish translation 'King' is translated (Kuningas) with the exception of the one time towards the end when he is demanded to state his name.
In civilian life the King wasn't a distinguished person and in military he's merely a corporal. However, in Changi the King is respected and envied, even hated. He's the King.
(The King's rank had been translated to korpraali, which is understandable but probably a mistake because the actual corresponding Finnish military rank to the US corporal is alikersantti ('junior sergeant'). Korpraali instead equates to lance corporal.)
Profiteering is not allowed in Changi but the King does it anyway -- in secret, of course. With his charisma and cleverness, he has gathered himself and his small inner circle a considerable wealth and well-being by the prison's standards. He occasionally leaves the prison camp at night in high-risk trips to a nearby village to negotiate deals for more expensive items the other prisoners want to sell.
The King is the only prisoner with proper clothes (clean ones too), he has his personal chickens, spices to season his food, and other minor luxuries. He's constantly planning new trades to keep his quality of life up. The King's not selfish though; his trading allows others to survive as well. His character is the trader archetype that can be found throughout Clavell's Asian Saga.
Provost Marshal Grey of the camp's military police has an obsession towards the King. Grey is desperately trying to find evidence the King is trading goods and not just getting his stuff via gambling -- which for some reason is allowed. Most of the book consists of the King and his new friend Peter making trades and trying to keep Grey from throwing them in the camp's brig.
Then the United States detonate the atomic bombs. First over Hiroshima and then Nagasaki. The Imperial Japanese armed forces surrender unconditionally. The war is over. (The camp hears the news from a hidden radio.)
Immediately the King's position as the top dog starts shaking. A chicken is stolen from him and his closest "friends" no longer take orders. The war is over. What do the King's fake dollars matter anymore; they're getting freed.
Eventually someone from outside arrives to the camp to officially tell the news and oversee the freeing of the prisoners. The outsider is met with an unexpected initial reaction, however: people flee from him when he tries to approach them. They don't know what to do. The camp had become their whole world and the presence of a complete stranger is frightening.
The King, who had survived physically and mentally the best, shakes off his fear, puts on his best clothes, and goes to greet the outsider only to be hit in the face by reality. The outsider, a lieutenant colonel if I recall correctly, scoffs at King's rank. He can't fathom why some corporal is so well-fed, healthy, and well-clothed compared to the officers. Why is he is so different from all these naked and starving, barely-human beings. What a suspicious person.
King's time as the king was over. The outside world had poured into the camp. He was again a nobody.
I expected the ending but it didn't lessen how powerful it was, almost emotional. King had done his best to just survive and he had been great at it. But in the end there was no one to congratulate him. Only resentment from his peers and outsiders, if that. Well, except from Peter.
At first Peter too had thought King a con-artist and thief but then came to respect him. He even went as far as to punch Grey who overly pleased watched King leave the camp for the last time. I wonder how much of King was based on reality. He must have been an interesting person.
In Noble House, Peter Marlowe apparently doesn't wish to speak of his time as POW. Was that Clavell saying he had told what he wanted in King Rat?
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