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thistlereads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
cpalisa's review against another edition
5.0
I thought this was an excellent book. I don't want to say too much and give it away, but it was really interesting to me. I loved the people and I learned a lot about a war that I know very, very little about (the Korean War). I just was overwhelmed with their circumstances and the fact that they were (mostly) all just babies! I just can't believe how young they were and what they were facing, their responsibilities, all of it. It really was a different generation.
serena2286's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
fivetilnoon's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
4.0
An exciting and well-told story. The book alternates between the story of the carrier pilots and the marines on the ground that they defended. The author does a good job drawing out the contrast between the fine dining, coffee, and stewards of the carrier pilots and the freezing dirty conditions of the marines.
This book is in the historical style that allows for direct quotes and conversation that surely must be made up but the author says it's pulled as best as he could from source material and he had eyewitnesses confirm it's at least in the spirit of what was said.
I loved that the author included photos within the books. One of the hardest things to keep track of in these types of books is all the people, and it was great to have the photos to flip back to for reference.
This book is in the historical style that allows for direct quotes and conversation that surely must be made up but the author says it's pulled as best as he could from source material and he had eyewitnesses confirm it's at least in the spirit of what was said.
I loved that the author included photos within the books. One of the hardest things to keep track of in these types of books is all the people, and it was great to have the photos to flip back to for reference.
superiorweasel's review against another edition
5.0
This book is a great American story. I loved it.
jalumbaugh's review
tense
slow-paced
2.0
The book was entertaining enough as it went on. Well enough written, if not clinical every time somebody felt a human emotion. "She cried" often being the most we get.
But, through the whole experience of reading it, I couldn't see past the nationalism I was supposed to buy into. For a book that wants to tell the most authentic war story, it can't help but write the enemy in the simplest action movie terms. The war is justified to the characters because the enemy is Communist and therefore needs to be stopped at every turn. We are supposed to weep at every American death but thousands of Chinese soldiers are mowed down without care.
The "friendship" at the core of the book is also hard to buy. Jesse and Tom barely talk, they're just in the same squadron sometimes!
Overall, messy and tries too hard to sell itself as interesting and historically accurate, while failing at both. A historically accurate book with any guts would write this war as a waste of human life, a civil war that was turned into a meat grinder by two empires worlds away.
But, through the whole experience of reading it, I couldn't see past the nationalism I was supposed to buy into. For a book that wants to tell the most authentic war story, it can't help but write the enemy in the simplest action movie terms. The war is justified to the characters because the enemy is Communist and therefore needs to be stopped at every turn. We are supposed to weep at every American death but thousands of Chinese soldiers are mowed down without care.
The "friendship" at the core of the book is also hard to buy. Jesse and Tom barely talk, they're just in the same squadron sometimes!
Overall, messy and tries too hard to sell itself as interesting and historically accurate, while failing at both. A historically accurate book with any guts would write this war as a waste of human life, a civil war that was turned into a meat grinder by two empires worlds away.
mary_r_m's review against another edition
4.0
I love a non-fiction book that reads like a novel. The tribute to these amazing people is beautiful.