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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
An absolutely essential book for anyone who is interested in joining the army, or has a family member or friend in the army, or who wants to know what a soldier goes through during war. It really delves into the emotional and psychological whirlwind faced by those who go to war. They should hand these out with the uniforms and make it essential reading.
This book did a nice job of answering some philosophical questions I have in my head regarding the chaos of war and how soldiers can handle it and justify their actions. Although I still believe that war is a horrendous event, it was an eye-opener to hear someone address some of the deeper issues with real-life experience.
I'm also sure some of the people telling me they'd feel horrible and sick could very well feel that way if they ever had to do it. But they didn't have to. I did. And I didn't feel that way. And it makes me angry when people lay on me what I ought to have felt. More important, it obscures the truth.
What I feel now, forty years later, is sadness.
It's through these difficult truths, and many others found in this book, that Karl Marlantes talks about his experience as a Marine in the Vietnam war. This book is a memoir/manual to the concept of war through the eyes of a veteran, and is so painfully accessible to all, civilians and veterans alike. It provides a viewpoint from someone who's been on the battlefield and works not just as an outlet for Marlantes to share his past, but valuable advice for policy makers and politicians that are the ones sending these young men and women off to war.
It is a difficult read but an important one. Marlantes talks about every topic imaginable to do with war: the act of killing on the battlefield and the repercussions that comes from not acknowledging those decisions, the guilt for never doing enough, the numbness to the violence, the conflicting loyalties to your friends or to your leaders or to your nation, the mixed receptions you get at home, the struggles to re-enter civilian life, the lack of education and support for veterans and families when they exit service, the silence that veterans impose upon not just themselves but others, etc. It's written all so plainly to see that it's a wonder that still so many of these issues are ignored.
I have no idea how much more accessible Marlantes could've written this; he tells all his stories with the frankness and empathy that comes from someone who has looked back on his decisions with a clearer mind. It's a must-read for that insight, sorely lacking in so many aspects of war.
What I feel now, forty years later, is sadness.
It's through these difficult truths, and many others found in this book, that Karl Marlantes talks about his experience as a Marine in the Vietnam war. This book is a memoir/manual to the concept of war through the eyes of a veteran, and is so painfully accessible to all, civilians and veterans alike. It provides a viewpoint from someone who's been on the battlefield and works not just as an outlet for Marlantes to share his past, but valuable advice for policy makers and politicians that are the ones sending these young men and women off to war.
It is a difficult read but an important one. Marlantes talks about every topic imaginable to do with war: the act of killing on the battlefield and the repercussions that comes from not acknowledging those decisions, the guilt for never doing enough, the numbness to the violence, the conflicting loyalties to your friends or to your leaders or to your nation, the mixed receptions you get at home, the struggles to re-enter civilian life, the lack of education and support for veterans and families when they exit service, the silence that veterans impose upon not just themselves but others, etc. It's written all so plainly to see that it's a wonder that still so many of these issues are ignored.
I have no idea how much more accessible Marlantes could've written this; he tells all his stories with the frankness and empathy that comes from someone who has looked back on his decisions with a clearer mind. It's a must-read for that insight, sorely lacking in so many aspects of war.
Vietnam veteran Karl Marlantes wrote this haunting nonfiction book about the realities and after effects of combat, in the context of both historical conflict and modern-day war.
I had put this on my to-read list after reading a review of the book that earmarked it as one of the best insights into the modern-day warrior mind that the reviewer had ever read. Although I can’t say I’ve read every book in this genre in order to make that comparison myself, I can say that this book—and Marlantes’ personal combat experiences—will haunt me for some time to come.
There is a divide between a civilian (like myself) and the veteran or modern soldier that this book attempts to gap by showing how intrinsically different combat is from any other human experience. There’s a tendency among civilians to believe certain things about combat situations from movies or fiction books, and I know I’m guilty of this myself. (I wonder how many non-veterans claim their greatest exposure to the Vietnam War to be Apocalypse Now, for example?)
What this book does so well well is putting words to emotions and to experiences in a masterful way that I haven’t read before. I found myself taking away something so valuable from reading this, but believe that there is an even greater value in this book for the combat veteran, or currently-enlisted soldier, or for the person thinking about enlisting, or for the family or wife of a member of the armed forces. As for me—someone with very little personal connection to the military—I have left this book with a completely altered thought process regarding our nation’s soldiers and what is expected of them both abroad and at home. It’s incredibly sobering and eye-opening.
I had put this on my to-read list after reading a review of the book that earmarked it as one of the best insights into the modern-day warrior mind that the reviewer had ever read. Although I can’t say I’ve read every book in this genre in order to make that comparison myself, I can say that this book—and Marlantes’ personal combat experiences—will haunt me for some time to come.
There is a divide between a civilian (like myself) and the veteran or modern soldier that this book attempts to gap by showing how intrinsically different combat is from any other human experience. There’s a tendency among civilians to believe certain things about combat situations from movies or fiction books, and I know I’m guilty of this myself. (I wonder how many non-veterans claim their greatest exposure to the Vietnam War to be Apocalypse Now, for example?)
What this book does so well well is putting words to emotions and to experiences in a masterful way that I haven’t read before. I found myself taking away something so valuable from reading this, but believe that there is an even greater value in this book for the combat veteran, or currently-enlisted soldier, or for the person thinking about enlisting, or for the family or wife of a member of the armed forces. As for me—someone with very little personal connection to the military—I have left this book with a completely altered thought process regarding our nation’s soldiers and what is expected of them both abroad and at home. It’s incredibly sobering and eye-opening.
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
This was an interesting read. While it was very good, I can't say I liked it as much as I liked Matterhorn - non-fiction is not a general choice of mine for a reason. Matterhorn is the novel version of Mr. Marlantes time in Viet Nam, while this is his analysis of his war experience, how war affected him and how his return to the states affected him. It also includes Mr. Marlantes opinions about what the services need to do to assist our soldier warriors before they go to war, during their time in war, when they are preparing to return home, and after then return home. I highly recommend this for anyone in the psychiatric / psychology / counselling arena that deals with individuals in these circumstances or their family members. It was a difficult read for me, every day when I was ready to put my kindle down, I opened and read a Curious George book first.
I read this book because it's going to be part of the California Reads program for fall 2014, and I know some of the people who helped choose it. I strongly recommend it. There will be lots of public programs throughout the fall and Karl Marlantes will be touring the state and speaking at local libraries. See this listing for details: http://www.calhum.org/programs/california-reads.
I've written about war as part of my professional research and I also had a fascination with war narratives and histories during high school, so in many ways this book was a good fit for me. It's won a lot of awards and it's obviously well-written and extremely readable, but there are two main aspects of Marlantes's book that are especially notable.
1. The argument. Marlantes makes a very convincing case for a rethinking of how we, as US citizens, go to war. His primary contribution here (through some work in comparative mythology) is that we need to reintroduce myth and ritual back into the way we understand, process, and go to war in the US. While counseling and PTSD research are essential for integrating soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, there should be rituals (even simple ones) for burying comrades and enemies in the field. Similarly, there should be ways that members of the military are welcomed back into their home communities. There should be ways to talk about war. Also, he makes a very interesting case for how we don't (as a nation) come to terms with the more aggressive and combative elements of the human personality. I resisted this part of the argument at first, but he does show how aggression and violence are seemingly built in to some of our interests and desires. He's right that we need to talk about these elements of our personalities and how we work with them (instead of burying them).
2. The way this book is constructed. Marlantes divides his thinking between arguments, anecdotes about his time before, during, and after Vietnam (in which he served as a marine), and research about other war myths (whether those of India or Greece). The book is divided into chapters keyed to different parts of the war experience, and at no point do the different sections feel overwhelming. I'm very impressed with how Marlantes transformed a weighty subject into something that was digestible for the reader.
My only reservations come regarding the discussions of gender, which at times seemed a little bit too cut and dry. There seems to be a fairly simple gender binary about the psychology of men and women at times in the book (and not at others), and I wasn't quite sure where the entire book came down on these essential differences. Marlantes clearly understands that gender roles are changing in a positive way and that there are different ways to be a man and woman, but I sometimes wished there was more nuance here. I don't need him to be Judith Butler or anything, but I also wasn't sure some of the discussions about the roles of men and women were necessary for the argument.
Despite this concern, however, this is still an excellent book about war and something that I wish I could share with everyone. Please consider reading it, especially if you're a Californian!
I've written about war as part of my professional research and I also had a fascination with war narratives and histories during high school, so in many ways this book was a good fit for me. It's won a lot of awards and it's obviously well-written and extremely readable, but there are two main aspects of Marlantes's book that are especially notable.
1. The argument. Marlantes makes a very convincing case for a rethinking of how we, as US citizens, go to war. His primary contribution here (through some work in comparative mythology) is that we need to reintroduce myth and ritual back into the way we understand, process, and go to war in the US. While counseling and PTSD research are essential for integrating soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, there should be rituals (even simple ones) for burying comrades and enemies in the field. Similarly, there should be ways that members of the military are welcomed back into their home communities. There should be ways to talk about war. Also, he makes a very interesting case for how we don't (as a nation) come to terms with the more aggressive and combative elements of the human personality. I resisted this part of the argument at first, but he does show how aggression and violence are seemingly built in to some of our interests and desires. He's right that we need to talk about these elements of our personalities and how we work with them (instead of burying them).
2. The way this book is constructed. Marlantes divides his thinking between arguments, anecdotes about his time before, during, and after Vietnam (in which he served as a marine), and research about other war myths (whether those of India or Greece). The book is divided into chapters keyed to different parts of the war experience, and at no point do the different sections feel overwhelming. I'm very impressed with how Marlantes transformed a weighty subject into something that was digestible for the reader.
My only reservations come regarding the discussions of gender, which at times seemed a little bit too cut and dry. There seems to be a fairly simple gender binary about the psychology of men and women at times in the book (and not at others), and I wasn't quite sure where the entire book came down on these essential differences. Marlantes clearly understands that gender roles are changing in a positive way and that there are different ways to be a man and woman, but I sometimes wished there was more nuance here. I don't need him to be Judith Butler or anything, but I also wasn't sure some of the discussions about the roles of men and women were necessary for the argument.
Despite this concern, however, this is still an excellent book about war and something that I wish I could share with everyone. Please consider reading it, especially if you're a Californian!
Little too philosophical for my taste. Literally, as in it was an actual philosophical treatise. Interesting tho.
I am continually seeking good books written on the topic of war, especially from the perspective of Vietnam vets. I'm the daughter of a Vietnam vet who passed away far too early in my life for me to ask him the questions that I now have as an adult about his perspectives of war, particularly its moral, psychological, and ethical implications on the soldier and society as a whole.
I'm not a scholar by any means on the subject, so see my review for what it is: my satisfaction with the reading making me feel as though I've connected on some level with my late father. Marlantes is incredibly educated and wise, he gives his account of the war and his "warrior" persona with incredible honesty. He puts to words a lot of my concerns with how wars, such as the Vietnam war, poorly equipped our soldiers with the spiritual and emotional tools to handle the moral implications of their actions.
This book was a perfect follow-up to The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien in my search for connection.
I'm not a scholar by any means on the subject, so see my review for what it is: my satisfaction with the reading making me feel as though I've connected on some level with my late father. Marlantes is incredibly educated and wise, he gives his account of the war and his "warrior" persona with incredible honesty. He puts to words a lot of my concerns with how wars, such as the Vietnam war, poorly equipped our soldiers with the spiritual and emotional tools to handle the moral implications of their actions.
This book was a perfect follow-up to The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien in my search for connection.
Had some solid points but the second half was overwhelmingly sexist. also mad boring. i regret taking this class