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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Despite the magical elements (restricted to aura-reading and healing with the help of an amulet), the focus in the novel was something rare and new to me: the Vietnam war from the perspective of a nurse. After eating up accounts from the male grunts' POV in novels like The Things They Carried, it was so interesting to get the perspective of a woman and a medical professional on base.
This is a memoir of an American nurse during the war in Vietnam with slight fantasy elements. I read is as a part of monthly reading for December 2020 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group. The book won Nebula for the Best novel in 1989.
This is a story of Lt. Kitty McCulley, a young woman, who joined the US war effort “One reason I hadn’t minded coming to Nam so much at first was that I had already talked to a lot of bewildered boys my age who didn’t want to go but saw no other choice. It seemed unfair that they had to serve, just because they were men of the right age. Like discrimination.” Coming to the hospital, which cared for moth the US soldiers and local population, she saw all the injustice of this war, with amputees in pain, locals disregarded or even sent to their likely death to local hospital… among patients she met an old Vietnamese, who is rumored to be some kind of healer/saint with supernatural powers (which haven’t saved him from losing feet to shrapnel). He sees in her a kindred spirit and gives an item of power…
While there is a kind of fantasy, it can actually explained away in magic realism innuendos, and the main power of the book is as a fictional memoir. The author was in ‘Nam and it is partially based on her own experiences, even if some adventures are clearly fictionalized to make a story more dynamic.
I planned to read something about that war for a long time and this book is exactly what I wanted – not a military history, but a civil US witness of it. Recommended if you have similar plans. It is not an easy read, but worth it.
This is a story of Lt. Kitty McCulley, a young woman, who joined the US war effort “One reason I hadn’t minded coming to Nam so much at first was that I had already talked to a lot of bewildered boys my age who didn’t want to go but saw no other choice. It seemed unfair that they had to serve, just because they were men of the right age. Like discrimination.” Coming to the hospital, which cared for moth the US soldiers and local population, she saw all the injustice of this war, with amputees in pain, locals disregarded or even sent to their likely death to local hospital… among patients she met an old Vietnamese, who is rumored to be some kind of healer/saint with supernatural powers (which haven’t saved him from losing feet to shrapnel). He sees in her a kindred spirit and gives an item of power…
While there is a kind of fantasy, it can actually explained away in magic realism innuendos, and the main power of the book is as a fictional memoir. The author was in ‘Nam and it is partially based on her own experiences, even if some adventures are clearly fictionalized to make a story more dynamic.
I planned to read something about that war for a long time and this book is exactly what I wanted – not a military history, but a civil US witness of it. Recommended if you have similar plans. It is not an easy read, but worth it.
I really enjoyed this book, I knew nothing about the Vietnam war. I didn't even realise that the Americans were there fighting with some Vietnamese. I feel like this gave me a good overview of the feelings and the prejudice and hatred that went on. War is hell
A classic sci-fi/fantasy novel, based on the wuthor's own experiences during the Vietnam war.
Perfectly fine (anti) war story from the perspective of a nurse in a military hospital.
http://nhw.livejournal.com/698312.html[return][return]This was one of those years when the Nebula system managed to recognise an exceptional novel that would never win a Hugo. The Healer's War is a somewhat autobiographical account of the Vietnam war as seen by an American military nurse, with precisely one sfnal element: a magic amulet, with slightly healing powers, which gives the narrator the power of empathy with the Vietnamese of all sides and of none (and indeed with her fellow Americans as well). It is a fair comment that the magic amulet is a literary device that enables the author to tell the story she wants (Scarborough herself says so in an afterword). But I think it's still entirely legitimate to count the book within the genre, and to acknowledge its merits accordingly.[return][return]It's a stark contrast with other war stories I have read, which tend to concentrate on the view of the individual soldier (eg, Catch-22 and War and Peace). The Healer's War concentrates on the non-soldiers involved in war, and indeed its military characters tend to be pretty unpleasant, whether Americans or Vietnamese of either side. But I felt that none of them slipped into caricature; the narrator's commitment to empathy helped to avoid that trap. It was a gripping and moving read.
When i first saw the title of this book I assumed it was going to be some generic fantasy "chosen-one in a world of sword and sorcery" type of story, so I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out not to be. Even beyond the name, the book does itself no favours though by starting with a glossary. Fortunately, it turns out to be completely unnecessary as everything makes sense in context.
The book is broken into three sections (although the third section is basically just an epilogue), and I felt that the second section (the most heavily fictionalised) was a little weak, but the first is good enough that the whole thing holds up.
My only major criticism of the story is that I don't really think the supernatural elements were necessary. The author states that she felt that the protagonist would clearly have died in part two without the magic, but I don't see that myself and I think the book would have been better off without it, simply because it has so little impact on anything.
The book is broken into three sections (although the third section is basically just an epilogue), and I felt that the second section (the most heavily fictionalised) was a little weak, but the first is good enough that the whole thing holds up.
My only major criticism of the story is that I don't really think the supernatural elements were necessary. The author states that she felt that the protagonist would clearly have died in part two without the magic, but I don't see that myself and I think the book would have been better off without it, simply because it has so little impact on anything.
3.5. An engaging narrative voice and good storytelling, but some of it seems not as original as I would want. This one is a step or two below Tim O'Brian's Vietnam stories.
Really surprised it won a Nebula, but it was good. Written about a nurse in the Vietnam War by a Vietnam vet nurse. Essentially no sci-fi. I am a sucker for good stories where people can see auras.
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No