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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Whew what a book. Really powerful, really well-written. Highly recommend.
This is _the_ anti-war novel. A stream of consciousness tale that is ultimately beyond horrifying, leaving you numb and almost unable to process exactly what it was you just read. You will think about Johnny long after the last words are read and wonder just why is it anyone ever agrees to go to war.
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I would not expect more from an anti war book than this book gave me, and the story of Joe makes such a powerful symbolism of the horrors of war.
I bought the book out og curiosity and also to face my fears a little bit. The song called “One” written by Metallica is based on this book. It is haunting and dark I I kind of wanted to know the whole story behind the soldier who lost his legs, arms, mouth, eyes, hearing etc.
In some aspects I was expecting more horrors happen in this book, and I’m not saying I was not horrified now and then. I was expected more torment from Joe in his time in the womb, I sometimes felt like he took things too lightly on his situation, like come on, he soendnsix years during this book doing absolutely nothing but being a piece of meat with a brain. I was also surprised that he didn’t show any sign of wanting to die. I know it makes a major part in the movie adaption, and I guess there would probably not be much reflection to read in the book if his only goal was to make someone end his misery.
Regarding the war, the big picture. I really felt the feelings going directly from the author onto the story. The pointlessness of war from the perspective of the individual American, the cruelty towards the wounded soldiers and the dead soldiers with no voice.Joe is dead and Joe is alive and his voice is denied even though he at the end finds a way to communicate. It is not because we can’t her then, it’s because we won’t hear them.
Some sections really felt like preaching with poetic wordings describing the disgusting nature of powerful individuals sending innocent people into wars and the harsh reality revealing that no person would actually accept their death for the sake of democracy.
I bought the book out og curiosity and also to face my fears a little bit. The song called “One” written by Metallica is based on this book.
In some aspects I was expecting more horrors happen in this book, and I’m not saying I was not horrified now and then.
Regarding the war, the big picture. I really felt the feelings going directly from the author onto the story. The pointlessness of war from the perspective of the individual American, the cruelty towards the wounded soldiers and the dead soldiers with no voice.
Some sections really felt like preaching with poetic wordings describing the disgusting nature of powerful individuals sending innocent people into wars and the harsh reality revealing that no person would actually accept their death for the sake of democracy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"We are men of peace we are men who work and we want no quarrel. But if you destroy our peace if you take away our work if you try to range us one against the other we will know what to do. If you tell us to make the world safe for democracy we will take you seriously and by god and by Christ we will make it so. We will use the guns you force upon us we will use them to defend our very lives and the menace to our lives does not lie on the other side of a nomansland that was set apart without our consent it lies within our own boundaries here and now we have seen it and we know it.
Put the guns into our hands and we will use them. Give us the slogans and we will turn them into realities. Sing the battle hymns and we will take them up where you left off. Not one not ten not ten thousand not a million not ten millions not a hundred millions but a billion two billions of us all the people of the world we will have the slogans and we will have the hymns and we will have the guns and we will use them and we will live. Make no mistake of it we will live. We will be alive and we will walk and talk and eat and sing and laugh and feel and love and bear our children in tranquility in security in decency in peace. You plan the wars you masters of men plan the wars and point the way and we will point the gun."
Put the guns into our hands and we will use them. Give us the slogans and we will turn them into realities. Sing the battle hymns and we will take them up where you left off. Not one not ten not ten thousand not a million not ten millions not a hundred millions but a billion two billions of us all the people of the world we will have the slogans and we will have the hymns and we will have the guns and we will use them and we will live. Make no mistake of it we will live. We will be alive and we will walk and talk and eat and sing and laugh and feel and love and bear our children in tranquility in security in decency in peace. You plan the wars you masters of men plan the wars and point the way and we will point the gun."
Graphic and visceral, this book can't help but make an impression on the reader.
I don't agree 100% with the premise of the book - sometimes countries and societies don't ask for the conflicts they are thrown into. Not the general population, at least. Maybe the elimination of the draft in the US has blunted the message slightly; the uninvited and aggressive nature of other wars, too. How then, should they feel about wars? Attack the people who put them there in the first place? Give up and move on - make the best of a bad situation?
I'm sure if you asked a Vietnamese person in 1957 if they thought they were less free than someone from France or England or the US they would say, "yes, that's the whole point of this revolution." If you asked a US veteran today about the 2nd Iraq war then you would probably find more adherence to the thesis of the book. Military isolationism works to a point, but eventually the world comes to you regardless of where and how you live.
War is bad - I don't think you'll find a sane and well-adjusted person on earth who disagrees. That doesn't mean insane or maladjusted people don't exist. The book is for them, then. Look at the spot you put others in, while thinking you are above it. You don't care what happens to others, as long as you make it out on top. Why?
I don't agree 100% with the premise of the book - sometimes countries and societies don't ask for the conflicts they are thrown into. Not the general population, at least. Maybe the elimination of the draft in the US has blunted the message slightly; the uninvited and aggressive nature of other wars, too. How then, should they feel about wars? Attack the people who put them there in the first place? Give up and move on - make the best of a bad situation?
I'm sure if you asked a Vietnamese person in 1957 if they thought they were less free than someone from France or England or the US they would say, "yes, that's the whole point of this revolution." If you asked a US veteran today about the 2nd Iraq war then you would probably find more adherence to the thesis of the book. Military isolationism works to a point, but eventually the world comes to you regardless of where and how you live.
War is bad - I don't think you'll find a sane and well-adjusted person on earth who disagrees. That doesn't mean insane or maladjusted people don't exist. The book is for them, then. Look at the spot you put others in, while thinking you are above it. You don't care what happens to others, as long as you make it out on top. Why?