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alex_hev's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
3.5
Interesting stories about the US pilots in the Pacific, and some stories from the Japanese perspective as well. Very graphic descriptions of some terrible events.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, and War
garypossum's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book, although not as much as Flags of our Fathers. I especially looked forward to the parts in which George Bush gave his accounts of events in the Pacific.
netsfrompdx's review against another edition
4.0
Flyboys is graphic, violent & hard to read at times. It explores the morality of war & legality of following orders. Beyond that it provides vivid details of the air war in the Pacific during WWII. As an American, I want to believe that my country followed a higher moral code during the war, but this book severely challenges that thinking in a way that's hard to digest. But it's important to explore all angles to every story and Flyboys does just that. So while it's hard to read the horrible actions taken by both the American and Japanese sides of this war, it's history we need to understand in order to not repeat it. I recommend this book for WWII buffs and anyone looking for a dirty, gritty view that's different than other books that only talk about heroic acts of valor.
vhp's review against another edition
1.0
I couldn't trust the author to tell the history of his subject. The information he gave in the beginning of the book was half the story of each of his rant. It came across that he was trying to make America the big bad boogy-man. I'm not interested in his opinion when I'm expecting a book on history.
nimrodiel's review against another edition
4.0
This took me a lot longer to read than I had originally intended it. The intensness of the subject matter, and the history included to show readers why the Japanese army was the way it was during WWII made it hard to read straight through. However, this was a very good look at a very grizzly part of America's involvment in WWII.
See where this book travels next, at: http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4916394
See where this book travels next, at: http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4916394
spacerkip's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
5.0
I did it. It took me just about a year and a half, but I finished it, boys.
This was a hard book to get through. It was thick, it was dense, and it was filled with first and second-hand accounts of horrors and human suffering not just limited to the 8 flyboys that take center stage. I can't think of a book that was so genuinely thorough as this one. Bradley takes the time to explore every facet of context for his readers - and I mean every facet. From the rise of Imperial Japan, to the Western colonialists that inspired it, to the plights of the American flyboy, to the abused Japanese common soldier, to the people back home in fear on either side of the Pacific, just about every perspective imaginable is researched and documented. I found myself bombarded with information every chapter and needed weeks to digest it all.
There are, of course, biases (because who exists without them), but I found an eagerness to understand the full scope of war and all it affects, even the perpetrators of violence. Not as a way to shift blame or excuse what was done. This approach reminds readers that nothing happens within a vacuum, especially not major events in human history, and reminds them to take a look at the sins of their own country before decrying another's so harshly.
Another one of Bradley's novels is in my bookshelf, and I'm definitely going to read it once I've given myself some time to process this one. I recommend this book to any WWII buff, especially those interested in a deep look at Imperial Japan and its troops, so often shrouded in mysticism by Western sources.
This was a hard book to get through. It was thick, it was dense, and it was filled with first and second-hand accounts of horrors and human suffering not just limited to the 8 flyboys that take center stage. I can't think of a book that was so genuinely thorough as this one. Bradley takes the time to explore every facet of context for his readers - and I mean every facet. From the rise of Imperial Japan, to the Western colonialists that inspired it, to the plights of the American flyboy, to the abused Japanese common soldier, to the people back home in fear on either side of the Pacific, just about every perspective imaginable is researched and documented. I found myself bombarded with information every chapter and needed weeks to digest it all.
There are, of course, biases (because who exists without them), but I found an eagerness to understand the full scope of war and all it affects, even the perpetrators of violence. Not as a way to shift blame or excuse what was done. This approach reminds readers that nothing happens within a vacuum, especially not major events in human history, and reminds them to take a look at the sins of their own country before decrying another's so harshly.
Another one of Bradley's novels is in my bookshelf, and I'm definitely going to read it once I've given myself some time to process this one. I recommend this book to any WWII buff, especially those interested in a deep look at Imperial Japan and its troops, so often shrouded in mysticism by Western sources.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
lostinabookbrb's review against another edition
4.0
James Bradley tells the story of American airmen and the island of Chichi Jima. That is a really simplified summary bordering on insulting BUT it is not untrue. There's a lot of information about Japan's role in WWII which extends past Pearl Harbor. Bradley does his best to be objective and to see points from both sides but, understandably, his admiration for the Flyboys show through the book.
I recommend it to everyone, especially those interested in WWII.
I recommend it to everyone, especially those interested in WWII.
tashspice's review against another edition
3.0
As it is written, it feels like a compressed history of how the Flyboys won WWII in the pacific. It in that scope, it is able to also focus in on 8 airmen who were captured and killed in horrific manners on the island of Chichi Jima.
I think the most memorable parts of the book is former President George Bush's thoughts of his fallen comrades almost 60 years later, and the authors thoughts on veterans who have moved past the atrocities of WWII when younger generations have a harder time with the past. It really makes you think.
I think the most memorable parts of the book is former President George Bush's thoughts of his fallen comrades almost 60 years later, and the authors thoughts on veterans who have moved past the atrocities of WWII when younger generations have a harder time with the past. It really makes you think.
evamadera1's review against another edition
5.0
A review from my old blog...
When I started reading this book I thought that the Flyboys Bradley referred to were the Flyboys of WWI... like the movie. No, the Flyboys Bradley describes in this book are those of WWII.
Bradley begins the book with a brief overview of the history of the relationship between Japan and the United States. I treated the book with skepticism at the beginning wondering when Bradley would get around to talking about the Flyboys. I understood the background Bradley explained in his first book, Flags of Our Fathers. After all, he was talking about his father, along with several other men of course. The background Bradley gives his readers in this book while connected to the main story did seem somewhat extraneous though.
As I progressed through the book I became amazed with how objectively Bradley dealt with the facts of the war. He described the worst and the best of the Americans as well as the best and the worst of the Japanese. it's hard to hold sympathy with either side when both treat the others as if they weren't even human.
I am not an active anti-war campaigner but after reading about the atrocities of war committed by both sides I can easily see how a person can become such. So many people perished because of the egos and foolishness of a men.
I could hardly put the book down when it ended. Bradley spent many pages talking about the horrible deaths suffered by many of the Flyboys held as POWs by the Japanese after the fall of Iwo Jima. One compassionate Japanese officer when he learned that this Flyboy, Warren Earl, under his care had been ordered to be executed in such a brutal inhumane way, protected him as much as he could up until the moment of his death. Bradley alluded to something that this officer planned to do to remember this Flyboys memory but Bradley did not say then what it would be. Instead Bradley kept this precious bit of information until the very last sentences.
Bradley called this officer, Iwatake, first in his search for the Chichi Jima Flyboys. These are the words that Bradley heard. "Hello, this is Warren."
When I started reading this book I thought that the Flyboys Bradley referred to were the Flyboys of WWI... like the movie. No, the Flyboys Bradley describes in this book are those of WWII.
Bradley begins the book with a brief overview of the history of the relationship between Japan and the United States. I treated the book with skepticism at the beginning wondering when Bradley would get around to talking about the Flyboys. I understood the background Bradley explained in his first book, Flags of Our Fathers. After all, he was talking about his father, along with several other men of course. The background Bradley gives his readers in this book while connected to the main story did seem somewhat extraneous though.
As I progressed through the book I became amazed with how objectively Bradley dealt with the facts of the war. He described the worst and the best of the Americans as well as the best and the worst of the Japanese. it's hard to hold sympathy with either side when both treat the others as if they weren't even human.
I am not an active anti-war campaigner but after reading about the atrocities of war committed by both sides I can easily see how a person can become such. So many people perished because of the egos and foolishness of a men.
I could hardly put the book down when it ended. Bradley spent many pages talking about the horrible deaths suffered by many of the Flyboys held as POWs by the Japanese after the fall of Iwo Jima. One compassionate Japanese officer when he learned that this Flyboy, Warren Earl, under his care had been ordered to be executed in such a brutal inhumane way, protected him as much as he could up until the moment of his death. Bradley alluded to something that this officer planned to do to remember this Flyboys memory but Bradley did not say then what it would be. Instead Bradley kept this precious bit of information until the very last sentences.
Bradley called this officer, Iwatake, first in his search for the Chichi Jima Flyboys. These are the words that Bradley heard. "Hello, this is Warren."