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wolfsonarchitect's review against another edition
5.0
Guard of Honor, a 1949 Pulitzer Prize winner by James Gould Cozzens is a wonderful, leisurely read! It is social commentary set on an Air Force base in World War II. With subtly and nuanced observations, it looks at racism, gender roles, and personality differences. I reflected on the challenge and resulting absurdities of trying to bring so many civilians into military organization to fight a war. The novel's detail about everything military from policies to airplanes provide the reader with an experience paralleling a civilian's on joining the military. This is an overlooked gem.
wathohuc's review against another edition
3.0
Took me a little more than two weeks to get through this Pulitzer winner. Partly, that was because it was over 600 pages long, partly it was because it was less plot driven and more heavily character driven and heavily descriptive of the most minute details. In the end, you are left with the sense that you really got nothing for the effort. The writing was decent, but there really wasn’t much in the way of transformative moments or events. Stuff just kinda happened and the officers just kinda muddled through. You are always expecting some watershed moment or some defining event that just never really materializes. Instead you just get little bits of stuff that add up to the usual problems and mistakes and interactions of a weekend on a military training base.
You want Carricker to get disciplined. You want the black soldiers to stick with their protest against the segregation they face, you want Edsell to have his defiant do-gooder resentments come back and bite him on his rear, you want Mowbray to be held accountable for his incompetent leadership, you want Gen. Beal to be a more engaged leader, etc. But you get nothing in terms of what you want and expect. Nothing changes. And all you are left with is a bunch of nice words on a page and much more knowledge about the technical details of military rank, base life, and aircraft design.
Pulitzer worthy? No, I’d say not. Decent writing, sure. But it lacks substance. To me, it’s no wonder it’s out of print.
You want Carricker to get disciplined. You want the black soldiers to stick with their protest against the segregation they face, you want Edsell to have his defiant do-gooder resentments come back and bite him on his rear, you want Mowbray to be held accountable for his incompetent leadership, you want Gen. Beal to be a more engaged leader, etc. But you get nothing in terms of what you want and expect. Nothing changes. And all you are left with is a bunch of nice words on a page and much more knowledge about the technical details of military rank, base life, and aircraft design.
Pulitzer worthy? No, I’d say not. Decent writing, sure. But it lacks substance. To me, it’s no wonder it’s out of print.
mnreece's review against another edition
3.0
If you’re going to read this, do it quickly. With so many characters and tiny details in this 631 page book, you will get lost and the story will drag tremendously. However reading it quick means you get to enjoy a well thought out and interesting take on the military during WWII. Obviously, I enjoyed the book but I do think Cozzens was a bit wordy when he didn’t need to be.
mahsdad's review against another edition
4.0
Won the Pulitzer in 1949. Told over 3 days in 1943 at an Army Air Force base in Florida. It tells a much different story about WWII. It a slice of life story of the war that you don't usually see. It starts with a near collision of a couple airplanes (won being flown by a general) that leads to a fist fight that leads to racial tensions between black and white airmen. It explores, the bureaucracy of command, race and gender relations and segregation's in the deep south in the 40's. Its a long book with a lot of characters, that I thought was a worthwhile read.
buzzgirl's review
2.0
The first time I read Guard of Honor, I thought it was a good story, if a bit lead-footed. My second sitting has not gone much better. It is a long book - not always easy reading- with many subplots and minor incident piled on minor incident. Though it is claimed to be one of the most accurate portrayals of WWII I just couldn't be drawn by it - a luxury perhaps allowed to generations beyond the Vietnam War.
unrelatedwaffle's review
1.0
I tried, I really tried to like this book, and there were several moments where I really did enjoy myself, and then I would find that my mind was drifting away for the umpteenth time as a litany of characters I really should have had a mental picture of by page 300 droned endlessly about technical army information a civilian would never really be interested in. Honestly, I barely had any idea who anyone was, which made me singularly unable to care about any of them.
I even read a review here to see if anything interesting or mind blowing happened at the end of this book that would make it worth slogging through, (I hate spoilers as a general rule), but apparently it does not. Life's too short, read elsewhere.
I even read a review here to see if anything interesting or mind blowing happened at the end of this book that would make it worth slogging through, (I hate spoilers as a general rule), but apparently it does not. Life's too short, read elsewhere.
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