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ihavenouseforit's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
stevem0214's review against another edition
2.0
Not that bad of a book, but the writing style was almost stream of conscience and I have a hard time reading that. It makes it hard for me to follow the story. Brutal time in our history and that is portrayed, just hard for me to read.
blackoxford's review against another edition
5.0
Damn Fine Killers
It’s easy to get lost in Heinemann’s detailed descriptions of lethal equipment, Vietnamese road maps, and soldierly recreations like dope, beer, and sex with the local prostitutes. Initially he provides explanations about the military terms, acronyms and patois that his protagonist Dozier/Deadeye/Flip deciphers as a raw replacement learning the trade. But gradually the explanations disappear as Dozier is absorbed into the culture of the American War in VietNam (there is however an appended glossary, apparently directed at those who were t around in the 1960’s).
This attenuation of explanation is part of Heinemann’s technique. The narrative moves from description to confession. The transformation begins slowly. Dosier is a member of a group of modern dragoons, mounted soldiers who can dismount and fight as infantry. He drives an Armored Personnel Carrier, a vehicle only nominally designed for human transportation and certainly not for creaturely comfort. The driver suffers the worst in his cramped space as he steers the rattling hulk by pulling on brake handles. The blisters, cuts, and pain start in his finger tips and progressively move throughout his entire body.
And with the physical changes produced by the job, the spiritual changes occur apace. The mixture of an alien culture, constant threat, drugs, the sudden death of comrades, and the procedural insanity of military life, re-shapes Dosier’s psyche. He documents the increments of what is essentially his re-programming in increasingly long paragraphs of existential vomit. As his body becomes accustomed to the vehicle, his soul becomes oriented to the job, which is simply survival.
The turning point is subtly signalled when Dosier takes leave of his homeward bound mentor, Cross. Cross gives Dosier his unofficial, unauthorised pump shotgun in exchange for Dosier’s standard M16. The shotgun is a far more primitive weapon than the automatic rifle. And that’s the point. Dosier has lost the habits of civilised life. He has become a journeyman of war, a murderer and torturer. The shotgun doesn’t kill as effectively as an M16 but it maims in a much more satisfying way. It’s victim suffers a great deal more before it dies. Receipt of the gun is a sign of his descent into savagery.
Dosier has learned how to hate. He hates the enemy of course. But he also hates the country of VietNam and all of its people, even the children. They’re all gooks, potential killers. He hates the housecats, the admin soldiers who never go outside the wire, have a cushy life, and make his a misery. He hates lifers, that os, career enlisted men as well as officers. He hates his black colleagues because the other white boys do. He hates the Army as an institution for putting him in a situation he can’t comprehend. By extension he hates the government that initiated the violent mess and the country that tolerates its continuation. Hate is his fuel. He runs on it. It keeps him alive. It helps to dim the horror of the “collage of death poses” after a big shoot out.
There is a cost however - Dosier has also learned to hate himself. He is largely unaware of his hate and the ghastliness of the dreams and fantasies it generates. He only sees it clearly in his comrades. Hatred is banal, squalid, and ugly, as well as casually violent. It constitutes a sort of self-immolation. Consumed by hatred, Dosier is effective. This is what it takes to make what the general calls “damn fine killers.”
Then the killers go home.
It’s easy to get lost in Heinemann’s detailed descriptions of lethal equipment, Vietnamese road maps, and soldierly recreations like dope, beer, and sex with the local prostitutes. Initially he provides explanations about the military terms, acronyms and patois that his protagonist Dozier/Deadeye/Flip deciphers as a raw replacement learning the trade. But gradually the explanations disappear as Dozier is absorbed into the culture of the American War in VietNam (there is however an appended glossary, apparently directed at those who were t around in the 1960’s).
This attenuation of explanation is part of Heinemann’s technique. The narrative moves from description to confession. The transformation begins slowly. Dosier is a member of a group of modern dragoons, mounted soldiers who can dismount and fight as infantry. He drives an Armored Personnel Carrier, a vehicle only nominally designed for human transportation and certainly not for creaturely comfort. The driver suffers the worst in his cramped space as he steers the rattling hulk by pulling on brake handles. The blisters, cuts, and pain start in his finger tips and progressively move throughout his entire body.
And with the physical changes produced by the job, the spiritual changes occur apace. The mixture of an alien culture, constant threat, drugs, the sudden death of comrades, and the procedural insanity of military life, re-shapes Dosier’s psyche. He documents the increments of what is essentially his re-programming in increasingly long paragraphs of existential vomit. As his body becomes accustomed to the vehicle, his soul becomes oriented to the job, which is simply survival.
The turning point is subtly signalled when Dosier takes leave of his homeward bound mentor, Cross. Cross gives Dosier his unofficial, unauthorised pump shotgun in exchange for Dosier’s standard M16. The shotgun is a far more primitive weapon than the automatic rifle. And that’s the point. Dosier has lost the habits of civilised life. He has become a journeyman of war, a murderer and torturer. The shotgun doesn’t kill as effectively as an M16 but it maims in a much more satisfying way. It’s victim suffers a great deal more before it dies. Receipt of the gun is a sign of his descent into savagery.
Dosier has learned how to hate. He hates the enemy of course. But he also hates the country of VietNam and all of its people, even the children. They’re all gooks, potential killers. He hates the housecats, the admin soldiers who never go outside the wire, have a cushy life, and make his a misery. He hates lifers, that os, career enlisted men as well as officers. He hates his black colleagues because the other white boys do. He hates the Army as an institution for putting him in a situation he can’t comprehend. By extension he hates the government that initiated the violent mess and the country that tolerates its continuation. Hate is his fuel. He runs on it. It keeps him alive. It helps to dim the horror of the “collage of death poses” after a big shoot out.
There is a cost however - Dosier has also learned to hate himself. He is largely unaware of his hate and the ghastliness of the dreams and fantasies it generates. He only sees it clearly in his comrades. Hatred is banal, squalid, and ugly, as well as casually violent. It constitutes a sort of self-immolation. Consumed by hatred, Dosier is effective. This is what it takes to make what the general calls “damn fine killers.”
Then the killers go home.
jasonsweirdreads's review against another edition
3.0
Close Quarters often times feels like a confessional presented in the form of fiction. A confession of what the author, Larry Heinemann, either did himself or witnessed his comrades do while serving his tour of duty in Vietnam. Or both.
The story almost moves from scene to scene like a documentary. Although the beginning felt rushed to me, as there was no harassing of the "New F#@cking Guy"--our protagonist and narrator--the rest of the novel has a brutal reality feel to it that is both shocking and sobering. I found it very difficult to read sometimes.
Very memorable and highly recommended if you're interested in learning about the mindset of a soldier at war.
The story almost moves from scene to scene like a documentary. Although the beginning felt rushed to me, as there was no harassing of the "New F#@cking Guy"--our protagonist and narrator--the rest of the novel has a brutal reality feel to it that is both shocking and sobering. I found it very difficult to read sometimes.
Very memorable and highly recommended if you're interested in learning about the mindset of a soldier at war.
catsbah's review against another edition
Wasn't for me. A bit too graphic for my taste.
fredosbrother's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
ericwelch's review against another edition
5.0
This is not a book for the faint-hearted. If you don't like graphic violence, the f-word, and ethnic slurs, lots of brutal and mind-numbing sex, you should leave right now. Categorized as a novel, I suspect many of the incidents in this book reflected Heinemann's personal experiences in "the Nam." This book brings new meaning to the "pornography of violence." One feels almost like voyeur, feeling slightly dirty while reading.
There is one scene that I think particularly illustrates the frustrations of the troops. The protagonist has been assigned to a half-track and one job was to patrol up and down ambush and mine laden highways. After one ambush, the pull off the road, back up, and call in an airstrike. Two Phantoms, one strafing, the other napalming, obliterate the enemy's position. After the strike, they pull 14 charred remnants of the enemy. One of the men goes berserk, smashing one of the dead enemy with the butt of his rifle, over and over again. The lieutenant, walks to the front of the "track" so he can honestly report he saw nothing. The soldier continues to vent his rage until the dead soldier has been smashed to a pulp. They leave the bodies lined up [b:on the road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21E8H3D1JSL._SL75_.jpg|3355573]. When they return the following day, they are all gone.
I've been reading this in concert (perhaps a poor choice of words) with [b:Word of Honor|33809|Word of Honor|Nelson DeMille|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168465638s/33809.jpg|3217470], [b:The Cat from Hue A Vietnam War, Story|444084|The Cat from Hue A Vietnam War Story|John Laurence|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174835735s/444084.jpg|432850], and [b:Black Virgin Mountain A Return to Vietnam|417337|Black Virgin Mountain A Return to Vietnam|Larry Heinemann|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174569068s/417337.jpg|406492]. I've read a lot of Vietnam books, but these four together provide a whole that I find startling in its tragedy.
Additional pertinent title: [b:And a Hard Rain Fell A GI's True Story of the War in Vietnam|916|And a Hard Rain Fell A GI's True Story of the War in Vietnam|John Ketwig|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157748749s/916.jpg|5137]
There is one scene that I think particularly illustrates the frustrations of the troops. The protagonist has been assigned to a half-track and one job was to patrol up and down ambush and mine laden highways. After one ambush, the pull off the road, back up, and call in an airstrike. Two Phantoms, one strafing, the other napalming, obliterate the enemy's position. After the strike, they pull 14 charred remnants of the enemy. One of the men goes berserk, smashing one of the dead enemy with the butt of his rifle, over and over again. The lieutenant, walks to the front of the "track" so he can honestly report he saw nothing. The soldier continues to vent his rage until the dead soldier has been smashed to a pulp. They leave the bodies lined up [b:on the road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21E8H3D1JSL._SL75_.jpg|3355573]. When they return the following day, they are all gone.
I've been reading this in concert (perhaps a poor choice of words) with [b:Word of Honor|33809|Word of Honor|Nelson DeMille|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168465638s/33809.jpg|3217470], [b:The Cat from Hue A Vietnam War, Story|444084|The Cat from Hue A Vietnam War Story|John Laurence|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174835735s/444084.jpg|432850], and [b:Black Virgin Mountain A Return to Vietnam|417337|Black Virgin Mountain A Return to Vietnam|Larry Heinemann|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174569068s/417337.jpg|406492]. I've read a lot of Vietnam books, but these four together provide a whole that I find startling in its tragedy.
Additional pertinent title: [b:And a Hard Rain Fell A GI's True Story of the War in Vietnam|916|And a Hard Rain Fell A GI's True Story of the War in Vietnam|John Ketwig|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1157748749s/916.jpg|5137]
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