Reviews

From Here to Eternity by James Jones

sharonsueg's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0

Stopped reading after chapter 19 (30%).

terrypaulpearce's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Amazing book. Should be more widely known. Just completely took me into the characters' heads. Deserves to be more of a classic.

ajreader's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0

Read my full thoughts over at Read.Write.Repeat.

I cannot for the life of me understand why this book is on the Best Novels list. Unlike Ulysses, it had no deeper symbolism that I could recognize. Maybe it just wasn't my genre, but even still, I wish there had been more plot to focus on. To me, bar hopping and saving money for the whorehouse counts little for a real plot.

jamesdanielhorn's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

From Here to Eternity was for me worth the time it took to read. This is long as hell and not for everyone. The book details army life in the late 30’s for those stationed in Hawaii in exquisite detail and there is some absolutely stunning prose throughout. There is also tons of misogyny, racism, and toxic masculinity, but to me it never feels like the author believes in those things as much as he’s reporting on what the people around him were like during his time there. I’ve been a little sick of books with anti-hero protagonists as of recent, but this one didn’t bother me. I genuinely got to like and felt connections with many of them despite their flaws. Keeping all this in mind is the best way to decide whether to invest in this novel or not, but for me, it was quite enjoyable.

tac107's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Wow, what a story. I always assumed that Catch-22 was my favorite war novel because it was so darkly funny. This book is, in some ways, funny, but it's even darker than Catch-22. It's like that book but maybe half as funny and twice as upsetting. But it's great, and it's a journey, and the ending is so satisfying and appropriate for the story. I can see that some people might be turned off by the length (800+ pages) but it's really worth going through that journey with the characters.

sam_el's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Jones was clearly a fine writer, but he was in desperate need of a good editor. He's entirely too self-indulgent in this novel and he has clearly never met an adverb he didn't like. He often uses two adverbs in a row. He uses them liberally unsparingly. The self-indulgence comes from overly purple descriptions and an obnoxious habit of repeating himself for effect, but so much to the point of driving the reader crazy.

Nevertheless, this is a good look at the Army just before Pearl Harbor and a good editor would have made this novel fantastic.

brdgtc's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Read this immediately after The Naked and the Dead, so I'm about done with books about soldiers and their thoughts on women for a while. If you want to be disabused of some of your rose-colored beliefs on "The Greatest Generation" I suggest the combo, however.

dotorsojak's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

4 stars firm

Not having seen the film for more than 2 decades, on a whim, because I love war fiction and because I want to read more books written and published during the decade of my birth, I bought and sat down to read this famous novel.

It did not disappoint, though it frequently irritated me.

As everyone knows, there are two main characters, Milton Warden (from Connecticut) and Robert E. Lee Pruit (from Harlan, Kentucky). These men are complex and their inner lives are treated seriously even as we get the impression that JJ (Jones the author) is also judging them and sometimes judging them harshly.

As I read I did not remember the movie well at all. I knew that Sgt Warden must be the character played by Burt Lancaster and that Prew must be Montgomery Clift. Of course who doesn’t remember the movie still of Lancaster kissing Deborah Kerr? So Kerr must be Karen Holmes. Otherwise I remembered nothing of the plot of the movie. Oh, yes, wasn’t there a knife fight? Between whom? Over what? I didn’t know.

The book is a hyper masculine—yet quite critical—look at the US Army right before the US’s entry into the Second World War. It is set in Hawaii, in fact at Schofield barracks, where Toni’s father was himself stationed a couple of decades later.

stacykins78's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I loved the writing in this book. It was written in the late 40s and published in 1950. It takes place up at Schofield Barracks and in various places around Oahu. Every single character in this book is flawed and there are quite a few tragedies that befall them. There are different storylines going at the same time and for me, when the plotlines finally intertwined, it left me wanting something bigger and something more. I read the original version...not the censored one that was initially published. All in all a good read. A little taxing at times, but it was good.

dogearedandfurry's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

My Kindle copy says 957 pages - it's the longest thing I can remember reading, but I'm finally done.