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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
Truly a wonderful read and a look into how the American war machine has changed yet also stayed the same. It’s also a look into how our government treats its most precious yet vulnerable assets, the young fighting man.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
tense
fast-paced
Wright's writing does get better once he gets past some of the early explainations of the marines and his early days embedded with them. Mostly I just find the sort of way that male journalists who embed with the military, and not always, but it seems like a tendency to be over performative in describing the exceptional masculinity of particular military units and the way Wright talks about how he sees himself as more daring than other journalists and wanting to fit in with the marines...like if you're writing a book about marines there is already going to be enough immature posturing and chest thumping, we don't need a journalist who either has gone native or desperately wants to go native joining in.
But I will say that after the first part of the book that does sort of fall away and we get some very real, raw and conflicted portraits of the experience of the marines and the early days of the Iraq War. So the book did end up redeeming itself.
But I will say that after the first part of the book that does sort of fall away and we get some very real, raw and conflicted portraits of the experience of the marines and the early days of the Iraq War. So the book did end up redeeming itself.
dark
funny
informative
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, War
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
I had no idea how closely the show follows the book; so much of the dialogue is lifted directly from what people actually said, which is fascinating. Wright does a very good job explaining what's going on, why, the nuances and confusing nature of what it's like being on the ground, uncertain of what's going on. His perspective felt (to me) very matter-of-fact and nonjudgmental; he was simply reporting his experience and what he saw as the way the men of First Recon reacted to their experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Violence, Islamophobia, War
A coworker gave me this book to read after we were talking about David Simon, who was a writer for the HBO miniseries based on the book, and about people we knew who had been in the marines. I didn't enjoy the book, but slogged through it out of politeness. Probably a bad reason. I stopped about 100 pages before the end, too. The book is way too long, I think. We don't really need to live the entire 2 months with him.
The author was embedded with Marines invading Iraq for two months at the start of the Iraq war. He doesn't pull any punches in describing what he saw. It's very graphic. Very. One of his main accomplishments with the book is that he explores the killing and death and its impacts on the men who are doing it.
What was glaringly missing from the book is the context of the war. He throws odd bits of information from outside his direct experience in here and there, but some discussion of the history of Iraq would have been good. He describes in detail the mess of the cities he drives through with the marines (a mess because they've just been bombed by US forces) and other communities they encounter along the way. And he presents his and the marines' perceptions of the country, but there isn't any effort into creating an Iraqi context: what the country (or even just the cities and communities they rolled through) looked like before the invasion, the impact of the 90's Gulf War and US sanctions on the country and its infrastructure.
The author was embedded with Marines invading Iraq for two months at the start of the Iraq war. He doesn't pull any punches in describing what he saw. It's very graphic. Very. One of his main accomplishments with the book is that he explores the killing and death and its impacts on the men who are doing it.
What was glaringly missing from the book is the context of the war. He throws odd bits of information from outside his direct experience in here and there, but some discussion of the history of Iraq would have been good. He describes in detail the mess of the cities he drives through with the marines (a mess because they've just been bombed by US forces) and other communities they encounter along the way. And he presents his and the marines' perceptions of the country, but there isn't any effort into creating an Iraqi context: what the country (or even just the cities and communities they rolled through) looked like before the invasion, the impact of the 90's Gulf War and US sanctions on the country and its infrastructure.
Watched the series before reading the book. Both were so dang good and the TV show followed the book really closely, even down to the same dialogue. I loved that.
Notes:
Apparently WWII soldiers didn't always fire back at enemies such as at the beach of Normandy.
The temperatures only got up to the 80's over there and that was hot?
I'm glad he explained the breakdown of Marine ranks.
The men most trusted in a platoon are the enlisted team leaders.
The reporter chose to ride with Ficks company because he was the most enthusiastic.
I like how there are different backgrounds for the Marines. They're not cut from the same cloth.
I love how much Colbert gets mad at Perssons.
I don't like General Fernando. He just wants to climb the ranks and save face.
I'm surprised that the soldiers cry in front of each other. I thought they'd be too tough to do that.
I wonder if any of these Marines served with Chris Kyle or Marcus Luttrell or the other famous SEALS.
Notes:
Apparently WWII soldiers didn't always fire back at enemies such as at the beach of Normandy.
The temperatures only got up to the 80's over there and that was hot?
I'm glad he explained the breakdown of Marine ranks.
The men most trusted in a platoon are the enlisted team leaders.
The reporter chose to ride with Ficks company because he was the most enthusiastic.
I like how there are different backgrounds for the Marines. They're not cut from the same cloth.
I love how much Colbert gets mad at Perssons.
I don't like General Fernando. He just wants to climb the ranks and save face.
I'm surprised that the soldiers cry in front of each other. I thought they'd be too tough to do that.
I wonder if any of these Marines served with Chris Kyle or Marcus Luttrell or the other famous SEALS.
