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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
I saw the miniseries on HBO when it came out, and then we picked up a copy of the actual book it was based on. Generation Kill, either the series or the book, is an amazing, profane, hilarious, heart-stopping, heart-wrenching look at war, the military, and what we send our young men to do. It's well worth a read, for those who support war or don't, because you can take from this account many things to support your point of view no matter what it is. What you'll mostly take from it, though, is how important it is to support our veterans because what they give up for us is astonishing.
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
Gripping first-hand account of the first invasion of Iraq in March/April 2003 as told by Rolling Stone reporter Evan Wright. Imbedded with the elite 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the USMC, Wright paints the lives of soldiers in the field, from the rationing of MREs, wearing sweaty MOPP suits, and passing around well-loved issues of pornographic magazines, to the more frightening, intense and considerably more jarring events like road blocks, calling in danger-close air strikes, and armed "civilian" ambushes. The narrative delivers conversations and emotions with raw honesty, and explains the missions and intents in superb detail.
I never thought I would be into reading something about a bunch of military guys, but I was hooked from the beginning. When I was able to pick it up, I couldn't put it down. It may have taken me like four months to read the darn thing, but that was more an issue of spare time than lack of piqued interest. It had its laugh-out-loud moments, and it had its nerve-wracking moments. There was even one or two moments where I almost cried (because I'm a GIRL. And at least one of those, it turns out, I just misread the first time, haha). All in all, though, they all add up to awesome moments, windows into a life to which not all of us are privy. We may all know the war, and we all have our opinions of it, but being able to see it this way, out on the frontlines of WAR, is a whole other animal. Let's face it, the whole book, the whole narrative was pretty f**king ninja. ;)
I never thought I would be into reading something about a bunch of military guys, but I was hooked from the beginning. When I was able to pick it up, I couldn't put it down. It may have taken me like four months to read the darn thing, but that was more an issue of spare time than lack of piqued interest. It had its laugh-out-loud moments, and it had its nerve-wracking moments. There was even one or two moments where I almost cried (because I'm a GIRL. And at least one of those, it turns out, I just misread the first time, haha). All in all, though, they all add up to awesome moments, windows into a life to which not all of us are privy. We may all know the war, and we all have our opinions of it, but being able to see it this way, out on the frontlines of WAR, is a whole other animal. Let's face it, the whole book, the whole narrative was pretty f**king ninja. ;)
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
This is one of the best books I've read this year. Absolutely incredible. Totally wild that a reporter ended up getting embedded with the Recon Marines who were the tip of the spear for the invasion of Iraq. He brought a wonderful and fresh perspective to everything.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
I really loved the vibe of reading this book, even when it got really dark and even when it made me feel gross or made me cry. I was a child when this happened, so this sort of "through the eyes of" first hand account of the invasion and the sack of Baghdad was both historical and visceral for me. Growing up I was always "told" that we did the right thing in Iraq; throughout my education I learned to ask why, and at the ripe old age of 30 I'm still asking why, why, why - why did we do this?
I got a bit bored at times with the repetitive focus kind of the same action; I would have definitely preferred more "character studies" of the marines. I also thought the timeline was really unclear; I didn't realize that from start to finish, it had only been a few weeks.
I felt Wright's reporting was astonishingly neutral for a man who was clearly left-leaning, and I think he was as surprised as I to find himself siding with the Marines on some issues which I, twenty years removed and a soft-skinned person, never would have. His observations were keen and given without judgement, and he yet he provoked a lot of questions that I still think beg answers: for what reason, other than hubris, did we do this? Not only to the Iraqi people, but to the "disposable children" (as he calls them) of our own military? For what reason, what good reason, did we storm in uninvited, and put these men in the position of wreaking havoc, or losing their own lives?
The thoughts and feelings of the young men are diverse and interesting, and I think books like these are important because they force us to consider perspective, and whose stories need to get told. Do we ignore the bloody narratives like this because we (or I) feel that the US, as an invading force, was an unmitigated guilty aggressor? Or do we dive into the nuance and pick apart the smaller pieces of the narrative itself - because these men, most of them, are just a smaller sample of humans at large; they had vastly different reasons for joining the Marines, they felt vastly different ways about the US, its goals, etc. - but all of them had the rug absolutely fucking ripped out from under them. And some were only children. And some came home to countries that didn't care, or worse, assumed every US Marine was just a redneck, uneducated jarhead who joined to "Get some," and never considered that maybe, maybe, that callous attitude was born out of a gruesome need to cope with what they had seen, and what they were asked to do.
Wright details the push towards Baghdad with almost cold detachment, but his efforts to understand the mentality of the Marines, some of whom were true believers, and some of whom just ended up there, and were trying to survive and cope, is sincere. It's refreshing. It's definitely a dark and uncomfortably book, but it's also funny, and heartfelt. I think these stories are important.
I got a bit bored at times with the repetitive focus kind of the same action; I would have definitely preferred more "character studies" of the marines. I also thought the timeline was really unclear; I didn't realize that from start to finish, it had only been a few weeks.
I felt Wright's reporting was astonishingly neutral for a man who was clearly left-leaning, and I think he was as surprised as I to find himself siding with the Marines on some issues which I, twenty years removed and a soft-skinned person, never would have. His observations were keen and given without judgement, and he yet he provoked a lot of questions that I still think beg answers: for what reason, other than hubris, did we do this? Not only to the Iraqi people, but to the "disposable children" (as he calls them) of our own military? For what reason, what good reason, did we storm in uninvited, and put these men in the position of wreaking havoc, or losing their own lives?
The thoughts and feelings of the young men are diverse and interesting, and I think books like these are important because they force us to consider perspective, and whose stories need to get told. Do we ignore the bloody narratives like this because we (or I) feel that the US, as an invading force, was an unmitigated guilty aggressor? Or do we dive into the nuance and pick apart the smaller pieces of the narrative itself - because these men, most of them, are just a smaller sample of humans at large; they had vastly different reasons for joining the Marines, they felt vastly different ways about the US, its goals, etc. - but all of them had the rug absolutely fucking ripped out from under them. And some were only children. And some came home to countries that didn't care, or worse, assumed every US Marine was just a redneck, uneducated jarhead who joined to "Get some," and never considered that maybe, maybe, that callous attitude was born out of a gruesome need to cope with what they had seen, and what they were asked to do.
Wright details the push towards Baghdad with almost cold detachment, but his efforts to understand the mentality of the Marines, some of whom were true believers, and some of whom just ended up there, and were trying to survive and cope, is sincere. It's refreshing. It's definitely a dark and uncomfortably book, but it's also funny, and heartfelt. I think these stories are important.
I would say this is a counterpart to Band of Brothers in terms of how it captures the attitude, atmosphere, and scope of the war it describes. Check out the T.V. show to see Fruity Rudy and the rest of the companies in all their glory.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Read this book because it is really well written. It is VERY revealing of the kind of war that is being fought over there and has been being fought from begining. Evan Wright seems to do a good job of being middle of the road in his reporting of things. He does not shy from portraying the brutality of this new kind of warfare.