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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
informative
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
Wow. This book is powerful. The HBO series does a wonderful job adapting it, but you really need to read Wright's account to get the full feel of it. He doesn't turn it bias, which is wonderful, though he does interject his opinions here and there - mostly reflected by the soldiers.
The afterward and epilogue affected me so much and just...wow. Amazing war story.
The afterward and epilogue affected me so much and just...wow. Amazing war story.
dark
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Riveting book about the realities of war. Thoughtfully observed, incredibly difficult. I had to keep setting it down to break out of it. Required reading.
dark
emotional
funny
informative
sad
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
funny
informative
fast-paced
Difficult book to rate. A very honest piece of work; the HBO miniseries was "funny" but this was somehow even more so, very quick read though it does sober the read up with sombre mood changes when Wright sets in to describe the civilian casualties.
Wright tries his best not to insert too much of his own commentary and really allows what he saw to play out on the page -- he is just there to document. Adds a lot more context to the episodes in the HBO miniseries. A lot of the things I thought must have been exaggerated for television seem to have been "real life" and were written by Wright as they happened in the book. I appreciate this book as it strips away from the mythologizing of conflict; it is much more gritty and dare I say: likely this was more in line with what combatants are truly like, yes even those from the so-called 'greatest generation' were not all 'classy' sunshine good mannered 'boys' as depicted in the other HBO Band of Brother series.
Wright tries his best not to insert too much of his own commentary and really allows what he saw to play out on the page -- he is just there to document. Adds a lot more context to the episodes in the HBO miniseries. A lot of the things I thought must have been exaggerated for television seem to have been "real life" and were written by Wright as they happened in the book. I appreciate this book as it strips away from the mythologizing of conflict; it is much more gritty and dare I say: likely this was more in line with what combatants are truly like, yes even those from the so-called 'greatest generation' were not all 'classy' sunshine good mannered 'boys' as depicted in the other HBO Band of Brother series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
This book follows twenty three Marines from the First Recon Battalion. Evan Wright was embedded with the Marines and wrote a very popular article in Rolling Stone Magazine about the Iraq Invasion. This has been on my to read list for quite some time, and I have been avoiding anything about modern warfare for personal reasons. I finally got around to reading this, and I was not disappointed. I thought this was a very engaging depiction of modern warfare and wartime experiences. I will comment that I would have the worst time getting along with some of the people you are forced to get along with. Some of these guys have insufferable personalities. Otherwise, I enjoyed this book. There is a miniseries on HBO under the same title that I plan to watch.
Read it- then watch the HBO series based on the book. One serves to enhance the other.