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A review by thisotherbookaccount
A Midnight Clear by William Wharton
3.0
Full disclosure: I read this book while being slightly under the weather. I caught something during a trip to Indonesia and, while it wasn't anything serious, it did affect the way I read this book. If I had read this book with a clearer mind, perhaps I'd have rated it higher. Nonetheless, you don't choose when you get to fall sick so, sorry Wharton.
Anyway, I will tell you what I like about A Midnight Clear. Having been through the military, Wharton does a great job at recreating what it is like out in the field. The banter between the soldiers are perfect, and the things we do to entertain ourselves in between actions is true to life as well. There is a line somewhere in the book about how the war is mostly just soldiers sitting around and waiting for things to happen. I've never been to war before, but military training is more or less the same. You sit around and wait for something to happen. There was a real sense of familiarity while I was reading the book.
However, as true as it is that the military is most a bunch of waiting around, it doesn't translate quite well to the book. There are entire sections of this book where literally nothing happens, and you are stuck in the wintry landscape with our characters, just waiting for something — anything — to happen. As realistic as that might be, it doesn't make for a particularly good read. It also doesn't help that all six characters have nicknames, and the writer uses nicknames and real names interchangeably. It's bad enough that I was reading this while being a little high on medicine, it's worse that I had to figure out who's who on the page. I admit that it got a bit confusing for me.
But I think the core of the book is good. It is about how wars are mostly fought by people at the top, with us lowly soldiers as dispensable pawns. Most of us don't actually want to fight. Most of us just want to not die, and it doesn't matter which side of the battle lines you are on. I think there is a tragedy in this book that is expertly masked by the tragic-comedy approach by the writer, and that's a brilliant way to drive the message home. I just wished that I wasn't ill while reading this book, and that the middle sections of the book didn't feel so bogged down by endless descriptions of sentry shifts and bridge games.
Anyway, I will tell you what I like about A Midnight Clear. Having been through the military, Wharton does a great job at recreating what it is like out in the field. The banter between the soldiers are perfect, and the things we do to entertain ourselves in between actions is true to life as well. There is a line somewhere in the book about how the war is mostly just soldiers sitting around and waiting for things to happen. I've never been to war before, but military training is more or less the same. You sit around and wait for something to happen. There was a real sense of familiarity while I was reading the book.
However, as true as it is that the military is most a bunch of waiting around, it doesn't translate quite well to the book. There are entire sections of this book where literally nothing happens, and you are stuck in the wintry landscape with our characters, just waiting for something — anything — to happen. As realistic as that might be, it doesn't make for a particularly good read. It also doesn't help that all six characters have nicknames, and the writer uses nicknames and real names interchangeably. It's bad enough that I was reading this while being a little high on medicine, it's worse that I had to figure out who's who on the page. I admit that it got a bit confusing for me.
But I think the core of the book is good. It is about how wars are mostly fought by people at the top, with us lowly soldiers as dispensable pawns. Most of us don't actually want to fight. Most of us just want to not die, and it doesn't matter which side of the battle lines you are on. I think there is a tragedy in this book that is expertly masked by the tragic-comedy approach by the writer, and that's a brilliant way to drive the message home. I just wished that I wasn't ill while reading this book, and that the middle sections of the book didn't feel so bogged down by endless descriptions of sentry shifts and bridge games.