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jiayuanc 's review for:
Generation Kill
by Evan Wright
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