lannan's review against another edition
5.0
So many people complaining about the characters, the ending, the whatever. My understanding is that there is only one character in this book, and all the people moving about their stories, wondering, talking, doing or not doing, are all just faces of that one character, the only one that matters: the war itself.
The end didn't irritate me, it walked in time to the very real marching tune of emotional exhaustion, belligerent meaninglessness, and smaller, hometown violence that has been claiming every corner of America for over a decade. War has no closure - why should Scranton give us any? If he did, the book would have been one big lie.
I wanted to knock off a star for the second half of the book, which was somehow a little less powerful than the first. Like Wilson, like Matt, I wanted something, anything, to break the tension, but it never came. But I think that may have been the point, too. I experience the thing, and then what? Do I want it to pat me on the back and tell me I did a job well done? This is not one of those books. It makes you uneasy - "who decides things?" - and it leaves you there in the dust to sort it out on your own.
The end didn't irritate me, it walked in time to the very real marching tune of emotional exhaustion, belligerent meaninglessness, and smaller, hometown violence that has been claiming every corner of America for over a decade. War has no closure - why should Scranton give us any? If he did, the book would have been one big lie.
I wanted to knock off a star for the second half of the book, which was somehow a little less powerful than the first. Like Wilson, like Matt, I wanted something, anything, to break the tension, but it never came. But I think that may have been the point, too. I experience the thing, and then what? Do I want it to pat me on the back and tell me I did a job well done? This is not one of those books. It makes you uneasy - "who decides things?" - and it leaves you there in the dust to sort it out on your own.
not_mike's review against another edition
4.0
Hardcover. A brutal, honest, and awfully sad look at the Iraq conflict.
lllem00n's review
dark
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
whatsheread's review against another edition
In War Porn, Roy Scranton looks at the second Iraq war from the perspective of three very different people at three different times in the war. The stories are extremely powerful. Moreover, it makes you look at the war and its impact in a whole different light.
Mr. Scranton has a way with words. He introduces each change in narrator with a hybrid stream of consciousness and poetry vignette that make for some of the most powerful sections of the entire book. Within each narrative, he paints a picture. Depending on the main character of that interlude, this picture is by turns idyllic, ominous, and downright frightening. The characters he creates are equally intense and realistic. Moreover, he does a fantastic job of explaining life in Iraq before and during the war.
The best part is that somehow Mr. Scranton never takes sides when it would be so easy to do so. He presents the corruption and fear of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq as a matter of course. He captures the fear of the impending occupation. He describes the US military presence and its attempts amid the confusion and bigotry that exists. He shows the impact the tension, fear, and confusion have on returning veterans and their struggle to assimilate to society as well. Through them, he places the reader into the action and creates an entirely new method of experiencing the war.
Mr. Scranton’s scathing look at the second Iraq war from various perspectives should end up being the definitive novel of that war. In it, he spares no one or nothing from his fierce gaze. The fact that Mr. Scranton spent fourteen months in Iraq with the Army only serves to lend credence to his characters and their experiences. The reading experience is brutal and uncomfortable but extremely important to understand both sides of the conflict. War Porn is not a novel that one can recommend on the basis of reading enjoyment but rather for importance to current events.
Mr. Scranton has a way with words. He introduces each change in narrator with a hybrid stream of consciousness and poetry vignette that make for some of the most powerful sections of the entire book. Within each narrative, he paints a picture. Depending on the main character of that interlude, this picture is by turns idyllic, ominous, and downright frightening. The characters he creates are equally intense and realistic. Moreover, he does a fantastic job of explaining life in Iraq before and during the war.
The best part is that somehow Mr. Scranton never takes sides when it would be so easy to do so. He presents the corruption and fear of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq as a matter of course. He captures the fear of the impending occupation. He describes the US military presence and its attempts amid the confusion and bigotry that exists. He shows the impact the tension, fear, and confusion have on returning veterans and their struggle to assimilate to society as well. Through them, he places the reader into the action and creates an entirely new method of experiencing the war.
Mr. Scranton’s scathing look at the second Iraq war from various perspectives should end up being the definitive novel of that war. In it, he spares no one or nothing from his fierce gaze. The fact that Mr. Scranton spent fourteen months in Iraq with the Army only serves to lend credence to his characters and their experiences. The reading experience is brutal and uncomfortable but extremely important to understand both sides of the conflict. War Porn is not a novel that one can recommend on the basis of reading enjoyment but rather for importance to current events.
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