callumdann's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
zachyw's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
gingerrachelle's review
2.0
As a rule, I don't read "war" books. I read books set during war usually the civil war. This is the first official war memoir that I've read and I don't really know how to rate it. I didn't like it but it's about war so... Anyway, I really found myself feeling some kind of way about the author saying he basically signed up to go to Vietnam because it sounded romantic and he was bored with his dull suburban life. I think he uses romantic to describe war half a dozen or more times.
Also, there is a line in the book that says " a nervously energetic black named McClellan." So even if the rest of this book had been next level awesome I would never have been able to get over that line.
A Black! A Black! Like yo!
Also, there is a line in the book that says " a nervously energetic black named McClellan." So even if the rest of this book had been next level awesome I would never have been able to get over that line.
A Black! A Black! Like yo!
zetasyanthis's review
3.0
I originally read this for a class, but I've kept the book since. This is a hard read, full of pain that likes of which you can barely imagine. I hope writing it brought him at least a little peace, though. >.
ssindc's review
3.0
Not sure why it took me so long to get around to what is considered one of the "classic" retrospectives on the Vietnam War. I'm guessing that it was Marlantes' (terrific) Matterhorn that prompted me to look back at what I'd missed. (So many books, so little time.) I read Dispatches long enough ago, that it's tough to compare, but I can understand why they're often part of the same discussion. Obviously, this is a highly personal account of a horrible point in time in a miserable place. (There are still times when I shake my head that I somehow successfully completed a military "career" without being shot at or firing a shot in anger.) Caputo is an experienced journalist - so it's no surprise that the prose is clear and unvarnished and raw - and for that reason - effective and compelling. In the end, I'm glad that there's so much of this type of biography (and auto-biography and literature) out there so that my two sons (who can read books like Walter Dean Meyers artfully done Fallen Angels and his Sunrise Over Fallujah) won't need to grow up in a world where war is glorified and its human costs ignored.
saras's review
5.0
Brilliant. Everyone needs to read this. It was so vivid and intense; it brought the war fully to life. He tells everything, including numerous episodes that do not reflect well upon him.
More...