mayoroffailure's review
2.0
I want to make one thing clear before I begin my review, I am thankful to men like Mr. Corbett for what they do for our country and I certainly acknowledge the importance of the sacrifice that every member of our armed forces engages in. With that said, what did I think of West Dickens Avenue?
It's alright but it suffers from a lack of focus. Generally, when a veteran decides to write a memoir on their experiences it is because he or she wants to tell the story of a particular mission or set of missions. Occasionally, they also do it to explain the idiosyncrasies of war or explore some sort of theme among the enlisted men and what they experienced. There wasn't anything like this in West Dickens Avenue, it's clear that Mr. Corbett wanted to tell the experience of being at Khe Sanh when the siege began but it doesn't seem like he had a particular reason to do so.
There are a lot of good moments in this book, the evening of the first shelling, the surrender of an enemy lieutenant, the mortar dual, his near-death experience, and a handful of other moments in the book were either very entertaining or very fascinating to read and try to visual what it would have been like. Aside from those moments though, not much really happens at all. Most of the book is intensely boring to read, recycled moments of morning shelling, asking questions about if he will be injured, and lots and lots of doing nothing of note.
This is an aspect of war that can be done very well, you can look to something like Jarhead for a great depiction of what waiting around for action can look like. Instead, Mr. Corbett just describes these events and it's very very boring to read. There are only so many times that hearing how lucky your foxhole is can remain interesting. What is probably the most frustrating is that through the whole book the writing is setting up some massive attack of ground forces from the enemy, Mr. Corbett is constantly worried that at any moment the enemy will finally attack the base with all they have.
This never happens, there is a brief moment where a small force of NVA come through the lines but that's really the only time we hear about combat occurring between his Marine division and the enemy. Now, you may think it's unfair that I criticize the fact that this is what really happened, that they were never attacked on a wide scale while Mr. Corbett was there, allow me to explain. Even if you are writing a memoir you should still have a basic understanding of how to tell a story and how your audience will read and react to the various beats of that story.
Given that this is a true story, and we hear how Mr. Corbett feels directly at numerous points through the book, to bring the main conflict of the story to a close it was necessary to tell us how he felt when they never attacked. Hearing how relieved, confused, angry, or whatever emotions he felt regarding this issue are very important to provide catharsis to the reader over the suspense built up waiting for the encounter with the enemy. Instead, it simply doesn't happen, he leaves Khe Sanh and the book is largely over.
Additionally, this book doesn't chronicle the entirety of his service, when he left Khe Sanh he still had about half a year to serve before he could go home. In the closing chapters of the book, he tells us, in extremely brief detail, about all the operations he was involved in and a number of the crazy things he saw or encountered. These stories he briefly mentions also happened sound much more interesting to read than three-fourths of what happened during his time at Khe Sanh. I'm really not sure why he omitted them considering they comprised more of his time in country than what was told to us.
The quality of the writing in the book is alright, here I am much more forgiving given the fact that most, if not all, of these authors, haven't written before and are simply seeking to make sure what they went through isn't forgotten. In fact, I found the way the book was written to be very interesting, it isn't narrative or any form of traditional prose. It reads almost like a direct stream of consciousness. It's as if Mr. Corbett is attempting to place the reader into his head as he experiences what happens, it makes for some extremely interesting moments but also ends up working against him when it's used to describe all of the boring moments that make up most of this book.
I think that Mr. Corbett knew two things, he knew he wanted to tell people what he went through, and he wanted to make sure to explain what happened at Khe Sanh. However, I don't think he was sure how to do it, most of the decisive moments of Khe Sanh happened chronologically after he's done describing his experience, and as a result, there isn't much actual meat on the bone for the story he wants to tell. I think he would have been much better served if he had told us his whole experience, he says he went to Vietnam for adventure, but he leaves out what seems to be the most interesting moments.
It's alright but it suffers from a lack of focus. Generally, when a veteran decides to write a memoir on their experiences it is because he or she wants to tell the story of a particular mission or set of missions. Occasionally, they also do it to explain the idiosyncrasies of war or explore some sort of theme among the enlisted men and what they experienced. There wasn't anything like this in West Dickens Avenue, it's clear that Mr. Corbett wanted to tell the experience of being at Khe Sanh when the siege began but it doesn't seem like he had a particular reason to do so.
There are a lot of good moments in this book, the evening of the first shelling, the surrender of an enemy lieutenant, the mortar dual, his near-death experience, and a handful of other moments in the book were either very entertaining or very fascinating to read and try to visual what it would have been like. Aside from those moments though, not much really happens at all. Most of the book is intensely boring to read, recycled moments of morning shelling, asking questions about if he will be injured, and lots and lots of doing nothing of note.
This is an aspect of war that can be done very well, you can look to something like Jarhead for a great depiction of what waiting around for action can look like. Instead, Mr. Corbett just describes these events and it's very very boring to read. There are only so many times that hearing how lucky your foxhole is can remain interesting. What is probably the most frustrating is that through the whole book the writing is setting up some massive attack of ground forces from the enemy, Mr. Corbett is constantly worried that at any moment the enemy will finally attack the base with all they have.
This never happens, there is a brief moment where a small force of NVA come through the lines but that's really the only time we hear about combat occurring between his Marine division and the enemy. Now, you may think it's unfair that I criticize the fact that this is what really happened, that they were never attacked on a wide scale while Mr. Corbett was there, allow me to explain. Even if you are writing a memoir you should still have a basic understanding of how to tell a story and how your audience will read and react to the various beats of that story.
Given that this is a true story, and we hear how Mr. Corbett feels directly at numerous points through the book, to bring the main conflict of the story to a close it was necessary to tell us how he felt when they never attacked. Hearing how relieved, confused, angry, or whatever emotions he felt regarding this issue are very important to provide catharsis to the reader over the suspense built up waiting for the encounter with the enemy. Instead, it simply doesn't happen, he leaves Khe Sanh and the book is largely over.
Additionally, this book doesn't chronicle the entirety of his service, when he left Khe Sanh he still had about half a year to serve before he could go home. In the closing chapters of the book, he tells us, in extremely brief detail, about all the operations he was involved in and a number of the crazy things he saw or encountered. These stories he briefly mentions also happened sound much more interesting to read than three-fourths of what happened during his time at Khe Sanh. I'm really not sure why he omitted them considering they comprised more of his time in country than what was told to us.
The quality of the writing in the book is alright, here I am much more forgiving given the fact that most, if not all, of these authors, haven't written before and are simply seeking to make sure what they went through isn't forgotten. In fact, I found the way the book was written to be very interesting, it isn't narrative or any form of traditional prose. It reads almost like a direct stream of consciousness. It's as if Mr. Corbett is attempting to place the reader into his head as he experiences what happens, it makes for some extremely interesting moments but also ends up working against him when it's used to describe all of the boring moments that make up most of this book.
I think that Mr. Corbett knew two things, he knew he wanted to tell people what he went through, and he wanted to make sure to explain what happened at Khe Sanh. However, I don't think he was sure how to do it, most of the decisive moments of Khe Sanh happened chronologically after he's done describing his experience, and as a result, there isn't much actual meat on the bone for the story he wants to tell. I think he would have been much better served if he had told us his whole experience, he says he went to Vietnam for adventure, but he leaves out what seems to be the most interesting moments.
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