Dispatches (Picador)
£2.30
Flawless - Without meaning to sound like some 20P tabloid review.This book is a must read. It s perfect.
Quite simply, Astounding - If you re a fan of films like Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, you ll appreciate the origins of the cynical, drugged out view of Nam. The style of writing is direct and conversational, while still managing to portray the madness of the war. What makes this account most compelling is not the political backdrop or the quiet criticism of the army s conduct during the war, but the rich tapestry of wacky characters Herr came into contact with, Kilgore and Kurtz pale in comparison.Essential reading.
Pure stream-of-consciousness genius - If you re looking for a straight ahead factual narrative of the Vietnam war, then look elsewhere (please do, that sort of book needs to be read). If you re looking for a book that captures the disjointed, hilarious, terrifying and disgusting only partly comprehended reality of the war from the point of view of a closely involved non-combatant, then please read this masterpiece. Some of the best English-language prose of the last forty years is in this book. I d put my mortgage on it.
On balance, a valuable glance at the war in Vietnam. - A very vivid account of what life on the ground was like in Vietnam. I have some knowledge of the war, which was at times necessary to understand a number of references in the text. Hence, I d suggest reading a more conservative history of the conflict before taking on Dispatches .The sections at the beginning and end of the book are rather garbled and I did not enjoy reading what, in my opinion, represent little more than rather pretentious ramblings. However, these do not form a large proportion of the text, and the rest is very good and incredibly atmospheric. The battles at Khe Sahn and Hue are featured and I have never read anything that conveys the spectrum of experiences and views of the men involved, both soldiers and reporters, as well as this book. A considerable achievement in fewer than 300 pages.
Frenetic, flickery-eyed genius - This is the sort of writing that tosses into a mixing bowl the fluid, stream-of-consciousness style of Kerouac and the clear-eyed cynicism of Conrad. The end result is often confusing, garbled, shocking, violent, disconnected, but is an eye-opening account of what it feels like to be fighting an unwinnable war. This is not the strategy, logistics, politics and posturing that often surrounds our modern view of the Viet Nam War. It is what it was really like for the American fighting man on the ground, regardless of how you feel about the morals of the war or those men in the first place. And it also provides some uncomfortable parallels between what happened in Viet Nam then and what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan now.