jdcaballero

I was rather amazed at how real this book felt. The characters are all entertaining but it's their dialog that feels so real and honest that it draws the reader in. Myers was in Vietnam and, I assume, drew heavily on his own experiences for this book. While it is awful and violent, it isn't overwhelmingly so, often portraying the boredom of sitting around in camp and focusing more on the feelings of the characters rather than their actions. In fact, the mediation between feeling and action is rather nice because it provides a really good look at what was going on in Vietnam and how people were dealing with it. I'm also starting to listen to Sunrise over Fallujah which is a pretty interesting comparison. While the culture and the technology are completely different, with the exception of the M-16's, they are both wars that are trying to be humane- to attack the enemy and spare the civilians, with rather disastrous results. I think that both are an excellent way to understand how the U.S. military works in these "little" wars overseas. Perhaps part of the responsibility of us left at home while these soldiers go out is to be aware of what they are going through and how we allow our country to operate and represent us.

2022-11-14 18:41