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Title: Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles by Anthony Swofford ISBN: 0743235355 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: March, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.43
Rating: 1
Summary: One Brave Guy!
Comment: In "Jarhead" Anthony Swofford paints a vivid, albeit surreal, landscape of a Marine snipe/scout in the desert of the first Gulf War. Without regard for demeaning himself in the eyes of Marines who actually saw combat, he shows us the horror and psychological damage one can sustain from the natural consequences of war: the needless destruction of civilian infrastructure, death of men, comrades and, apparently worse, several camels.
He tosses a veritable incoherent word salad as he attempts to describe the confusion, angst and even light-hearted moments of the modern combat soldier. "... I throw the pear, and when it lands, sand attaches to the moist fruit, like memory to the soft parts of the brain." Obviously, his attempt falls well wide of the mark.
Swofford lets it all hang out, sparing us, his readers, nothing. Twice, we are told, that his fear was such that he urinated on himself. The fact that in his four-day war, he saw no actual combat is of no moment. This is a man brave enough to say that some of us, particularly in these trying times, are a little prone to urinating on ourselves for causes both internal and remote.
Swofford speaks in a voice, neither altogether strange nor familiar, that whispers of timelessness, of being beyond the transcendent effervescence of purpose. Reading his words we feel his knowing eye peering into his deepest, most personal self, violating his defenses, tearing them away with his reason and leaving him face to face with his intimate deceptions. Can any war be justified? He forces us to confront with him things at the very nature of, and composed within the all encompassing All, struggling to free himself and become known. He tells us that "The warrior always fights for a sorry cause." In other words, Swofford's view of the Gulf War will be embraced and applauded primarily by new age, counter culture flakes. Others will see the book for what it is.
Thank you Mr. Swofford for this book and your war, the likes of which no real Marine and no civilian with a sense of honor or self pride has seen before.
Rating: 2
Summary: No news in this memoir.
Comment: I read the glowing reviews of this book. Being a Marine myself and having been forwarned in reviews that it was a gloomy portrait of war, I was not surprised by any of the anecdotes or opinions of the author. Swoffard is a good writer. His prose is smooth and solid. But his account is by no means representative of the Marine Corps or even the typical Marine. His news that Marines get in trouble and do bad things is no news at all - the Marine Corps, as dismayed Mr. Swoffard found out, is a microcosm and a reflection of society in general. For example, some abusive Drill Instructors get prosecuted and kicked out; others get coddled. Some Marines like Swoffard stay in for over 20 years and make the Marine Corps their career; others are just like Swoffard - they do one tour and leave, disillusioned. This book should be treated for what it is: A single Marine's experiences and opinions; not what it implies. The disappointment with Swoffard's book lies in his implied indictment of the Marine Corps as a whole. His book misleads because one should never judge any group, whether a race, religion, gender or the like, based upon the experiences or opinions of ONE person from that group.
Rating: 5
Summary: A great book, I think
Comment: I just finished the book this afternoon and happened to hear Swofford speak at the LA Festival of Books yesterday. I also just spent the last few minutes going through all the reviews posted here. It seems the former Marines who vouch for his account out number those who don't, but I'm not a former Marine and can't say for sure he is telling it like it is. Regardless, it is a heck of a read. I mention seeing Swofford yesterday because some reviews seem to question Swofford's loyalty to the Corp. I can say my strong impression yesterday from what he said and how he acted was that he is still very proud to have been a Marine.
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Title: Baghdad Express: A Gulf War Memoir by Joel Turnipseed ISBN: 0873514505 Publisher: Borealis Books Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Hunt for Bin Laden by Robin Moore ISBN: 0375508619 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: An Army at Dawn: The War in Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson ISBN: 0805062882 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: 02 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: The Pearl of Kuwait by Tom Paine ISBN: 0151005184 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Of Paradise and Power: America Vs. Europe in the New World Order by Robert Kagan ISBN: 1400040930 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 28 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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