2006 books

[peteryoung]

56) Anthony Swofford, Jarhead, 2003
I have a default preference for books on war that are told from the perspective of those who had it done to them rather than those who did it, but Jarhead falls emphatically into the latter category. Swofford, a Marines Lance Corporal sniper in the Gulf War, opens with the observation that even anti-war movies are, almost by definition, pornography for the military. There is obviously some overlap here, as the average jarhead's secondary obsession – casual sex – seems to get almost as much of an airing as the conduct of war. There's a suppressed masculine aggression throughout that I found both fascinating and repelling, but it's interesting that the book ends in a noticeably repentant, almost pacifist, minor key. Swofford also has an unsentimental and unflinching economy in his writing that makes this book impressive and memorable, but for entirely uncomfortable reasons.

Comments

[voidampersand.livejournal.com]

I've heard him on the radio. He was very calm and thoughtful, but what he had to say was intense. I'm not sure I'm ready to read the book, but I'm glad you liked it.

I'm not surprised he is a Marine. The Marines, because they are a front-line fighting force that operates with less equipment and support, tend to have a lot of creative non-conformists. Most of them don't become writers, of course.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

creative non-conformists

Apt. Many of them sound like complete nutters, just on this side of being dangerously anti-social. Just what the forces need, in other words.

The Truth Shall Set You Free

[godelescherbach.livejournal.com]

It might have been a better book if he had told more of what happened and less his amusing little fictional stories. Thus sayeth Marines I know, including some that were in his unit.

Your local neighborhood ex-military nutter.