The Forever War by Joe Haldeman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Forever War
Book Review: An awesome adventure and scifi Nam experience
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is cool. Get a look into how much a country and a person can change during war. The earth Mandala returns to after each combat tour mirrors what it must have been like to return to the U.S. from Nam after so much social change in the 60s. The bureaucratic shenanigans do not change in the future, and in the end, nobody thanks the soldier for defending them from nothing. The joke's on you. I was somewhat disappointed in the ending, but on the other hand, I was impressed with the ending before the ending. A fun, recommended read.Book Review: An intelligent and compassionate story of soldiers at war
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Forever War," by Joe Haldeman, is a science fiction novel with an interesting history. The 2003 Eos-HarperCollins edition includes an Author's Note in which Haldeman declares this to be "the definitive version" of the novel, and discusses its serialization and previous editions. He also notes that in a sense the book is about the Vietnam War. The copyright page notes that the book was originally published in 1974.
The story begins in 1997. William Mandella, an earthman born in 1975, is drafted to fight in humanity's interstellar war against a mysterious species known as the Taurans. He undergoes intense training and begins his career as a combat soldier. But the time distortion caused by interstellar travel has a profound effect on the soldiers in this war. While Mandella seems to be living out a normal human lifespan, the earth he leaves behind ultimately ages (relativistically speaking) at a much more rapid rate.
Mandella tells his story in the first person. He's an appealing, tell-it-like-it-is hero. The book is full of fascinating technical details about futuristic interstellar war, particularly regarding tactics and hardware. The training and combat scenes are well-written. But in the end it's a very down-to-earth, human story. Haldeman offers an intriguingly satirical view of war, the military, and societal change. Particularly interesting is Mandella's progress coping with the evolution of human sexuality over the centuries.
A blurb about the author identifies Haldeman as a Vietnam vet and adjunct professor at MIT. I greatly enjoyed this novel; in the end I found it to be uplifting and life-affirming. As a work of art, it may be even more relevant now as U.S. troops continue the missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. And I believe that this book will continue to remain relevant decades from today.
Book Review: Annoying sex issues
Summary: 4 Stars
Would've been a masterpiece if it weren't for the annoying sex issues (orgies, sleeping rosters, homosexuality, etc). The story didn't benefit from it and it might put off some readers.
Apart from that, this is a great sci-fi military book, all the action and hardware of Starship Troopers with none of Heinlein's right wing ramblings.
Highly recommended.
Book Review: Back to the World... literally
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow. What an excellent collection of reviews. Proof, if it were needed, that Sci Fi fans are a cut above your average Joe and Josephine.Yes, The Forever War is a Vietnam allegory, and one of the ways in which it succeeds mightily is in the way our hero becomes increasingly alienated from his HomeWorld, and re-enlists.
Of the two-tour Vietnam Vets I know, including two Army Nurses, they all said the same thing - that they could no longer identify with the World they had returned to and felt that the familiar madness of Vietnam beckoned them infinitely more.
TFW is a fascinating book in the way it portrays the Einsteinian temporal paradoxes and their effects on Earth and Earth Forces in the field, fighting many light years away. The impossibility of having effective real-time command and control from Earth is just one of the factors that makes the war seem pointless.
Many Vietnam Vets found that Time seemed to pass at a different rate In Country compared to the States (which they called The World). Only when you entered your Short period, when you got down to your last 99 days, when you became a two-digit midget, or your last 9 days, when you became a one-digit midget, did Time begin to resume any kind of linear perspective.
While it's true to say that the only good thing about war is its ending, war is not always futile. When it is undertaken without a very clear attainable objective, i.e. something which makes it 'winnable', such as the Forever War and the Vietnam War, there is a crushing sense of futility, which comes across well in this book.
Book Review: Bittersweet and realistic view of war.
Summary: 5 Stars
The author has used a technological prop (discussed above) to enhance the burden forced on all combat veterans, which is that you truely cannot go home again. The writing is very realistic, and I could just feel the energy of being in the military from it. Having been prior service, this really impressed me. Many books about the military (Starship Troopers being one) are either superficial or self-aggrandizing: aka "Wow, lets blow things up!", or "I am a real man because I am a soldier."
This book travels the dirt road that all grunts have to walk. Taking risks for no apparent reason. Losing friends suddenly and violently. Not being able to relate to your family or friends in "the world" upon your return. It is all here, and yet, so is the powerful hope and resilience of spirit present in man.
I hope you buy this book, and enjoy it as much as I did.