The Thin Red Line by James Jones Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Thin Red Line
Book Review: The eyes of heroes
Summary: 5 Stars
The "greatest generation" is not praise enough for the men of WW2. The death and destruction they had to live through was unthinkable and never again was America committed to a war that soldiers had to serve in duration plus six months. Mr. Jones certainly explains the feel to the battle of Guadalcanal and what was in soldiers minds. The novel is a study in depth of all feelings and thoughts placed upon the combatants. I would highly reccomend this novel to all that want a feel of WW2. I haven't read better. Book Review: Every Man Fights His Own War
Summary: 5 Stars
I salute this author for his writing talents of transporting us literally into another space and time that not many of us will ever know of.
I can only imagine the horrors of what our fathers went through.
I can only hope that I should one tenth as brave as they were.
I can only hope that it never happens again.
Jones' use of the written word in this work is comparative in a way to the late, great Thomas Wolfe, and another- Virginia Woolf
as lyrical poetry in a technical development.
Five Stars.
Book Review: Utterly Amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
The book The Thin Red Line, written by James Jones, is the one story that makes readers see through the eyes of World War II soldiers. This book lets the reader know the mental and physical hardships of being a soldier. Within the first twenty pages of the book, James Jones gets the reader hooked. He makes the reader crave for more after each sentence, not just by amazing writing and a great story line, but also by making the reader have sympathy towards the characters of the book. If a person wishes to see into the life of a soldier's life, then this is probably the best book that person can read. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I hope that you will too.Book Review: Fiction?
Summary: 5 Stars
It's difficult to write a book about soldiers at war. There are always many characters, the ranks are confusing, the description of the battles must be very accurate otherwise the reader will be lost. If it's fiction, the author must be very careful not to, unwillingly, transform his book in a re-telling of other, more commonly known battle events. James Webb managed to write a very good book about soldiers at war, "Fields of fire". Cornelius Ryan wrote a series of excellent non-fiction books about the second World War in its European Theatre.
"The thin red line" is about the battle of Guadalcanal, an island of the Solomons chain and an important base in the south Pacific Ocean, between the american and the japanese troops.
"The thin red line", by author and ex-combatent James Jones, was brought under the spotlights once again more recently after cult director Terrence Mallik transposed it to the big screen, for the second time, in 1998 (the first time was in 1964). The movie is visually beautiful, long, and insightful, with extraordinary development of its main characters. The book does not have visual resources, but Jones' fast prose, moving from character to character, from battle scenes to the long nights spent in the open, all this makes the reader "watch" what is happening with his or her mind, just like it was a movie.
Jones knows what he is writing about. He was there, he did that. And he is intelligent. War battles are not much different, one from another (except if you are actually there, of course). So, Jones technic is to write unusually long chapters, to make the reader feel involved with the environment, with the people of C-for-Charlie Company. All the characters, with no exception, have, contrary to the chapters, unusually short names - four or five letters at most. Witt, Fife, Bell, Dale, Stein, Tall, Bosch, Bead, Gaff, just one syllabe, they are easy to remember and their sonority makes the reader instantly recognize the person associated to the name. Also, the brevity of the names reminds us of the brevity of the lives of his characters, fighting unexpected death at every moment.
"The thin red line" is fiction, but barely. The last sentence of the book gives Jones away. It's fiction in the sense of characters ann their development, and building atmosphere. It is very good fiction, really a masterpiece. And it's a true account on the horrors of war. Fiction and truth, ballanced. Enjoy both parts.
Grade 9.0/10
Book Review: The Thin Red Line, Decent But No Masterpiece.
Summary: 3 Stars
The Thin Red Line brings us back to the battles at Guadalcanal during WWII. The book follows various soldiers in Charlie Company. The book depicts war very well, getting quite graphic at times. The author focuses on the pain of those wounded, describing the gruesome wounds very thoroughly. This really gets the theme of the book across; war is hell. Besides this there are a quite a few things I didn't like about how the book was written. The author is constantly switching to different characters. This is good in a way but doesn't allow the reader to fully meet or feel for a certain character. For instance, in a week I won't be able to recall a the character's name very easily. Another thing I didn't like was the author's constant focus on battle strategy. It was over the top with strategic references, constantly filled with dialogue between officers talking about flanking, etc. This can get confusing for the average reader. I also was disappointed in the description of the setting. I would have liked to learn more about what the island looked and felt like so I could picture myself being there.
Besides this I do admire James Jones for writing this book. He shows us how horrible war is through this book. More particularly, he shows us the war in the Pacific, which isn't as focused on in the media as the war in Europe. I especially wanted to learn about Guadalcanal since my grandfather was on the frontline there. James Jones was successful in showing us Guadalcanal, but did an average job.