The Thin Red Line by James Jones Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Thin Red Line
Book Review: Powerhouse of a novel
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, this is my favorite novel because of Jones' plain-spokenness and natural feel for the speech and behavior and motivation of ordinary men thrown into war. The book, unlike similar attempts by better remembered authors, keeps its ambitions simple, and thus more attainable: documentation of the state of mind of individuals in battle. And it pulls it off royally with a wealth of memorable characters with wildly varying reactions and motivations.One unusual and overlooked aspect of it is the comedy. Not a "black comedy" of "military absurdity" of the "anti-war" literary strain, but hilarious looks at the idiosyncracies and drives of men - Jones had a feel for the little things that we can't stand about ourselves and others that madden us like no other writer I've run across, and it's on prime display in this book: Don Doll's goofy dalliance with a subordinate and his struggle to become a "man", with all the display it entails; Fife's inability to suppress his terror and the subsequent self-loathing; Witt's twisting in the winds of his own vicissitudes and clumsy idealism; Welsh's putting on the face of a sociopath to guard himself from the horror of slaughter and the psychically disastrous proposition of caring for others in the wartime infantry. Nobody is spared - Jones puts each character's psyche under the microscope like no one else could. Jealousy and callousness rear their ugly heads.
In this realm, Bell is perhaps the only character a reader can sympathyze with (though, this being Jones, he has his faults) - he's a solid soldier who's conscious of and repelled by his own automatization and the brutality of what's going on around and within him. His opposite is the seemingly inhuman Charlie Dale, who relishes in becoming a savage and as such excels. The battle scenes are riveting and often heartbreaking, but the internal battles are what matter most here.
You'd also be amazed at how funny it is when a character is described as "long picklenosed, mean, and meanlooking" before each mention of his name in the narrative.
All told, this is probably the best, most genuinely impassioned, most devoid of cheap sentiment and haughty "intellectual"/political horsecrap work of fiction I've read. Distilled humanity and wrenching verisimilitude - THE enduring combat novel of WWII.
Book Review: Psychobabble
Summary: 1 Stars
I couldn't finish this book. It did nothing for me. I was bored from the start. No insights into the human psychic in my opinion, nothing of any value about men at war. The Movie was even worse. Compared to Saving Private Ryan, it couldn't hold a candle. You can show the stark reality of warfare and still maintain the dignity of the men who fought and died. It's distasteful to diminish the memory of these men because of acts of savagery. In Warfare men fight to survive, you can't hold that against them. Humanity is the missing factor when forced to kill or be killed. I do not recommend this book or the Movie unless you like psychobabble. Although the Movie version of `From Here to Eternity' is certainly one of the finest. (Probably because of the acting talent.)Book Review: War in Men
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is not about men at war as much as it is about war in men. It is about war alright...a war with fear for some, with jealosy for another, a war with death for another, war with faith for yet another. Every one of those C-for-Charli company has a war...not only with the unseen Japs and their deadly hidden machine guns...but also with themselves. In order to win the war with the outside enemy, they have to win a war with the inside enemy, the humanity in them, and they must lose the war against the animal in them... The story has its share of tactics and warfare...but its main concern is with the men at this war...and the war in these men. A truey wondrful read...Book Review: Ugh!
Summary: 1 Stars
I had high hopes for this book but it turned out to be one of the worst books that I have ever read. It was tortuously slow, tedious and pretentious. I did not care about the characters. The author was consumed with providing trivial meaningless details and the battle scenes while at times compelling were inconsistent. Some were too long and some were too short. I found myself skipping entire sections of the book to try to get to interesting points. All in all--a disasterBook Review: Great War Fiction
Summary: 4 Stars
I must admit to one thing. I read the first 80 pages and put this down for a while. After a month I picked it up again and was glad I did. Jones tells such a vivid story. He goes from character to character so well, and shows you what they feel, fear, and fantasize about. Yes it is slow, and yes if you saw the movie you might never wish to read this (I read the book long before the movie), however you will not be sorry once you have finished it.