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Fields of Fire (Mass Market Paperback) (平装)
by James Webb
| Category:
Novel of the Vietnam War, Historical fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 108.00
MSL price:
¥ 98.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
An amazing journey back to a time of confusion and significance when the U.S. was exerting its last gasp into the mutated conflict known as the Vietnam War - through the experiences of a group of diverse, interesting characters. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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Doug Vaughn (MSL quote), USA
<2007-05-10 00:00>
James Webb is a terrific writer. As a former marine infantry soldier who experienced the war in Viet Nam first hand, he could have taken that experience to extremes as some writers have, either exaggerating the Gung Ho comeradere of the soldier's experience or attacking the war itself as a meaningless and senseless horrer. Instead, while showing clearly the dehumanizing effects of terror and hardship that marines in the field experienced, he manages to make the reader care about the characters - even while honestly presenting them with their many faults. He doesn't turn his head away from brutality and inhumane actions on the part of his characters. Rather he creates a world where normal values have to be put aside in favor of survival, and even those characters one might dislike initially because they are crude, viscious and stupid, take on an almost larger than life image as they survive and help their buddies survive.
Webb can really write. This is a book told with the authority of one who was actually there and has thought long and hard about his experiences. The characters are skillfully drawn, the action of the story moves forcefully forward with few lulls and the descriptive passages and dialogue are so right on that one really believes that this is real - these people, these actions.
This is an excellent book and should be appreciated both by those who had the first hand experience and those who didn't. |
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Uitlander (MSL quote), USA
<2007-05-10 00:00>
I am not widely read in war novels, but this one carries the flavor and angst of Vietnam as well as its dilemmas. Webb scallops the line between hero and murderer to the point of invisibility. His characters live their mostly brief lives on the edge of rage and desperation, cockiness and cool.
Fields of Fire provides glimpses of what it takes to be a fighting man. The Marine Corps can standardize them in boot camp, but the really superb ones have it in their bones - a natural alacrity that keeps them forever watchful and reactive.
Finally, if anyone wonders why combat soldiers re-up, the author demonstrates the reasons. It must be a huge rush to perform this perilous, bloody work, do it well and cheat the grim reaper. No other job is as real, no bonds of fealty are stronger. Thank you Mr. Webb, for all your services. |
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-05-10 00:00>
Those who were born beneath the Line will appreciate this, as will those Northerners who still remember the line between the good guys and the bad guys. Men are thrust into war, for the most part--and we should remember that these days as the bullets fly. Mr. Webb shows us here the American warrior's spirit: reluctant, but resolute; other wise engaged, but ready to do his duty. Better than the standard set before ("Thin Red Line" comes to mind), this novel gives us war as he knew it, and he knew it well. Purchase this to know what Americans can do and what Americans can be in a horrible situation. |
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Schmerguls (MSL quote), USA
<2007-05-10 00:00>
This book took me a while to get into, what with the tape-recorder-like gutter language and the awful things its characters went thru and their tomcat morals. But it screams authenticity to me, which may not mean much since I was never in Vietnam. But the haunting moral dilemmas faced by the protagonists cannot help but inspire thoughts such as: what would I have done in a like situation? While Robert E. Lee Hodges is the central character, Goodrich ("the Senator") faces the more agonizing situations. Read the book, and you decide. But don't let the grime and the horror keep you from getting to its overpowering ending.
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Kenneth Potter (MSL quote), Japan
<2007-05-10 00:00>
This book is perfect for introducing young Marines to combat literature. Not only is it well plotted, but it deals with situations that Marines are likely to encounter in combat. It entertains and it teaches. It is a great book to spark discussions about courage in combat, the necessity for obedience to orders, about war crimes and numerous other topics.
I buy this book every Christmas for all my Corporals and below and I have Professional Military Instruction every January based on it. |
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Paul Bertolone (MSL quote), USA
<2007-05-10 00:00>
Mr. Webb was among the first to tell of the war from the gritty, unglamorous viewpoint of the field Marine, the grunt. The book chronicles the operations of a rifle platoon operating in Vietnam at the height of the war, and the story circles around a young lieutenant who strives to survive and serve his rowdy band of drafted Marines while still completing the mission. Webb has an unusual writing style, but it works well within the story, especially the "street" style dialogue of the young combatants that depicts the manner in which Vietnam era Marines spoke. Unlike shelves of blase, feelgood snorers of military fiction out there, this book stands apart as one of the truly great war novels of all time. It is a must read for anyone who served or is currently serving. |
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-05-10 00:00>
Very well written, interesting book on the war and those who conducted it. Mr. Webb presents the incongruities of the participants in a fashion that demands notice if not understanding. Exhilarating action and drama with honest (I think) insight of personal conflict brought on by differing perspectives. An excellent book and a good read that will surely keep you riveted. |
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-05-10 00:00>
This book opened up the Vietnam war to me like few other books have. We get to spend a tour with a group of people from all walks of life, cast into a common hell as soldiers in Vietnam.
We walk beside them as they endure endless, seemingly fruitless, patrols. We feel their uncertainty, live with the filth, fear, bravery, triumph, and tragedy of combat. Get to know each man as a person and get inside his thoughts, fears, and motivation. Share the camaraderie, and feel the pain. And, tragically, feel shame for a country that little appreciates or understands their sacrifice.
Fields of Fire is extremely powerful and a little graphic (but not gratuitously so), at times funny, often poignant and sad. This is not just a war story, but a magnificent commentary on war and society, and all can understand and benefit from it's message. |
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Charles Sheehan (MSL quote), USA
<2007-05-10 00:00>
This is a remarkable book. Gripping, vivid, frightening. More than just about any other war book I can think of, Fields of Fire peels back the thin veneer of civilization and shows the muck underneath.
War isn't pretty, and books that make it appear so aren't just banal - they do a disservice to those who serve in future wars, as well as those who send them there. James Webb, on the other hand, tells it like it is - bloody, brutal and final.
As a Gulf War veteran and a writer (Prayer at Rumayla), I have long admired Webb for his incredibly good story. |
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Jason (MSL quote), USA
<2007-05-10 00:00>
This book should be required reading in college history classes. It is an amazing look into what was a difficult time in American history and tells the story of several soldiers in Nam in such a way that the telling of this story will stay with you forever. The Vietnam war was a conflict this nation had never seen the like of before or since and this book is a must read for any one who harbours any illusions that the soldiers over there were doing wrong. They were our citizens, sons, brothers and fathers and the way this nation disregarded them makes me ashamed and glad I wasn't yet born to bear witness.
Anyways, I recommend this book and give it five stars. I also give thanks to the troops who servered there and did their best in a fubar'ed situation and I grieve with them for their losses. |
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1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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