Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: Not the typical WW2 memoir. Comes at things a little sideways, but the writing is suberb. One of the finest memoirs I have ever read, and I've read a ton of them. To have a writer of Manchester's caliber relate his personal experiences is truly unique. Highly recommended. And a great overview of the Pacific Theatre.
Rating:
Summary: A Glimpse Into Hell
Review: This memoir of fighting in the Pacific Theater was as personal and compelling as I have ever read. Manchester masterfully uses feel, touch, smell, sight, and sound, to capture the imagery of war-making in the Pacific. He combines a superb overview of the history with the very personal touches of his own experiences, so that the reader gets both historical perspective and a powerful sensual effect. He discusses candidly issues of war that are seldom talked about in straight historical discussion. He writes this memoir after returning to the islands in 1978, attempting to restore something lost after fighting there. When finished, you get the feeling you've made the journey with him, experienced something of his pain, and found something also.
Rating:
Summary: great read, hope you're up on your literature
Review: This is an excellent book, though, if you're like me and lack an advanced education, many of the literary and foreign language references are baffling. Not so bad that you can't get the jist of what the author means, but a challenge nonetheless. If you like first person oral histories, as I do, you'll love this book. I am happy to have it as an addition to my Pacific War collection.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Writing about War
Review: About one fourth of this book is dull biography, one-fourth is a mundane travelogue of World War II sites in the Pacific, and one fourth is an interesting history of the Pacific War. The remaining one-fourth consists of some of the best war writing I have ever read and thus "Goodbye Darkness" gets my highest ratings. Manchester has the skill and the insight to express events and emotions far beyond that of the ordinary soldier describing his experiences. Manchester was a Marine Corps Sergeant in an unorthodox front-line Intelligence unit during WW II. His baptism of fire was Okinawa where he was wounded twice -- once seriously -- during two months of combat. Most of the men in his squad were killed. Manchester strengthens my view that the U.S. Marines in World War II were among the finest combat soldiers that ever existed. But this is not a gung-ho book of combat tales of heroism and sacrifice. Manchester is equivocal about his service with the Marines and in the war. Writing the book was apparently a catharsis for him as he pours out feelings unexpressed for many years. In the final pages of the book, Manchester gives his insight about the reasons the Marines were capable of taking casualties in excess of 50 percent without ever giving up. First, they had been tempered by the hardships of the depression; secondly, in WW II the whole generation was in the war together -- most of the Marines in his squad were Ivy Leaguers, FDR's sons were in uniform, and the sons of important politicians were being killed alongside the sons of sharecroppers --; and third, nationalism, "the absolute conviction that the United States was the envy of all other nations, a country which had never done anything infamous...." Contrast those examples of why the U.S. won WW II with the situation today in Iraq. A reader can skip much of this book without loss, but Manchester's accounts of his own experiences in battle are exceptional and should go included among the classics of war literature.
Rating:
Summary: Read This Book
Review: Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War by William Manchester is a personal story of the Pacific War and its effect on an individual marine. Manchester, who is a superlative historical author, intersperses his war experiences from Guadalcanal to Okinawa with his more recent visits to the islands. The book is not a history of the Pacific War, although there is a lot of history in the book, but a very personal story that is played out with the War as a driving force. Manchester does a remarkable job letting the reader feel what it was like to be a Marine on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and many other battles. His best writing is saved for Okinawa. It is on this island where Manchester was severely wounded. Manchester describes the heroism of the American Marines fighting for inches at the costs of thousands of lives. What is compelling about the book is that Manchester puts the reader in the battle, feeling the feelings of the soldiers. For those that are interested in the Pacific War, or just want to read a personal account of the a soldier in battle, this book is a must.
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