Rating: 
Summary: my review
Review: I thouroughly enjoyed reading this book and was very positively impressed by it. It is a great plot that captures the reader's attention to the very last page. It combines details of war and specifics on ship handling with human interactions under such "close quarters" and romantic relationships. It is all written in a way that never feels overly detailed and the reader just wants to learn more. The central theme, the "mutiny" is very cleverly worked up to and during the event, it is very well presented in parts so as not to seem too boring. This is definitely a classic.
Rating:
Summary: A CLASSIC BY WHICH ALL WAR NOVELS SHOULD BE JUDGED
Review: NOVELIST/PLAYWRIGHT HERMAN WOUK, with THE CAINE MUTINY, WINDS OF WAR, and WAR AND REMEMBRANCES, has established himself as just about the finest wordsmith in America. In MUTINY, he manages to bring a sense of drama to the endless daily onboard paperwork that is a necessity in running a destroyer-minesweeper during a major confrontation such as World War II. A dispatch not delivered gives newly-detached Ensign Willis Seward Keith a blot on his record, although the news of an impending transfer of a new captain has little or no effect on the war effort, albeit a complete change of personality on the bridge of the Caine. Ensign Keith is the vox popular, but the drama is fought out among the higher ranking officers: Capt. Philip Francis Queeg; Executive Officer Steve Maryk and Lt. Tom Keefer. Queeg, who has now become a byword for any executive promoted beyond his ability that succumbs to stages of paranoia (President Nixon, for example), is in turn quixotic, tyranical, appalling, and pathetic. In a surprise turn toward the end of the book, he is finally presented as tragic-heroic. Maryk, self-conscious about his own lack of formal education, becomes the man-on-the-griddle when his good judgment of ship handling and limited judgment of character are set at odds during the mid-Pacific typhoon of December, 1944. Keefer, undeniably the most brilliant man aboard ship, is shown to be the manipulative Iago whose revenge of a petty slight (told by the new captain to cut out spending Navy time on his novel-writing) sets lives and careers at peril, and nearly retreats into the darkness unpunished. A glass of whiskey thrown in his face, however, sets in motion a complete alteration in his self-perception--and his eventual downfall. Wouk, who himself commanded a naval vessel, achieves an incredible balance between the more obscure naval jargon of World War II and its translation through the civilian-turned-naval mind of Willie Keith. It is greatly readable without being in the least patronizing of the civilian mind. It is a war-within-a-war, where the rules and master plan were "designed by geniuses for execution by idiots."
Rating:
Summary: Compelling.
Review: This is one of the best novels I've ever read. I couldn't put it down, and finished it in a weekend.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite novel ever
Review: Please read this book.
I was assigned it in high school English, and thought, "Oh great, another war book." I took it home, began my first 4 chapter assignment, and realized 3 hours later that I was halfway through it. I finished it the next day. That was ten years ago, and I have been rereading it at least twice a year ever since. I read it to my husband on a cross-country journey and the miles went by like nothing. It never fails to involve me, and I never fail to be moved by the ending.
A few reviewers have said that the book is hard to understand, or that there is too much military jargon, but there really isn't; there was nothing in there that a seventeen-year-old girl couldn't understand (at least, a seventeen-year-old who knows how to spell "squat".)
This book is powerful, funny, insightful, and moving. Don't pass it up.
Rating: 
Summary: profoundly odd
Review: One hesitates to say this of a Jewish novelist--and I think it is fair to say that Wouk trades upon his religious background for his novels--but The Caine Mutiny has always struck me as somehow fascistic. For most of the book (and movie) the story seems like a pretty straightforward riff on Mr. Roberts (read Orrin's review): in this case, of course, it's Captain Queeg (even the name seems intended to invoke memories of Moby Dick) who is mentally unbalanced and, unlike Captain Morton in Mr. Roberts, his seeming derangement is genuinely dangerous because the boat he commands is a mine sweeper rather than a transport ship. Wouk carefully lays the groundwork so that we understand and sympathize with the crew's eventual mutiny. Then, presto-chango, he whips the rug from beneath our feet: "Course I'm warped," said Greenwald, "and I'm drunk, but it suddenly seems to me that if I wrote a
war novel I'd try to make a hero out of Old Yellowstain." Jorgensen whooped loudly, but nobody
else laughed, and the ensign subsided, goggling around. "No, I'm serious, I would. Tell you why,
Tell you how I'm warped. I'm a Jew, guess most of you know that. Name's Greenwald, kind of look
like one, and I sure am one, from way back. Jack Challee said I used smart Jew-lawyer
tactics--course he took it back, apologized, after I told him a few things he didn't know-- Well,
anyway...The reason I'd make Old Yellowstain a hero is on account of my mother, little
gray-headed Jewish lady, fat, looks a lot like Mrs. Maryk here, meaning no offense." He actually said "offensh." His speech was halting and blurry. He was gripping the spilling glass
tightly The scars On his hand made red rims around the bluish grafted skin. "Well, sure, you guys all have mothers, but they wouldn't be in the same bad shape mine would if
we'd of lost this war, which of course we aren't, we've won the damn thing by now. See, the
Germans aren't kidding about the Jew. They're cooking us down to soap over there. They think
we're vermin and should be terminated and our corpses turned into something useful. Granting the
premise--being warped, I don't, but granting the premise, soap is as good an idea as any. But I just
can't cotton to the idea of my mom melted down into a bar of soap. I had an uncle and an aunt in
Cracow, who are soap now, but that's different, I never saw my uncle and aunt, just saw letters in
Jewish from them, ever since I was a kid, but I can't read Jewish. but never could read them. Jew,
but I can't read Jewish." The faces looking up at him were becoming sober and puzzled. "I'm coming to Old Yellowstain.
Coming to him. See, while I was studying law 'n old Keefer here was writing his play for the
Theatre Guild, and Willie here was on the playing fields of Prinshton, all that time these birds we
call regulars--these stuffy, stupid Prussians, in the Navy and the Army -were manning guns. Course
they weren't doing it to save my mom from Hitler, they're doing it for dough, like everybody else
does what they do. Question is, in the last analysis--last analysis--what do you do for dough? Old
Yellowstain, for dough, was standing guard on this fat dumb and happy country of ours. Meantime
me, I was advancing little free non-Prussian life for dough. Of course, we figured in those days,
only fools go into armed service. Bad pay, no millionaire future, and You can't call your mind or
body your own. Not for sensitive intellectuals. So when all hell broke loose and the Germans started
running out of soap and figured, well it's time to come over and melt down old Mrs.
Greenwald--who's gonna stop them? Not her boy Barney. Can't stop a Nazi with a lawbook. So I
dropped the lawbooks and ran to learn how to fly. Stout fellow. Meantime, and it took a year and a
half before I was any good, who was keeping Mama out of the soap dish? Captain Queeg. "Yes, even Queeg, poor sad guy, yes, and most of them not sad at all, fellows, a lot of them sharper
boys than any of us, don't kid yourself, best men I've ever seen, you can't be good in the Army or
Navy unless you're goddamn good. Though maybe not up on Proust 'n' Finnegan's Wake and all." (...)Ultimately, this is a chilling novel. Even supposing that it's viewpoint represents what would be best for military disciple and the efficient functioning of a war effort, it is completely incompatible with the idea of a democracy and with the concept of personal responsibility. GRADE: D+
Rating:
Summary: -----------------The Caine Mutiny-----------------
Review: dear readers, this book is considered one of the greatest war classics. in my personal opinion this book was not a good read. the writing style consists mainly of naval talk which can confuse readers such as myself who know SQAUT about the navy. if you r insterested in naval things this book you would probally find nice. but for the average reader like myself i found this book rather long and dull. the characters are well devolped and that part of the book i really enjoyed BUT willie ( the main character's) romance is JUST TOO CORNY...
Rating:
Summary: War...Romance...Courtroom Drama...Amazing
Review: For good reason, Herman Wouk was awarded the Pulitzer prize for his writing of the Caine Mutiny. The book has everything one could ask for in a book. It is incredibly well written. He has in-depth character development. It takes place during a war so action is a prevalent theme. A love story lurks in the background. The conclusion holds one of the greatest courtroom dramas in modern writing. First the war backdrop: no one describes it better. The reader truly understands the feelings of the crew of the USS Caine. We can see the tension of war as well as the feelings of serving in the Navy. Wouk does not hesitate to illustrate the good and bad of this perspective. The love story just hangs on throughout the book and keeps the reader on edge attempting to find out what happens. For much of the book it seems the love story is forgotten. Just when it seems that we will never hear what happened, Wouk ties it in unexpectedly but in a very shrewd manner. Of course the courtroom drama (which went on to spawn a separate play) is the best military court martial story I have read. The reader truly feels as if they are in the courtroom. Wouk never hesitates to provide a greatd deal of descriptive visualiazations and in-depth character development. These truly aid the reader in his quest to finish teh book. Honestly, I was moved at times and could not wait to find out teh conclusion. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Definitive Naval novel, WWII
Review: I first read this book when I was seventeen, and the passage of nearly forty years has not diminished my regard for it. The characterizations are masterful; the plots and subplots are seamlessly woven together; and, the situations are eminently believable. Anyone having served in the military (irrespective of branch of service, and perhaps even regardless of nation of service) will recognize that the writing perfectly characterizes military life. And, this is not meant to be a detracting comment. Too many Americans believe that life in military service resembles popular TV programs or movies. Nothing is further from the truth (been there, done that!). I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone wanting to read an engrossing tale!
Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Classic On Multi Levels!
Review: Why is this book so great? Why did it win a Pulitzer Prize? Not because it was an engrossing story of the WWII Navy, which it was. Rather because it has all the elements that make a novel great. Herman Wouk is brilliant at characterization and unlike many other good characterizers such as Steven King, he does it almost with the brevity of a Hemingway. With just a few descriptive scenes of Queeg, the reader can already understand him and pity him recognizing that he is not a traditional villain but a flawed and sad neurotic. From the rolling of the balls to the "sinking of his head into his shoulders" to his way of saying "kay" instead of okay, Queeg's flaws are laid out. When he manipulates reality to justify his actions, one can feel sorry for him rather than hate him. He ultimately comes across as a sad and tragic figure. As for the others, Willie Keith is the protagonist and no character undergoes greater growth than him. This is really what the novel is about, Willie's coming of age and it is a great coming of age story. Rather than have his protagonist mature against the crucible of great battle (as he later does with a number of characters in War and Remembrance which is much more of an epic but not as great a novel), he chooses to portray the day to day existence of a backwater minesweeper which is just on the periphery of the war. And by doing so he avoids all the standard cliches which is also what makes this novel great. In the end, the book clearly has no villains except circumstance. Even Keefer, the pseudo-intellectual who really causes all the trouble, is way to self-aware of his own flaws to be villainous (he is mentally healthy by contrast with Queeg who cannot face up to a single flaw or mistake in himself) I could go on and on but this book is an American classic that doesn't seem one bit dated despite its 1951 publication date. I recommend it to anyone who likes literature.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping!
Review: Wouk's story of a young man aboard a WWII minesweeper and the influence of its Captain on the lives of crew is absolutely engrossing. It's got a little bit of everything - psycological studies, boy-grows-up-becomes-man story, a little romance, and a whole lot of characters you feel you come to know by the book's finish. While I was reading it, I loved it, but only when I closed the cover on the final page did I realize just how much I was going to miss the Caine and its people and their lives. It's a terrific classic no one should miss.
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