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Summary: NL-S Approved Book
Review: Dalton Trumbo's, Johnny Got His Gun, is an unforgettable, appalling, brutal story of war and it's horrible effects on human dreams and life.Johnny Got His Gun is the most influential book that I have ever read. Trumbo writes with an original unprecedented style. He combines many different sentences together with very little punctuation. While the text may appear to be a run-on sentence, it is actually a smooth blend of thoughts. This style of writing is a little more difficult to read than most other books, but it makes you think more about what is being said. One must read the book to appreciate this fresh writing style. This book captures your interest from beginning to end. It is hard to put down; the reader feels they must read on to discover the outcomes. Throughout the book there is an ongoing struggle, which the reader feels directly involved with. It seizes the emotions and thrusts you into the story. To anyone that has a good opinion on war, this book will change your thoughts. Johnny Got His Gun is a thrilling novel about a young man and his fight to communicate once again with the outside world after he received a severe wound while in battle. The book lays down a background of the young man's life before going to war, which makes the ordeal more dramatic. I would encourage anyone in high school, or older, to read this book. It is very rewarding, and educates on many different aspects of life.
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Summary: "WHAT DO WE GET FROM WAR? ONLY WOUNDS STARVATION AND DEATH?"
Review: READING THIS BOOK HAS NOT ONLY CHANGE MY MIND ABOUT MANY THINGS BUT IT HAS ALSO STRENGTHEND MY OUTLOOK AND OPINIONS ABOUT WAR AND HOW IT MAY EFFECT SOMEONE. I RECCOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE WHO MAY NOT LIKE OR DONT UNDERSTAND WAR OR WHAT IT IS LIKE GOING THROUGH A SITUATION LIKE THE YOUNG MAN IN THE BOOK. I ESPECIALLY LIKE HOW THE AUTHOR EXPRESSED WHAT THE CHARACTER WAS THINKING ABOUT.
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Summary: this book is well written, but it does have it's problems
Review: The whole reason I purchased this book was because there was a Metallica song based on the story. I found this book to be very well written. The author takes a person with no face, no legs, no arms, no sight, no speech, and does a lot with him despite his obvious setbacks. While it's descriptions are all done very well, this is not a book for those who are anti-war. This book does well as it runs along it's story, but close to the end of the book it gets really political and very anti-war. If you can look past that part of it, it's a pretty good book.
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Summary: This book is one of my all time favorites.
Review: I have an assignment to develope a database using at least ten books. I decided I would develope my top ten or twenty "Must Reads" for when I start teaching and Johnny Got His Gun is one of those books. I really was "surfing" to remember the author and just had to comment. I read the book in the thick of Vietnam and discussed it with my Dad who had read it years before. After WWII he became a mortician and ambulance driver so was familiar with VA hospitals so I asked him how much truth could be in this novel. His reply was, "I never open any doors in a VA hospital for fear of what I might encounter". Two things impressed me most about the novel, one was that it was written about WWI, the other was that people could read such horror or encounter such horror and still send their young off to war. The book was made into an incredible movie during the 60's or 70's.
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Summary: More than just an anti-war novel- a novel exploring the mind
Review: Johnny Got His Gun may be advertised as the greatest anti-war novel ever written, but it's much more than just that. The story of the quadripeligic, blind, deaf, mute, senseless WWI veteran lets the reader look into the thoughts of a virtually dead man; a man who has no knowledge of the outside world at all. A truly incredible book.
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Summary: Trumbo delves deep
Review: into his imagination to expose the ugly realities of a 'survivor' of WWII. This book was banned by the allied countries and even the original plates were confiscated by the British Gov't. We normally think of survivors of war as physically whole people but Trumbo reminds us all to well, that some folks may have survived the war, but, can never really leave it behind. As one of the first 'anti-war' novels, - Johnny got his Gun- is sure to touch a chord in any one's soul.
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Summary: Powerful
Review: Have you ever questioned war and it's rationale? If you have, you would absolutely love this book. Dalton's prose and literary style is extremely powerful.I highly recommend this book to those under 18 or if you plan to join the armed services. If you read JGHS with an open-mind you may find that it changes or strengthens your convictions towards the atrocities of war.
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Summary: This boom is incredible!!!
Review: Johnny Got His Gun is a very touching, gripping and moving account of Joe Bonham, a young soldier who is literaly blown away during World War I. I cannot imagine a person who would not be horrified by this novel. It is probably the most incredible book that I have ever read, and I would highly recommend that every person read it. It is totally overwhelming.
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Summary: Anti-war novel
Review: "Johnny Got His Gun" is the most powerful piece of writing I've read. It is a story of a young American terribly maimed in WWI. He survives armless, legless, and faceless, but with his mind intact, it is an immediate bestseller. By using powerful words, Trumbo leads the readers through a flood of intense emotions that are unforgettable. Imagine that you are without your five senses and no longer mobile. That means no walking or talking, no touch, sight or smell, no face to show expression, only the loneliness of your own thoughts. How can you survive or survive or struggle through that horrible time? With very strong and powerful words, Trumbo brought the main character, Joe, to the time of living again. After waking up from a long sleep, Joe starts to realize that he is still alive and still has his mind that can be used for something more meaningful, instead of lying there like a death body. He learns how to keep track of the time by counting the nurse'visits. He also learns how to tell whether it is night or daytime by feeling the heat absorbed by his body. He uses vibrations from the nurse's footsteps to measure the dimension of his room, and the number of people come in. He also begins to communicate with people outside the world by using the Morse Code.He taps his head against the pillow many times, trying to say the word S.O.S-Help- even though he knows that it would be a very small chance for people to recognize his message. However, his life changes when he receives a new nurse. Being patient, the nurse tries to talk to him by drawing letters on his chest.The first word he gets from her is "Merry Christmas" This nurse also brings more people to come see him. There is no word to describe or imagine how happy he is. "He thought of himself with a kind of hysterical happiness four years maybe five years maybe six years he didn't know how many years but he has been through all of them." But when they ask him "What do you want?", for a moment he is in the shock of disappointed at discovering it is not the person he has been waiting for. Trumbo uses very emotional words to describe how disappointed he is. "They should know what he wanted and they should know they couldn't give it to him. He wanted the things they took for granted the things nobody could ever give him. He wanted eyes to see with.....He wanted a nose so that he could smell rain.....He wanted a mouth so that he could eat and talk and laugh and taste and kiss.....He wanted arms and legs so he could work and walk.....but that was it, and he had done it. He had broken through, and they had refused him by saying "What you want is against regulation."" He sacrificed all his life for war and now that was all he got, living lonely in a dark silent world with a maimed body, having no feeling of life. "Johnny Got His Gun" remains the most revolutionary, searing document against war and justice. With the most beautiful words, Trumbo creates a terrifying book, an extraordinary emotional intensity that can never be forgotten by anyone who reads it.
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Summary: A captivating look at the recovery of the human mind!
Review: In reading "Johnny Got His Gun," you are faced with an opportunity to momentarily appreciate your own abilities and limitations: a time to witness the ultimate possibilities of the human mind, which possesses the power to enslave or free us. Dalton Trumbo embraces this power and takes a chance to reach his audience by the creation of a character named Joe. Joe is a man who suffers the consequences of World War I and is forced to continue life as a stump. Trumbo initially interests you through the life of the ordinarily complacent main character and his happy adolescent memories of growing up in Shale City, Colorado. Soon after the flashbacks Trumbo uniquely enlightens us through the discovery of Joe that he is a man with no arms, legs or face. Can you imagine being sensoryless, no connection to any form of mobility. You feel trapped within the loneliness of your head constantly threatened by insanity. Joe realized that communication with the outside world would be the only solution worth living for. Through patience he found a way to communicate with his nurse. Yet when they do create a link of communication, what he asks for is death, to be released from his misery. Trumbo's use of powerful language helped the reader understand the trauma of Joe. His writing often made me feel like I was his main character who was forced to withstand ruthless thoughts in a silent world, like the world that became Joe's reality. This bizarre topic is presented in a authentic story which also questions how society responds to moral dilemmas. Furthermore Trumbo reminds us of the emptiness felt in solitude through this anti-war novel. I was reminded of the courage and understanding that must be brought to life's challenges, and the stamina required to graciously complete our visions.
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