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Summary: A disturbing day at the beach
Review: I read this book on spring vacation at the beach. It had been assigned by a World History teacher at my university so I was desperately hoping it would be an easy read, I'd get the jest of it and be able to test well on it the following week. I ended up so enthralled by the book and the way Dalton Trumbo portrayed the atrocities of World War I that I finished the book in one sitting. It stuck with me. The book puts you in the shoes of an American boy who ends up in WWI on the battlefields of Europe. The war was an especially gruesome war that introduced the idea of machinery in battle to completely mow down the enemy. The senselessness of the killings is brought to you through this one boy's injuries, so severe they're almost unimaginable. Coupled with his in and outs of the past and his will to communicate with the outside world, Trumbo takes you on a journey that begs a deeper understanding of the reasons behind wars and the human spirit's unbreakable need to survive. I will never look at WWI with the same carefree nature that you have with a cold read of American history through a textbook and I will always remember the emotion that ran through me that day on the beach.Note for Gen-Xers: The Metallica song "One" is about this book.
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Summary: A Young But Lasting Experience
Review: I read the book when I was in grammer school, thanks to the urging of my hippie parents, and I've never been able to get the context of the book out of my mind. I read it again a few years back and at age 33, I still felt compelled to read on as any other would who treats themselves to this mesmerizing account. I highly recommend it, though not for the weak-hearted because the story does go into graphic detail.
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Summary: A novel that must be read!!
Review: Johnnny Got His Gun is an amazing if terrifying book. I have never been more provoked by any novel more so than this one. I must agree with another reviewer though, the plot is a little weak, but the overall affect makes up for it. This novel is a must read for any high school student, it brings all those history lectures home. This war DID happen people WERE killed, but the WORST fate of all was to be injured. Johnny Got His Gun is an amazing novel that I'm glad to have read and hope that you will too.
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Summary: Powerful and compelling
Review: This is a book which speaks to the reader on a personal, striking level. It is also a book which suffered from horrible timing with its original release. This, however, does not detract from the message and intent of the book, and that is what counts in the end.
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Summary: A novel that scares and impresses
Review: First of all, this book is a must read, for everyone who can bear it. The situation described is horrific, but this novel is also deeply touching and it motivates you to think, and think hard. Johnny is a soldier, catastrophically mutilated by an explosion, during wordlwar I. I won't spoil your enjoyment of reading this novel, by telling that the explosion has basically removed most of his senses (eyes, ears..) and ways of communicating with the outside world. He is placed in a hospital and treated, more or less, as a vegetable. Until one day, he finds a way to speak out. That's when he "got his gun", a weapon more feared than cannons and rocketlaunchers. It is, as you might know by now, an anti-war testament, but not just any war. Please take a moment to read Trumbo's introduction where he explains that the WW II was different than the one in which context this novel was written. Trumbo considers WW II as fought over a just cause, and explains how he wasn't happy that "Johnny Got His Gun" was used as a propaganda material against war, in US. The story is fascinating, moving and honest, and even if the plot is sometimes just a little bit weak, I rate it with 5 stars. It's a classic of the American narrative of the 20th century. (note: in 1971 Trumbo directed a movie with the same title, written after the book. It might be interesting to watch it, as the director and the novel writer are the same person.)
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Summary: I'm sorry I didn't read this sooner, but....
Review: ...perhaps I would not have appreciated it as much as I did, reading it right around my 40th birthday. This is one of those "classic" titles that I have heard about for years and years... but I never really knew much about it. I had a vague notion that it was somewhat controversial, now I know why. Wow. What a book. Trumbo's account of a young soldier's gradual comprehension of what has happened to him in the trenches of WWI is absolutely stunning. The book takes its time though, relaying through the soldier's narrative that he has absolutely no clue whatsoever what his situation is. Having lost virtually all of his senses--with the exception that he can feel the vibration of footsteps around him, the touch of (the nurse's hands) on his skin, and the warmth of the sun on his face--he spends much of the first part of the book in a dream-state. Or at least he ASSUMES he's dreaming...quite understandable, given his singularly horrible circumstances. Trumbo does a wonderful job detailing the soldier's gradual discovery of his consciousness, as well as his state of being. Without giving too much more away, I found the scene in which a nurse successfully communicates a message to him, extrememly moving. It was a touching scene, especially in light of the fact that everyone was of the notion that he was little more than a breathing vegetable, incapable of thought or emotion. It was both heartbreaking and heartwarming that so simple a communication carried with it so much meaning.
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Summary: Johnny Got His Gun
Review: Best anti-war movie ever made,( yes a movie was made about this soldier). I also own the book and would not part with it. When anyone glorifies war I pull it out and read certain paragraphs to them and that usually ends that.
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Summary: A different perspective of war
Review: This is a different type of war story. It doesn't focus around the war itself, but the thoughts of a man who lost all of his limbs and the senses of smell, taste (his mouth was lost), touch (he has almost no undamaged,sensing skin), and hearing. He couldn't speak, either. His losses isolated him from the outside world. He sees that he is a hopeless situation, but he can't even kill himself. Instead, his thoughts show us how he struggles to interact with the world. This book really changes your perspective on war and makes you think. I reccommend it to everyone.
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Summary: If everyone read this there would be peace on earth
Review: This is one of the few books I've ever read that made me cry, and cry for a long time. The horror, as expressed by trumbo through his character of a disabled World War One veteran who has been reduced to a hunk of flesh but is still capable of thought, is something which will never leave me as long as I live. It isn't just the horror of what happened that makes this book so touching. It's the fact that we as readers can go inside this man's thoughts, and we see his remembrances of a life gone by, that he only wishes he can have again. Dalton Trumbo's novel puts a face on the horror of warfare, one that I wish the world never had to see again. The leaders of the world should forced to read this novel.
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Summary: if it disturbs you, Trumbo did a good job
Review: i find it hard to believe i went so long without ever reading this book--it is one of the most important novels i've read, and sadly i had to read this book on my own as it was never offered in any of my classes. some may find the book too disturbing to read, but that is the point, and it's important for people to try to get through the horror--it's too easy to dismiss our own thoughts of war, but to dismiss this book would be cheating ourselves in a way. it should be read cover to cover, to get the full affect and know the book for what it is, a masterpiece.
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