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Summary: Where it all began
Review: I read the novel after having seen the series and film. I read it when I was 19. It made a bigger impression on me than the movie or series. The basic message being: if you're great at a particular skill, you can use your clout to manipulate the system, and enjoy it's frills.
I've used this strategy in a number of ways in my life. It's been a great help. The only part that irked me was the fact that, while in Korea, all the "heroes" of the series and movie (those featured) cheated on their wives and drank like horses. All returned home to loving families who never guessed anything out of the ordinary had happened. It's a sub text I figure few have examined.
I was also intrigued that my copy of the book listed at least ten other MASH book by Richard Heller. I've always wondered what the content and quality of the other titles was.
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Summary: The Altman Movie Captured It...
Review: ...and the early tv episodes with Rogers as Trapper captured the true chemistry as originally designed by Hooker. In fact, the Altman movie follows the 1st MASH novel quite well, down to the addition of the Spearchuker as a ringer in the football game and "Suicide is Painless". If you are a true MASH fan, go back and read this. You will love it. If you are not much of a MASH fan, find it and read it anyway. It will make you a convert....
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Summary: The Origin of a Pillar of Popular Culture
Review: As a novelist with my first book in its initial release, I am fascinated by Richard Hooker's version of MASH. It is well known that Hooker had a most difficult time finding a publisher for the original book. The manuscript went through numerous revisions, found a home in a publishing house, and became a key part of American folklore. This book provides the original version of Hawkeye, Trapper John, Hot Lips, Radar, and most of the rest of the gang. There is more of Maine in these characters here than there is of Hollywood or Manhattan. Hooker's version is less political than the movie and far less socially correct than the latter years of the television series. While I personally prefer those golden latter years of the TV series, I still find this novel extremely enjoyable. Without this book, the great film and historic series would have never existed. American popular culture would much poorer if that were so.
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Summary: DIFFERENT FROM MOVIE AND TV
Review: As long ago as this book came out and with all the different iterations of MASH it was only recently that I picked up a copy of the book that started it all.Knowing the movie was based on the book I found myself surprised by how much the movie differed from the book. However many of the differences were perhaps necessary as the book had too many characters to track in a movie and some of the story lines were altered. For example, the Major Burns of the movie and TV show was a composite of several characters in the book. The part where the dentist contemplated suicide had a slightly different and cleaner plot line in the book than in the movie. The book jumped around alot and for that reason I had trouble giving it five stars. Interestingly enough, although he made money off the TV series, I understand Richard Hooker was not a fan of the show. His book was a spoof of the military and the strange ways the military did things during the Korean War (and since the Korean War for that matter). Mr. Hooker supported our effort in Korea and felt the war -- however terrible -- was justified. The series -- especially the last few years -- degenerated into a pacifist anti-war message. If I were to rate the different iterations of MASH I would rate it in the following order: 1. The movie was great; 2. The first four or five years of the TV series before it decided to preach pacifism; 3. The original book; 4. The last several years of the show when personally I could not wait for it to end.
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Summary: No 'Catch-22'
Review: First book I've read where the movie was better than the original book. Don't get me wrong, there were some extremely funny scenes. However, Hooker just isn't that good of a writer. It shows, as the book gets better as it goes along. Hooker employs that basics of black comedies about war: ironic repitition of monikers, and presentation of absurdities with a stark descriptive style that highlights the absurd. That's all very nice, but there is no real common plot thread throughout the book. Characters appear and then disappear for sixty pages, so the gags at their expense aren't as funny; since we lose a sense of how uptight they are. Buy the movie with Donald Sutherland, and read Joseph Heller if you want a great black comedy about war.
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Summary: The MASH that you never knew..
Review: Having seen the movie by Altman and the TV show by Alda, et al, I thought that MASH the book would just be a refresher course. I was not only incorrect but also surprised at the difference between the mediums. The book contains some pretty funny scenes that weren't included in the movie, of course (Where can you find a hooker with epilepsy?). And the telling of the football game was still hilarious. Overall, the material is still fresh after all of these years and incarnations.
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Summary: DIFFERENT FROM MOVIE AND TV
Review: I thought that this book did a good job of mixing factual information about war situations like the Korean War with humor. The characters in the novel were both life-like and hilarious. I enjoyed it much more than the TV series.
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Summary: M*A*S*H Review
Review: I thought that this book did a good job of mixing factual information about war situations like the Korean War with humor. The characters in the novel were both life-like and hilarious. I enjoyed it much more than the TV series.
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Summary: This is Where it All Began
Review: I'm guessing, like most people these days, I read the book after seeing the series and movie. This brings us to the question...how do you review something that appears to be a reflection but is in actually an original? If we strip away the TV show and movie, what we have left is a series of memories about very young doctors trying to cope with the red tape and red blood that war always brings. The book reads like a series of old war stories with Richard Hooker as our M.C., harking back to his salad days as a M.A.S.H surgeon. The stories are loosely strung together giving the appearance of a plot, but the book is really nothing more than the often funny, sometimes sad, but mostly true tales of doctors on the front line in Korea.
Compared to the movie, M.A.S.H., the book is almost identical in tone and content. All the characters are the same and the majority of stories in the book end up in the movie. The one big difference is that the movie took an anti-Vietnam tone. The book shies away from this, aside from showing that war isn't as stupid as the people running it.
Compared to the TV show, the book comes off rather weak. What the book did well, the TV show excelled at.
What the book does better than the TV show and movie did is that it explains better the arrogance and spontaneity of the doctors. Arrogance and spontaneity not brought on by confidence and experience, but rather by youth and inexperience. These were slightly older kids operating on slightly younger kids. And the result is one dark but funny memoir.
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Summary: MASH is a novel revolving around the lives of a MASH crew.
Review: If you were a fan of the television series M*A*S*H, then you would love this book. This book takes you to the beginning. It introduces the characters that we all know and love, and through third person perspective, the author depics the crazy antics of the characters. Revolving around Duke and Hawkeye, the book takes you through the routine of the crew of the Mobil Army Surgical Hospital , better known as the MASH 4077th. In my opinion, this book is a winner. Through the author's skills, you will become attached to the characters, and in the end, you will have a bittersweet feeling of the characters' departures in the end. The author spices the book up generously with the humor that is unique to the television series.
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