In Pharaoh's Army : Memories of the Lost War

Rating:
Summary: Simply excellent
Review: I read this after This Boy's Life which was terrific. In this book you get the same honesty the same dazzling writing. It's hard to pin down but the way Mr. Wolff writes you REALLY feel like you know him. There is no pretension, no hype to his writing. No bs. Wolff has alot of anecdotes to tell about his youth. Off the top of my head I can recall his experiences watching Bonanza on tv. in Vietnam. It was quite a story believe me. And it touched on things like, the savvy of his second in command, the day to day life of a soldier... This book is filled with telling stories like this. You won't see this sort of thing in your usual Vietnam memoir. Least I wouldn't think so. I will say one thing though. Before I read any of Wolff's work it seemed, from the reviews and the book jacket that I was in for a kind of dull book that had a way of obliging the reader to acknowledge it. Nothing could be further from the truth. This book has all the colors of the rainbow, chills, thrills, laughs, I mean this book has it ALL.

Rating:
Summary: Well written but ultimately a letdown
Review: I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. Wolff is a gifted writer, but it doesn't seem like he's got a whole lot to talk about when it comes to his time in Vietnam. Wolf portrays himself as an inept soldier, someone who got his officer's commission by an idiotic stroke of luck. He even gives examples to back it up. A great example is a practice parachute insertion, when he mistakes a garbage dump for his intended drop zone and orders his team to jump.

The more I read, the more I began to dislike Wolff. After reading the combat memoirs of men like Frank Miller (Reflections of a Warrior), Robert Mason (Chickenhawk), Bruce Norton (Force Recon Diary), and others, it's hard to feel otherwise. He comes off as an extremely self-centered individual-not only in 'Nam, but in every aspect of his life.

On a side note, the book ends with a truly bizzare paragraph explaining the type used to print the book and a brief biographical note about the type's creator. I have no idea what purpose this paragraph serves, but I mention it here because it is, by accident or design, one of the books most memorable parts.

Rating:
Summary: This book, I will read again.
Review: In the large, this is not strictly a novel about the war in Vietnam. Vietnam was merely the backdrop, the structure upon which Wolff placed his search for understanding. In fact, each chapter is a short story so well written they can stand by themselves.

Wolff has a unique writing style; clean, nothing wasted. Adjectives and adverbs are used sparsely and throughout the work countless gems are smoothly woven into the story line. With an all too rare honesty, he confronts, often with dark humor, his loves, his fears, his competency and the pointless nature of the many wars in which he is lost.

His reconciliation with his grifter father upon his return to the states is remarkably moving. The subtly of that reunion, of a son and father who desperately need each other inspite of a lifetime of bitterness, keeps drawing your thoughts back to it.

Well done.

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievably great story of a special forces officer
Review: This is far from your typical war memoir. Tobias Wolff found himself in Vietnam almost accidently, but as a highly trained special forces officer. His experiences there are anything but gung-ho. Lots of powerful vignettes.

Everyone should read this book. It's that good.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment; pretty mundane.
Review: Wolff is a fine writer, and the book is certainly readable, but it added barely anything to my understanding of war, Vietnam, the soldier's life, etc. Frankly, I was disappointed, based on the previous work I'd read by him. Other Vietnam books, such as "Chickenhawk", "The Things They Carried" (the latter billed as fiction) and "We Were Soldiers Once, And Young" really put this one to shame, and I strongly recommend all of them, without reservation, to anyone who might be interested in this subject. This one you can skip.