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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It Aint Neccessarily So, August 4, 2003
... it's a good read, especially for denizens of a Navy town and also for those who, after seeing the movie, enjoy boasting that they read the book. The book purports to be the Cooper's autobiography covering the period starting with his senior year at the University of Illinois just before Pearl Harbor, continuing through his Navy service as a landing craft officer in the Pacific during World War II, and examining with especial vigor how the psychological trauma of this experience affected his post-war life. Why do I say "purports" ? Well, a part of the reason is that I have insights gained from talking with Cooper's sister. These insights cast doubt on the truthfulness or accuracy of some of the incidents reported - having an engineering degree - meeting future bride Alberta in D.C. - having pre-marital sex with her - attacking the Admiral Boda's Buick in downtown Washington - talking his way aboard the Potomac (President Truman's yacht) armed and intending to kill this same admiral - the pickup scene in Hollywood. When questioned by his sister about some of these discrepancies, Cooper reportedly waved his arm and claimed "poetic license." However, I believe it is more than poetic license. This is a book that screams out "Make me into a movie!" Witness co-author, Don Tait. This is not an "as told to" co-author. No, this is an experienced TV and movie writer (Maverick, Bonanza, Mr. Roberts) who has been brought in to enhance and perhaps concoct scenes that will sell the book as a movie. When is the last time you saw a movie without a sex scene? Yes, but even the best movie biopics (a film or television biography) often have fictionalized, exaggerated, or time-disordered episodes - Patch Adams - for example. What remains is a basic core of truth. In this case that core is that sometimes malign tyrants cum martinets are placed in command of men and ships, that this error leads to unnecessary deaths and long-term, post-war psychological problems for the surviving subordinates. And the Navy looks the other way and brushes all this [stuff] under the rug. I'm sorry to be so blunt. Read the book, and judge for yourselves.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Truth Still Matters, August 24, 2010
In Steven C. Barber's film "Return to Tarawa," which features Leon Cooper's role in the Battle of Tarawa, Mr. Cooper is portrayed as a heroic character who ferried Marines into Tarawa and wounded guys out throughout the 3-day battle in November of 1943. Cooper has said publicly many times he "closed the eyes of the dead" and buried "scores" of his fellow countrymen in the days following the battle.
Unfortunately, in Cooper's own 2003 book, 90 Day Wonder: Darkness Remembered, which has been widely marketed and reviewed as "true to life" (i.e., a nonfiction memoir), he tells a different tale. In the book version Cooper's Higgins boat was hit and he was returned to a ship and cleared for duty by a Navy doctor. Cooper then ordered a coxswain to bring him to a strip of land far away from the battle for about a week, by which time the fighting and follow-up actions had ended. He'd missed the battle almost entirely and never set foot on Betio, the islet where the fighting took place.
Both accounts cannot be true. If audiences accept the film version then Cooper's own autobiography is a fabrication. That means Cooper knowingly duped readers and allowed them to think it was true. The book conveniently lacks a label as "fiction," "nonfiction," "history," etc., yet reviews on the author's own website clearly indicate that readers view the book as truly an account of the author's life. Mr. Cooper proudly features these reviews to market the book, further promoting the book as a true account. But on the other hand, if audiences accept the book version as fact, then the Barber film cannot possibly be accurate or considered a true documentary. The film then becomes the fabrication.
As we know from recent controversies in the publishing world (e.g., James Frey and the falsehoods of his memoir "A Million Little Pieces"), fiction sold as truth is unacceptable and destroys an author's credibility. If Mr. Cooper's memoir is one such fiction, then his claims in the film, and the many interviews available online with the likes of Katie Couric, Larry King, and others, are impossible to believe.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thank you for writing and for your service to our country, May 25, 2009
This review is from: 90 Day Wonder : Darkness Remembered (Paperback)
My Dad was a 90 Day Wonder. I read the book to find out more about what he went through and as a tribute to him and his fellow Naval officers. My Dad passed on 02/27/2007; I believe he would have enjoyed reading your book as well.
Thank you again and God Bless you always
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