Customer Reviews

Ambush at Fort Bragg

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Tom Wolfe presents an even-handed tale about a head-twisting attempt of a newsmagazine crew to ambush military men accused of killing a gay fellow soldier. This short story will leave you wondering, "Who actually got ambushed?" The soldiers? The murdered victim? The newscrew? The American public? Possibly everyone.

In comparison to other Wolfe works, AMBUSH is relatively shallow. It's still a work that might make a number of other best-selling authors green with envy. Wolfe explores the minds of soldiers and newspeople whose motives and actions are far more complex than they appear on the surface. One would be tempted to initially label both parties in black and white judgements, but Wolfe's rich internal monologues make that difficult. The murder and it's criminal investigation ultimately become secondary to the news story and the circumstances surrounding it.

Wolfe's even-handed approach to presenting the complex details of what appears to be an open and shut case will have folks from opposite sides of life react to different details with ire. It's easy to hate the accused rednecks. They're crass, unpolished, crude, and embody every bad southern male stereotype. It also becomes easy to hate the media moguls who twist and torment the story, not because they want justice (they don't REALLY care about gay rights or even solving the crime), but because they want huge ratings. They want their names up in lights. They'd sell their souls for things they don't even believe in. The converse observation of the accused soldiers is that they'd never hide behind false pretense, even to the point of death.

The audio book has its own set of issues. Edward Norton's reading certainly hits the mark on tone and atmosphere. He's earnest, but varied in quality. (Given, deep-south--nearly-unintelligible-redneck might not be an easy accent to emmulate, but sometimes it's just painful.) The producers seemed to want to throw in "mood music" at every opportunity, so the listener is bombarded with distracting backdrops of country metal and news-promo orchestrations that add nothing to the overall mix. Please don't let that disuade you from this quick listen (about 180 minutes) is you're interested. Just consider yourself warned.

AMBUSH at FORT BRAGG comes recommended to those seeking a quick and engaging tale to fit between your larger listening projects.

Wolfe's satiric edge, reporter's eye for detail, and understanding of our media institutions are as sharp as ever. I'm amazed by the number of otherwise literate-sounding reviewers who say that the audionovel seems "incomplete," or just plain don't grasp the ending. As for those who believe the scenario is far-fetched, well, just read a little about the purported "hate crime" down at Fort Jackson, current news as I write...

Edward Norton ably "reads" this novella by Tom Wolfe. This is more than a "reading," this is a performance. Tom Wolfe's works require an actor to "read" them due to his intense love affair with the various accents, slang terms, and diction in America today. Tom Wolfe is a modern day Mark Twain, an astute observer of the beautiful variety of uniquely American characters.

In this novella, Tom Wolfe hits us square between the eyes with the issue of gays in the military. He uses the true story of the murder of a gay soldier by other soldiers at Ft. Bragg to open a huge can of worms - the issue of gays in the military. As with everything Wolfe does, he ably presents both sides of the issue by presenting us not with the arguments, but with the people on each side. What a muddy mess - this is reality we're dealing with.

Wolfe brilliantly illustrates the conundrum of the infantry soldiers - we here at home want them to be gutsy, rough, strong and fearless enough to kill the enemy and keep us safe. However, like a semiautomatic rifle, the same object that keeps us safe can kill the innocent as well. Anyone that has driven down the ugly main strip in any military base town will instantly recognize what Wolfe is describing. At the same time, he skewers the tabloid news magazine characters who we are all familiar with.

No one is innocent here, and maybe no one is guilty. Reading Wolfe's works, I always feel a sense of predestination - of destiny - despite the horrific outcomes, its impossible for the characters to act any other way.

Ed Norton is a one-man ensemble; his performance of the varied characters in this drama is riveting. I commend him for taking on this project. He attacks it with gusto; he must be a devoted Tom Wolfe fan. The subject matter is timely and the issue of gays in the military is unresolved yet as I write this, 12 years after this novella was written.

Tom Wolfe's reputation is undisputed and his works rate highly. However, this was a complete bore. The characters are so one-dimensional. How many times have we seen the obnoxious TV news personality before? Stock southerners with hick attitudes. Despite a novella format it dragged on too long.

Tom Wolfe does a fine job of carving a network TV news magazine crew with sharp, satiric strokes. He creates a situation that is both engaging and topical. It's an entertaining diversion, but ultimately I didn't feel particularly amused, enlightened, or otherwise moved by this story. In part, this is because there is no follow through with the key plot elements (murder, journalistic excesses) protrayed. More important, Wolfe settles for allowing key characters to fire off their points without effectively engaging one another. I had little sense that the narcissistic producer, Irv Durtscher, was any different at the end of the tale.

There was a story worth telling here. Wolfe takes on issues as troubling and challenging as homophobia & tradition vs. diversity in the military, and investigative and story-making zeal vs. accuracy and fairness in broadcast news. When a novelist of Wolfe's stature takes on issues of this size, to produce but a diversion feels almost li! ke exploitation. Can America come to terms with market-driven investigative journalism? Can America tolerate a military subculture intolerant of diversity, and can a military forced to relinquish part of traditional prejudice develop an effective identity? I think that Wolfe is very adroit at sketching self-absorbed caricatures that can amuse us with these themes as a backdrop. I'd like like to see him try his hand at characters capable of movement and growth.

The genius of Tom Wolfe lies not in his ability to devise ingenius plots; but like Dickens a century and a half before, he has the uncanny ability to capture many contemporary personality types with a very few verbal brush strokes. He then puts those created characters into a situation, consistent with contemporary reality. This is what he did in Bonfire of the Vanities, and this is what he did again in the audio novella, Ambush At Ft. Bragg. Anyone who has ever written a novel, which strives for verisimilitude knows that at some point your characters at least try to take over the story. We all find our original plot schemes bending,at least, as we interact with our creations. But in Tom Wolfe's case, one strongly suspects that it isn't even a battle. He first creates characters which perfectly reflect the contemporary American reality, and then chronicles the inevitable interaction of those characters. His novels plot themselves; and plot themselves with a reality which reflects the genius of their creation. In this short work one will see a picture of contemporary American TV "Journalism" that one may not like. But it sure does ring true! The man is a modern American treasure.

Academy Award-nominated actor Edward Norton doesn't just read the book - he PERFORMS it. It is worth the price just to hear him do it.

I like Tom Wolfe, but this novella was a disappointment. It is surprisingly unhumorous, the story's climax comes too early, and the novella trails off at the end. The two protagonists at first seem like perfect targets for Wolfe's satiric genius. One is the TV newsmagazine producer: male, jewish, unattractive, and self-pitying. The other is the TV newsanchor: female, WASP, beautiful, and shallow. It's too bad that Wolfe gets so little comedic mileage from them.

Wolfe seems to have thrown in a pornographic section in the novella for no other reason than salaciousness. (Certainly it was not done as a plot device -- it is absurd and unbelievable.)

Edward Norton does funny redneck voices, but otherwise his narration is dull and flat.

Despite all the bad things I've written, there are some funny moments, and some of the satire hits the mark. Overall, this recording is so-so.

By the way, this novella now is in print in Tom Wolfe's new book Hooking Up.

This book is excellently narrated by Edward Norton(American History X). It a perfect example of how the media is corrupt to get a good story. Anyone whos loves those media "specials" read this.

You guys have got to be kidding! Tom Wolfe is a genius, but this tape (CD) is the worst sort of trash imaginable. I have no idea what Mr. Wolfe had in mind when he produced this seedy little tidbit, but he must be as astounded as I to read comparisons to Dickens.

Did anyone besides me actually listen to this junk?