Customer Reviews

The Beardless Warriors

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Before Matheson became a prolific writer of science fiction stories, novels, Twilight Zone episodes, and films, he served as a replacement infantryman in World War II. Some fifteen years later, he set down his experiences as a novel about a teenager sent to the front lines for the Allied advance into Germany. The story covers the first two weeks of Private Everett Hackermeyer's war, as he joins an understrength squad under the leadership of a grizzled Sergeant who acts as a father figure. But having been abandoned by his drunk father to be raised by his nasty uncle, Hackermeyer has no conception of what a father figure is, or really of what it means when people are nice to him. The result is that when thrown into the tight camaraderie of small unit combat, Hackermeyer is often confused, and retreats into his head to analyze the meaning behind every gesture and phrase directed at him.

He survives his initial baptism by fire, and accidentally discovers that he has an actual talent for killing the enemy. The question becomes, will he be able to operate as a good soldier, or will his inner demons lead him into increasingly risky and bloodthirsty acts? He's a bit of a stock character, the poor kid raised by wolves and never given a chance, who blossoms under a firm and wise guiding hand. But his mental issues keep him from becoming the kind of everyman hero common to World War II stories. His fellow privates are also somewhat stock figures: the sardonic joker/college boy from California, the bumbling idiot, the religious nut, and so on. The Sergeant is an incredibly cliche figure, who even offers Hackermeyer a job on his ranch, should they ever make it back home. These character deficiencies aside, the book is notable for its ability to put the reader in the middle of the terror and tedium that was World War II. The descriptions of shelling are truly horrific, and the chaos of small scale combat really comes to life. Matheson clearly pulls no punches in his description of what it meant to be on the front line, and the fear that inspired.

I read this at the same time as watching the "Band of Brothers" miniseries, and found it very complementary. Both do an excellent job at showing the mix of boredom and horror that infantrymen faced, however this book emphasizes how utterly alone each man is on the battlefield, while the miniseries (per its title), emphasizes the camaraderie. Ultimately the book is somewhat cliche across the board, but still well worth reading if you're interested in World War II.

I first read this book in about 1965, and it served at the inspiration for me to serve in the United States Army (Infantry) for 24 years. The book captures the essence of being an infantryman, the misery, the terror and heroism. It demonstrates the true meaning of war at the lowest level. The soldiers fight not for the country, but for each other. If you want to learn about soldiers and the profession of arms, this is the book to read. The military books about the generals and admirals cannot convey real combat operations as Mr. Matheson does. Of course, they just order the deaths of young soldiers. This books makes you feel the deaths.

Penned by one of the greatest and most prolific writers of the 20th century and based in part upon his own experiences in one of the greatest conflicts of the 20th century, this is a novel that needs to be read -particularly by those in power anywhere who would send their troops to war. This is the most utterly enveloping account of front line combat I have ever read. The story is about a mere three weeks in the life of a young man named Hackameyer who participates in the latter offensive in Europe in the closing days of World War II. We are immersed entirely in the body of this introverted, easily confused kid who has sprung from a dead-end family that gave him nothing but self-doubt, only to find that it seems our one true talent in life is killing. While all the typical genre devices of the two-fisted World War II tale are here (the fatherly Sergeant, the pacifist religious guy, the incompetent private), this is NOT typical fare. We are THERE. We can feel the reverberation of the shells as they hit all around us. We are sick to our stomach at the squeaking sounds of the tank treads and the groan of the engines as they smash through the brush. We feel for the characters Hackameyer gets attached to, and we hate the ones he hates. We exhult in Hackameyer's accomplishments, even while we, as readers outside the character can plainly see the dangerous line he is treading between hero and maniac. We want desperately the same things Hackameyer wants - a home on a ranch with a real father. This should be read by anyone who wants to understand the experience of the soldier - ANY soldier on the front line.

So here we have the story of Hackermeyer, an 18 year old american sent to europe in december 1944. There he is met by the squad led by the 38 year old Sergeant Cooley, about which the story revolves as they attempt to capture a nothing smudge on the map called Saarbach. The story takes place over a period of two weeks. I read it all in one reading, so it is quite engrossing.

Apart from Hackermeyer, Cooley and Guthrie, the cast includes others like Fearfeather, Linstrom, Foley, Wendt, Tremont and others. Virtually all of them are children: 18 year olds, thrown into a maelstrom of death and carnage, fear and terror and truly surreal moments, as well as hellaciously grim ones. Matheson doesn't pull too many punches in that regard. His prose is rapid and spare, descriptive yet concise. While the plot is quite linear and sometimes a little predictable, nevertheless, he draws the reader in and doesn't let go. There is little respite. His real strength is his characterizations and complete understanding of his characters emotions and motivations. He gets inside their heads, particularly Hackermeyer's, and consequently puts you inside them as well.

While I don't consider the work as good as Comrades of War, Sven Hassel (isbn: 0304366889: Comrades of War (Cassell Military Paperbacks)), nevertheless it is a strong work that delivers a serious dose of real, unglamorous war, in all of its confusion and death. In a sense it is like reading a movie like Saving Private Ryan, without being so contrived and falsely presented as some of that movie was (the battle at the end of SPR with 2nd SS panswer division Das Reich was impossible as Das Reich wasn't near there at the time of the story). So while it is not a book to enjoy, it is a book to immerse in, consider and, ultimately, reflect upon and appreciate the sacrifice that brave men like Hackermeyer and Cooley (and those they faught against as well) made to achieve victory in Western Europe over such an evil regime. Of course Matheson never pontificates on this nor intrudes into the story with it either. That's for the reader on closing the final page to consider.

So, in all, a very readable story that is grimly realistic (as I imagine it to be) with characters you know and care about. It's a fine book and a bargain at the price!

Read I Am Legend years ago, but never read anything else by Matheson. I loved this book and am moving onto Hell House next.

This book may be the most incredibly realistic and gritty book ever written about World War 2. There are no phony Hollywood cliches, and it has the feel of true day-to-day life on the front lines of a combat zone. As an avid reader or World War 2 fiction, this may be the best book I've ever read on the subject.
If anyone has read this book and know of another book that they feel is as good and similar, please comment and let me know the title and author.

This is a very well written account of a new recruit thrown into battle after D Day. Not glorifying war but making it so that those of you who have never been through something so terrible can experience it.

This is the first book I've read by Richard Matheson, but it isn't the first novelization of an author's experience in World War II that I've read. As a World War II novel, or a novel of any war for that matter, it is one of the best. As a Matheson novel, I can't say until I've read more, but of course, this book inspires me to read all I can get.

I won't go over the plot or characters - that is for the reader's enjoyment, the delight of discovery. But his style is worth mentioning. Although some would say it is merely straightforward, it is really much more complex. Matheson's choice of telling this very personal story in a third person narrative is genius. Even in 1960, self absorption and self imortance emerged as the natural offspring of self awareness in fiction. As "self" asserted its place as the center of the universe, fictionalized personal accounts became almost exclusively first person tales. It is so prevalant now it is hard to imagine a time when such accounts were rare. Matheson purposely uses the third person effectively to maintain an esthetic distance to his story in general and the main character (Hackermeyer) in particular. Knowing that he waited 15 years to write this novel, Matheson obviously needed an outsider's perspective to understand the young man he was, the things he did, and the tragedies he witnessed. He made it more personal by relating it in the third person.

Like any great writer, Matheson puts us in the story as he takes himself out - his journey become our journey. This is where the third person technique works its magic - a character isn't telling us how he feels or how we should feel, we experience those feelings through that character. We discover things as he does - this is especially true when Hackermeyer is looking for Cooley in the hotel/hospital. Only after we have finished the novel do we understand it has been a cycle - arrival, initiation, trial, and triumph. When the cycle is complete - the novice is now the teacher and the cycle resumes.

As Hackermeyer becomes more "human" and less a killing machine, he becomes as vulnerable as those he had disdained, but also becomes aware of the emotions he's hidden from himself. He feels a greater kinship to those who have died and in living, he is able to tell their story. Matheson allows us to relive it in the telling. This is one to pass along to your kids and grandkids.

"The Beardless Warriors", by Richard Matheson, sub-titled, " A Novel of World War II". A Tom Doherty Associates Book, New York, May 2001, but first copyrighted in 1960.

According to the fronts piece, this is a work of fiction based upon the experiences of the noted writer, Richard Matheson, when he was shipped as an 18-year-old replacement into the European Theater of Operations in late 1944. Matheson portrays the development of Private Hackermeyer from a stumbling, inexperienced and frightened young soldier to a competent killer, who ignores the surrendering gestures of German soldiers. He has become so proficient in shooting his M-1, that Hackermeyer automatically registers on the target, pulls the trigger and then begins to scan for more.

Although written as fiction, there are two separate analyses of the wisdom of using young men as soldiers; these analyses are couched in dialogue among squad members. (Sergeant Cooley states, "I ain't running a rifle squad, ...I'm running a kindergarten.") There is also some discussion about life after death, resulting in Hackermeyer's introspection on that subject, on the death of his mother, and on life back in Brooklyn, NY.

The writing is excellent and Richard Matheson vividly establishes the range of feelings among the young soldiers, ranging from absolute terror to complacent acceptance, during the various attacks and defensive actions that take place in a very short calendar time. In my opinion, Matheson has captured day to day combat better than most writers.

THE BEARDLESS WARRIORS

Richard Matheson is the perfect example of how certain writers get marginalized because they've been ghettoized into the 'genre' fiction category, and it really is an awful shame. Matheson is one of America's finest storytellers in the 20th century. Period. He'll take the most fantastic, implausible situation and, in the most imaginative way possible, suck you right into the story. To top it all off, he'll throw in the same grand themes that have been plundered many times before, by all the 'greats' like Steinbeck and Hemingway etc., and present it in a fashion that you just wouldn't expect, making it all the more pleasant and surprising. Like sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick and crime novelist Raymond Chandler, Matheson writes intelligent tales that seem to cater to a particular audience, but go way beyond that. He doesn't transcend his genre, he legitimizes it! This tale, however, is unlike any of Matheson's others. 'The Beardless Warriors' is about a troop of teenagers set out to fight the Germans in World War II. Appearently, this was Matheson's first novel, before he struck out into horror, sci-fi and fantasy, and it holds up as one of the most realistic war books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Matheson brilliantly depicts life on the front lines in WWII, capturing all the boredom and fear of a typical grunt. It helps that Matheson served on the front as a teen himself. The book's true genius lies in its main characters. He takes normal teen angst and amplifies it a millionfold, as baby-faced soldiers must become men very quickly or die in the process. Thought your adolescence was tough? Try never having so much as having slept with a woman, an 18 year old guy's favourite topic, and then having to face your own mortality every day. Another brilliant narrative device here is the choice of lead character. Private Hackermeyer, a dim-witted new recruit who doesn't have much in the brains department and hides his insecurity behind a humourless stoicism that no one can seem to pierce through. His rotating ensemble of supporting characters are superb, ranging from the religious and good-hearted, to the cynical and gruff, to the feeble and weak. The tale takes place over the course of two weeks and the boys literally transform and change into men within that short span of time. Lost is any notion of innocence, or the past or anything they once knew and believed about themselves. Hackermeyer discovers that he's surprisingly adept at killing, filling him with a sense of accomplishment that he'd never had before. He was never much good at anything. Slowly, he learns the value of life after being surrounded by so much death. Matheson is great at exhibiting war's horrific reality, especially as you just get to know and like a character, much like Hackermeyer, and all of a sudden they're blown to smithereens. Another great line from the book is when the Sergeant admits to Hackermeyer that killing can be 'fun' sometimes but that they can't let it overcome them. The typical trials and tribulations of teen-hood intersperse themselves throughout the novel. It's really like a demented 'young fiction' story...the guys all deal with insecurity, acceptance, frustration, fear, rejection....all the regular teen stuff, with all the drama that comes with being a teen. A great yarn about the realities of what awaits us in adulthood and an especially important wake up call to sheltered, impressionable North American kids who experience shellshock when they find that real life and world don't quite follow the idealized path that they set before themselves.