Customer Reviews

Delcorso's Gallery

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It is somewhat hard to describe this book in a few sentences. Even though mostly fiction, the main character plays an uncanny resemblance to the author himself. Something that is especially noticeable if you ever read Caputo's Autobiography "Means of Escape." The picture this book paints of Beirut is frighteningly realistic, something that even non-fiction books written about the War fail to achieve. Likewise, the portrayal of a photojournalist, one who is asked to risk his life "to beat AP by 5 min." is superb by any account. Anyone who is familiar with Caputo's literary work knows how good this man is at molding and developing complex, intelligent, and memorable characters. Delcorso's Gallery is a prime example of this. I urge anyone who at the least is curious about what happened in Beirut to read this novel in addition to the history books out there. I do not know if history will repeat itself somewhere else in the future, but it is important to be aware.

Faisal Juma.

Wow. Awesome story about war. Makes war more real than anything you see on tv or read in the news. A very personal story. Great psychological drama about the photographer and his conflicts.

Caputo, Philip....is repeating himself here. Or actually he's selling a rough draft. DelCorso's Gallery (published 1983) is Means of Escape (pub. 1991) in fictional form.

Instances in Rumors of War are repeated here too, as they also are in Means of Escape, sometimes word for word.

The quality of writing is subpar compared to Horn of Africa (fic), The Voyage (fic), Acts of Faith (fic), Means Of Escape (nf) even A Rumor of War (nf), In fact it's hard to believe that Delcorso's Gallery is his third book and not his very first. It's that poor.

The story is the life (including family) of a war photojournalist with a cast of war correspondents going from Vietnam to the mideast.

I recommend you skip this and go straight to the finished non-fiction version Means of Escape.

Books by Philip Caputo

A Rumor of War (1977)

Horn of Africa (1980)

Delcorso's Gallery (1983)

Indian Country (1987)

Means of Escape (1991)

Equation for Evil (1996)

Exiles (1997)

The Voyage (1999)

Ghosts of Tsavo: stalking the mystery lions of East Africa (2002)

Means of Escape: A War Correspondent's Memoir of Life and Death in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Vietnam (2002)

In the Shadows of the Morning: Essays On Wild Lands, Wild Waters, and a Few Untamed People (2004)

Acts of Faith (2005)

Ten Thousand Days of Thunder: A History of the Vietnam War (2005)

13 Seconds: A Look Back at the Kent State Shootings (2005)