Customer Reviews

Goodbye Vietnam

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sometimes the truth is best written in the form of fiction so that it can create the mood and emotional stage for the very soul of the storyteller. Such is the case for author Robert W. Wood, with his compilation of short stories in "Goodbye Vietnam". The book works very well in a strange and sometimes bizarre way to convey what it felt like to do a "tour of duty" in Vietnam during that war.

The format that Wood uses to define the Vietnam experience works perfectly in giving the reader an insider look. His use of short pieces that feel sort of like stories or chapters paint us a picture of the horror, the rage and the outright absurdity of this war. It is a brilliant use of loose fitting prose that when read altogether it makes the book feel like journey. The author has created a new path to telling "the emotional truth" by making it fictional.

You may have read many books on war and some on "The Vietnam War" but this is in a class all by itself. I have read and reviewed hundreds of books about Vietnam and many of those were non-fiction--but this one stands out as different, creative and entertaining and in some ways, enlightening, if that can be said about a book that deals with so many issues from killing to sex.

Put this on your gift list for books to buy veterans and even non-veterans. It is an easy book to read but a hard book to put down! I personally endorse this book!

My husband read this book and wrote this review. *This is what he told me to put in the review, HIS words below;

* I am a 2-tour Vietnam Vet. I can relate to stories of combat settings.
Here is my review;
This one is "different." I didn't hate it, but it took a little effort to force myself to get into it.
This writer is a "thinker," but might not connect with many readers, especially non-Vietnam vets. Like I said, 'it took a little effort for me to get into it,' and I am very open-minded. I had trouble following the odd, bizarre dialog inserts, and placement of the settings, of which were not very many settings.
If you can hook-up with the writer's 'voice,'and 'attitude,' it is an easier read. That is how I got through it. It is a short work, very different from what I was expecting. It isn't a war story in the common sense of such, but has a few scenes that were pieces of a very real war.
It won't take you long to go through it, and it doesn't cost much on Amazon to see for yourself.
If you are looking for a Vietnam War book, this isn't it.

Wood is an impressively written novel that vividly evokes a fictional yet highly realistic memory of a Marine who served in combat in Vietnan. Offer the reader a compellingly dark, gritty, no-holds-barred view of a truly hellish war, and the toll it took on human life and decency, Goodbye Vietnam belongs on the shelf along side such seminal and memorable works at Joseph L. Heller's "Catch 22" and Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead".

It was as if the author was living a dream, or should I say a nightmare. The emotions came through. The irony, the black humor, the just plain silliness of life by the numbers. I surely didn't 'get' every subtle reference, parable or dream-scape, but I think I got the point or should I say pointlessness of it all.

This is a quick read. Enjoyed it. It ends with a more academic analysis of Vietnam War FAQ's answered with considerable insight from a boots on the ground perspective (and without wild imaginative prose in the rest of the book.)