Customer Reviews

Gunning For Ho: Vietnam Stories (Western Literature Series)

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I read Gunning For Ho from a unique perspective...I've known the author, H. Lee Barnes, for some twenty three years. I can truly say (and should, in honesty for this review) he is a rare jewel in my current group of lifetime friends. But...when I met him, he was impenetrably wrapped in the shield of his own personal darkness...the major souvenir he (and so many others) brought home from Vietnam. I cared for him, and wanted to know him...but there is no caring for a man who cares for nothing...and there is no knowing a man who has lost faith in everything he ever believed he knew. Lee and I lost touch with each other for over eighteen years. In those years, this man, who I predicted to do a slow and certain self destruction, was busy rebuilding and refilling himself. He achieved academic degrees by going to school at night while working full time in the emotionally and intellectually draining environs of a casino. He learned that he loves the language, and the sculpting of it. He found that he enjoyed and was gifted at sharing knowledge and imparting skills to the young and bright and eager. He became a writer, then a teacher, and then a professor. Eventually he grew to use his new comfort with words as self-therapy, and somewhere during this healing (exorcism?), he emerged with a full and freed soul. He is now a man with much to say about the experience that so tainted his youth; indeed, tainted all the youth of our nation for a decade. This book contains the essence of his considerable insight about the unique experience that was the war in Vietnam. You have never in read any other author's work the same perspective that you will find here. Lee's mastery of characterization is unequalled. You not only believe these young men he offers you, you earnestly care for them. You agonize for them, and your heart is warmed by them, often unexpectedly. This author has refused to be pulled into the trap of polishing his subjects, or glorifying their motives or results...he steadfastly writes them as they surely were; scared, brave, ethnic, dumb, smart, real. You will never read anything on Vietnam that more accurately conveys the uniqueness of this conflict; the simple geography of it, the unconscious sociology of it, the fragile humanity of the boys our nation dispassionately sacrificed to the experience of it. Read this book. It's not a war novel; it's a seriously creative collection of stories about a surreal experience that was arguably the grittiest and most definitive reality of a generation. I expect many more books of quality from H. Lee Barnes, but I don't expect any more work on this subject. This man survived, returned home, reclaimed himself, and acquitted himself. He now offers his exceptionally literate view of the experience and the men who died in it, the men who lived through it, and those who just got lost in it. H. Lee Barnes no longer qualifies as one of those lost. I think his Vietnam tour is finally over and complete, and his upcoming horizons are free of it...and this book is both his parting shot and his heartfelt tribute to the Vietnam War.

Despite having been born in the latter years of the Vietnam War, and not having read deeply in the field, I am confident this collection of six short stories and a novella by a former Green Beret, is destined to be a classic of Vietnam War fiction. Destined because they resound with the truth--and aren't really concerned with making any political statement. Barnes's stories tell you about the young men who went off to war in an alien landscape, and how they--and those they left behind--were transformed forever. The first three stories are thematically joined by strong surreal elements that speak to the wider confusion and disorientation felt by many who served. More like Kafka than Conrad. The fourth and fifth stories are more straightforward tales of aftermath and picking up the pieces. I found the novella ("Tunnel Rat") to be somewhat more elusive than the stories, and less forceful. It may take a re-reading or two to really get at it. The final (and title) story is a direct descendant of Heart of Darkness, and succeeds in spite of traveling that well-worn path. As a whole, this collection is a testament to the humanity of the men who went to Vietnam.

There are now well over 700 novels and short stories published about the Vietnam War. It seems that everyone that was ever involved, even peripherally, and a number who were not, in that tragic war has written a book. Most can be found, and deservedly so, on a remainder table in a used bookstore. However, every now and then a book comes along that is destined to find it's place on a bookshelf along side the precious few truly good Vietnam War stories. This is such a book. H. Lee Barnes is a combat veteran of Vietnam.He earned the Combat Infantry Badge as a member of the U.S. Army's Special Forces "Green Beret" units while serving near the Laotian border. He was on the ground, up-close and personal. It has taken him some 30 years to sort out his feelings, earn a MFA in writing, and write this superb collection of short stories. What distinguishes this work and makes it unique is the author's uncanny ability to have the characters seem real and believable, sometimes in the face of almost unbelievable circumstances, real and imagined. They are not talking to the reader but to each other. The reader is an observer that is ultimately drawn into the conversation or action in an almost imperceptible manner. The object of the character's attention is not the political correctness of the war or why and how they got there. Multitudes of other books have done that. Rather it deals with their emotions and feelings and how they individually and collectively managed to survive the madness. It is at times humorous, tragic, maddening, gentle, uplifting and unsettling. Come to think of it, much like everyday life. The book contains six short stories and a novella. They all deal with how both the combat participants and family at home cope with the hand fate has dealt them and ultimately, on somve level, prevail in the spirit. This is one powerful book. I have read it twice now and seem to get something different from it with each reading. This is destined to be a classic collection of Vietnam War stories. It should also be noted that Gunning For Ho is another example of the fine books being published by University Presses. Such presses may not get the attention afforded the major houses in the east but they do compete in the quality of their releases.

Don't let the simple cover of this book fool you. Don't shy away from this book because it is a book of war stories (as I was tempted to do, as my taste usually runs along a different venue). Anyone who appreciates beautifully written and compelling stories will enjoy this book. Within its pages are some of the most beautiful stories and interesting characters that I have had the pleasure of reading and meeting. What is striking is the author's blazing talent for storytelling and an extremely well-honed and cutting talent for writing literature. The stories in this book do not merely entertain; they perfume the senses of the mind. The characters are so well drawn they come to life within the pages. What has stayed with me long after finishing the final page, are the haunting and beautiful images the author Barnes has (seemingly effortlessly), managed to create. In "The Cat in the Cage" the tragic picture of the soldier Widerly trapped within a too-small cage clutching a kitten - his father Calvin years later, carrying away with him the delicate glass rose given him by Mai, the Vietnamese woman who was the only human to show his son compassion in his last days. In "Stonehands and the Tigress" my personal favorite of these stories with its strong, if surreal streak of mysticism - the image left with me is that of the slow waltz between the giant Stonehands and the powerful tigress with the soul of an Indian princess. The aggrieved father and his wife bouncing along in a pickup enroute to a dreaded meet at the end of which lies at least, resolution in "The Return". Barnes writes with a delicate yet probing insight on the subtleties and nuances of relationships, whether they are between a man and woman, soldiers and veterans, or parent/child. One is able to grasp the intense and sometimes agonizing loyalty and yes, love between men, with whom such feelings need not be spoken aloud. He captures the fleeting, yet painful yearning that we have all felt for a lost love during a poignant moment in "Tunnel Rat" as well as a wealth of other complex and intricate emotions. In "Tunnel Rat" main character Paez comes vividly to life, and the narrator Rowe (who in my mind's eye played like a young Nick Nolte) broke my heart with his final line at the end of this novella. I will be keeping my eye out for the next piece of work from H. Lee Barnes. There are many more gems to be discovered within the seven tales told within this book. It is well worth the read. Happy hunting.

In Gunning for Ho, Vietnam Stories, author Lee Barnes accomplishes something unique. He manages to capture the human drama that flows in that eerie twilight zone between unbridled violence and static tension. Like a surgeon dissecting a vital artery away from the surface of the brain, Barnes works in that most subtle of literary interface -- a place where a slip in one direction dissolves into bloody chaos or, conversely, into the babbling incoherence of introspection run amok. Barnes' scalpel is creepy-sharp. His discipline shimmers. He is a pro's pro, both in the Tules and on the written page. I'm stunned, not by the bangs but by the whispers. This man Barnes, a Green Beret in I-Corps, based 40 clicks from the Laotian border, has experienced that unique hell that doesn't come at you out of the instant like a car wreck or a drive-by. His hell, like that of those combat vets on both sides and of earlier times, is the kind of terror you saddle-up for each morning at zero-dark hundred. Contemplative courage. Real courage. Few, if any writers on the Vietnam experience have taken this path. This a book for "professional" readers, an act of sharing, an analysis of bonding. Not only does he walk this dark trail, Mr. Lee Barnes walks point.

-submitted by reader Bill Branon, author of Let Us Prey (a '92 NY Times notable Book of the Year), Devils Hole, Timesong, and Spider Snatch.

H. Lee Barnes' collection of stories, Gunning For Ho, need not be looked at as just "Vietnam stories", rather they are stories of the soul, of man, of morality, and of America, uniquely America. This is a writer who doesn't shy away from wit or horror (often in the same paragraph, the same sentence) when describing the wars we fight with ourselves and the wars we fight with the enemy. A powerful, moving reminder that what matters is often not what is written on the page, but what we as readers take with us, to last a lifetime. Nothing short of brilliant.

I am not from Las Vegas, nor a member of any writers' group nor Veterans of Viet Nam group. Neither am I even an acquaintance of H. Lee Barnes, but I know a little about the Ashau, Khe Sahn, Laos, and certain other sites of pertinence. I have also read a considerable number of books on or about that war, and have studied and taught literature for much longer than I care to admit. It would be wrong to compare Gunning for Ho with All Quiet on the Western Front, The Red Badge of Courage, or A Farewell to Arms, because Barnes' collection of stories isn't a novel. It does, however, achieve artistic consonance with them in ways Melville described as providing the universal thump of truth "heard the circle round." Free of the topical politics so common to most books coming out of that now ancient war but full of the true relevance of the interior politics related to human survival in apocryphal circumstances, these stories achieve a gripping poignancy which connects the author's internal experience to the essence of human existence across all time. There is pathos, but it is ameliorated with scintillating humor; there is dignity and honor, but it is balanced by the inevitableness of human fallibility; there are terror and cowardice but they coexist with quiet but determined heroism of the first and lesser orders. To Barnes' credit, all of these elements come together in his tales as natural portrayals of the human spirit in adversity, told quietly, yet with astounding brilliance. He lets us see the pervading haze created by carpet bombing, smell the funkiness of the tropical jungle adulterated by the stink of rotting corpses, and hear the sounds of the unspoken in superbly handled dialogue. This is without doubt the best book I've yet read about the way it was thirty-odd years ago-and still is today, as it was for Jake Barnes in the 20s. Any serious student of literature or anyone with an interest in late 20th century America and the American psyche should read this book.

"Gunning for Ho: Vietnam Stories," is one of those brilliant works of fiction that comes around once in a while to provoke a bit of reflection on the experience of war.
H. Lee Barnes draws upon his first-hand experiences in Vietnam to stitch together a compelling work of literature that begs to be read over and over again.
The stories are perfectly balanced with a combination of suspense, comedy, mystery and anguish all wrapped into a single package.
The world is full of warm-and-fuzzy books for those who need them and this book does not pretend to be one. But if your willing to strap on a Y-Chromosome and enjoy a succinct work of military fiction, then behold: "Gunning for Ho: Vietnam Stories."
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, AUTHORS DESERVE YOUR OPINIONS TOO.

I am not from Las Vegas, nor a member of any writers' group nor Veterans of Viet Nam group. Neither am I even an acquaintance of H. Lee Barnes, but I know a little about the Ashau, Khe Sahn, and certain Laotian points of interest. I have also read a considerable number of books on or about that war, and have studied and taught literature for much longer than I care to admit. It would be wrong to compare Gunning for Ho with All Quiet on the Western Front, The Red Badge of Courage, or A Farewell to Arms, because Barnes' collection of stories isn't a novel. It does, however, achieve artistic consonance with them in ways Melville described as providing the universal thump of truth "heard the circle round." Free of the topical politics so common to most books coming out of that now ancient war but full of the true relevance of the interior politics related to human survival in apocryphal circumstances, these stories achieve a gripping poignancy which connects the author's internal experience to the essence of human existence across all time. There is pathos, but it is ameliorated with scintillating humor; there is dignity and honor, but it is balanced by the inevitableness of human fallibility; there are terror and cowardice but they coexist with quiet but determined heroism of the first and lesser orders. To Barnes' credit, all of these elements come together in his tales as natural portrayals of the human spirit in adversity, told quietly, yet with astounding brilliance. He lets us see the pervading haze created by carpet bombing, smell the funkiness of the tropical jungle adulterated by the stink of rotting corpses, and hear the sounds of the unspoken in superbly handled dialogue. This is without doubt the best book I've yet read about the way it was thirty-odd years ago-and still is today, as it was for Jake Barnes in the 20s. Any serious student of literature or anyone with an interest in late 20th century America and the American psyche should read this book.

There are some fine times in Gunning for Ho. My personal favorites are "A Lovely Day..." and the wonderfully mystic and deep "Stonehands..." This gives a glimpse into the author's not wanting to take responsibility for anything too heavy, though he certainly has and will in the future. It's like a fairy tale dream that can't come true. However the story has real merit and is wonderful.

The characters and stories are real and tragic. The Cat in the Cage horrified me. Here the writer actually got in touch with his sensitive more human side and touched me greatly.

However through the book, there is a distance between the author and his characters. As though he doesn't want to get too close. This is so blatant, I found myself not caring very much for them either.

More heart, more soul, more empathy, should be employed in this man's work. It goes without saying he is a superb writer. He simply needs to open himself up to his characters and likewise, he needs to open his characters up as well.

That sort of cutting off of emotions, is part of military training and being in a war, I suppose. But that war is over. A larger focus on the depth of emotion for writer and characters is what is needed.