Johnny Got His Gun [Mass Market Paperback]

Dalton Trumbo (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 1, 1984

This was no ordinary war. This was a war to make the world safe for democracy. And if democracy was made safe, then nothing else mattered—not the millions of dead bodies, nor the thousands of ruined lives...This is no ordinary novel. This is a novel that never takes the easy way out: it is shocking, violent, terrifying, horrible, uncompromising, brutal, remorseless and gruesome...but so is war.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This audio edition of Trumbo's classic 1939 novel of war's insanity begins as a bit of a slog because of the lengthy padding at its start. With two introductions, from Cindy Sheehan and Ron Kovic, that attempt to place the novel in the context of more recent armed conflicts in both Iraq and Vietnam, it is the better part of a disc before the book properly begins. Once it does, though, the slog ceases. Trumbo's novel is spine-tingling in its immediacy and horror, and William Dufris (while occasionally fumbling around in his bag of voices) mostly gives the words room to breathe. For this book, little more is necessary. A Citadel paperback.(Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Review

"Mr. Trumbo sets this story down almost without pause or punctuation and with a fury amounting to eloquence."—New York Times

"It is hard to imaging a more persuasive argument for staying out of war than this smooth, savage, brilliant tale."—Chicago Daily News

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (March 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553274325
• ISBN-13: 978-0553274325
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.8 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (333 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

92 of 100 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One soldier's struggle December 31, 2004

By Michael J. Mazza HALL OF FAME

Format:Mass Market Paperback

"Johnny Got His Gun," by Dalton Trumbo, is a powerful novel. The Bantam paperback includes a fascinating introduction by Trumbo, written in 1959 with a 1970 addendum. The intro notes that the novel itself was written in 1938 and published just after the start of World War II. An "About the Author" page at the book's beginning notes that the Colorado-born Trumbo was one of the screenwriters blacklisted during the McCarthy era.

"Johnny" tells the story of Joe Bonham, an American soldier who is horrifically wounded and disabled in World War I. The book is told from Joe's perspective as he struggles to understand and cope with his situation. His mind wanders back and forth between his past, including his war experiences, and his immediate condition. Thus we get a non-chronological but full picture of his complete life so far.

Dalton's prose style in this book made a strong impact on me. At times he seems to be assaulting the reader without mercy as he shows us the horror of war and its terrible human cost. But the book also includes passages of hope, triumph, and heartbreaking beauty. Joe is an unforgettable character, and this truly disturbing book remains a profoundly relevant work of American fiction.

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Glory In War? Not after you read this book... April 23, 2001

By Andree', a reader

Format:Mass Market Paperback

There was a time when war was still noble and ticker tape fell freely on the heads of veterans; our American heroes. There was an era in US history when wars ended with extravagant parades while lovers were reunited after years apart. Dalton Trumbo's chilling novel, Johnny Got His Gun, is about that era--but there are no heroes here. This tale has nothing to do with the romantic homecomings and thrilling American victories. Johnny Got His Gun is about the atrocious reality behind the glitzy Hollywood definition of warfare. Set during World War I, Trumbo's novel tells the story of a brutally injured and disabled man. Isolation has never known such lonliness. The main character, Joe Boeham, describes himself as the "living dead man." He has no arms, no legs, no face, no tongue to speak, no ears to hear, and no eyes to see. This book is the thoughts of Joe Boeham, slipping in and out of time. He describes his past and you can feel the despair in him as he describes his present; his future. The authour's lack of punctuation gives the reader the notion that Joe Boeham has simply a string of thoughts; beginning nowhere and refusing to end. Boeham's goal in life is merely to live. No, not to breathe, not simply to have a steady heartbeat but rather to find in himself some remaining human characteristic. Lying beneath the surface, Dalton Trumbo incorporates Boeham's opinions regarding the draft, warfare in general, and fighting for a word: democracy. A thought provoking, page-turner, Johnny Got His Gun, is not a book you'll soon forget. This is a masterpiece that has touched the masses helping in the struggle to end the glorification of war.

52 of 59 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting man, interesting book August 16, 2005

By kim pietrzykowski

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976) was a fascinating person. A confirmed communist in America's Hollywood, he marched in lockstep wherever the Party ordered. He started screenwriting in 1935 as a confirmed anti-Nazi, but when the Russo-German pact was announced, Trumbo embraced pacifism as a way to keep the U.S. from acting against the Nazis. The book "Johnny Got His Gun" dates to this period.

After Hitler double-crossed Stalin, and invaded the Soviet Union, Trumbo dropped his pacifism like a live grenade, and worked on such pro-war movies as "A Guy Named Joe" and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo." When the icy winds of the Cold War began to blow, Dalton moved back towards pacifism, writing the screenplay for the movie version of "Johnny Got His Gun" in 1971, during the height of the Vietnam War.

So, if you want an interesting book, by one of Hollywood's great writers, then read this book.