| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Arrogance and hard-won wisdom collide,
By
This review is from: The Junior Officers' Reading Club - Killing Time and Fighting Wars (Hardcover)
In the past several years I have read dozens of military memoirs from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but all have been from an American standpoint. Hennessey's is the first I've read by a British army officer. The writing, not surprisingly, is excellent. Hennessey's reasons for entering the army after what appears to have been a very privilged life and university are somewhat vague, although it seems fairly certain that he mostly wanted to test himself in ways that only the military life and the crucible of combat could provide. He got what he bargained for and perhaps even more. His attitude throughout the book remains a kind of brash, cocksure arrogance that reflects a determination not to break down under the multiple stresses of war and command. He sees fellow officers, friends and men under his command crippled, mutilated and killed, and he also is very much aware of the insulated indifference of the civilian populace that makes no sacrifices on "the home front." At these times his attitude widens to include anger and a certain amount of confusion and wondering how he will ever be able to readjust to a civilian role. There is a kind of hard-earned youthful wisdom expressed in his attempts to articulate the idea that what is happening to him on these foreign battlefields will probably be the defining experience of his life -"I suddenly know that I hate this and love it at the same time because I can already feel both how glad I will be when it is over and how much I will miss it. How difficult to convey to anyone that matters something which they will never understand, and how little anything else will ever matter." Hennessey's narrative is also filled with cultural references of his time - films, music, television. And most of it was familiar even to me, despite an ocean and forty years of living that separates us. The foul language that permeates military life and which filled the book was not a bit off-putting to me. I've been there and have lived that high-spirited boundary-testing time that almost all soldiers go through when they are finally on their own and far from home for the first time. The obscenity and the often shocking dark humor expressed here are normal; they are checkpoints of the genuineness of the experience. The juxtaposition of being shelled by enemy fire daily and an addiction to a DVD set of the American hospital soap, "Grey's Anatomy," during the lulls in battle are handled well. Readers will quickly become accustomed to such things, which represent, in many ways, the madness of war. If there was anything at all which disappointed me in THE JUNIOR OFFICERS' READING CLUB it was that very few books were actually given. I came to the book with pen and paper at hand, hoping to harvest a list of actual books these men were reading. I came away with nothing I wished to read. But perhaps that was a cultural or age-related disconnect on my part; I don't know. Another minor shortcoming, one mentioned by other reviewers, is that the book goes on perhaps a bit too long. The Afghanistan section of the book, the part which describes the fiercest combat - the patrols, the ambushes, the shelling - almost seems to drag on, as Hennessey continues to try to "tell it all." I have read that he is now studying for the legal profession. Perhaps he figures this will be his one and only book and he just wanted to "get it all in" before hanging up his writer's hat for good. Again, I don't know. It might be intersting now to read some memoirs from other nationalities who have been there - other members of that much-mentioned "coalition of forces." In the meantime I will recommend this one - a very good book. - Tim Bazzett, author of the American Cold War memoir, SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Battles, bullets and boredom,
By
This review is from: The Junior Officers' Reading Club - Killing Time and Fighting Wars (Hardcover)
Despite the rather off title, this is a first hand account of a young officer going through Sandhurst and onto the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. It is told in an almost breathless style with the occasional insert from an e-mail home and it does take a little getting used to. This is a generation that are trained to fight and it is not surprising that they are keen to get in and do the business. Some have complained that this is shallow or unprofessional, but the reality is that these guys are trained to do something and of course they will want to test their skills against a real enemy.Patrick Hennessey manages to convey a number of things, the boredom, the intensity of action, the pain of loss, the comradeship and the professionalism of the fighting end of the British Army. It is a very honest work and quite hard to put down. It certainly gets over how relentless the fighting is in Afghanistan and how flawed some of the tactics and military assumptions are. A very important picture of a young officer's lot, and a war that is going on right now.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sandhurst, Iraq and Afghanistan,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Junior Officers' Reading Club: Killing Time and Fighting Wars (Paperback)
A very bright young university graduate, Patrick Hennessey, has given us a very readable, entertaining and insightful account of his decision to opt for Sandhurst after graduation from university, followed by tours of duty which eventually bring him to Iraq and then Afghanistan. He writes extremelly well, often with humor. In Afghanistan his unit was paired with anAfghan battalion whose commander's high motivation Hennessey clearly understood and respected, and Hennessey's accounts of strategies, tactics and combat are thought provoking.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
