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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Imagined Memoir, as if all memoirs aren't imagined, June 30, 2006
Philip Caputo is probably one of our nation's best writers to emerge from the Viet Nam War, up with Tim O'Brien and James Webb. Caputo's reputation rests on his memoir A Rumor of War, and several novels he's written since, all of which deal with people whose lives are impacted, in some way, by military service. This book is a series of vignettes, a sort of fragmented memoir, of the author's experiences throughout his life. The one area where he doesn't spend much time is Viet Nam, having covered that pretty thoroughly in A Rumor of War.
The author grew up in a working-class suburb of Chicago, the child of Italians who weren't far from the old country (they or their parents had immigrated) and he apparently suffered from a wanderlust for much of his early life. He imagined seeing an individual, a sort of magic character who appeared to him in various disguises (a recruiter for the Marine Corps, a hobo on a passing train, an editor offering him an oversees assignment) but his real name was Oneway Ticket, and old Oneway regularly convinces our hero to hop a plane, bus, train, or other conveyance and go off and see the world. By the time he gets shot in Lebanon (after having already been kidnapped, on a separate occasion) you begin to wonder about the author's sanity. When he follows up the Lebanon fiasco by limping into Afghanistan on a leg still pained from the Lebanese shooting, I was certain he was nuts.
Regardless of his sanity, though, Caputo's strength is that he can write. This book is divided up into a series of these accounts of his adventures in exotic corners of the world, separated by short fictional pieces the author has written, apparently for this book. The result is the author's depiction of war as a complex, random, vicious catastrophe that ought to be avoided at all or most hazards. While he doesn't outright condemn war or the impulses that drive men to it, he does come close, and he is very eloquent in describing the human cost of war. He's also very eloquent generally. From his comparison of the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the Ventura Freeway at rush hour to his description of terrorist interrogation techniques as "Applied Kafka", the author's a wonderful prose stylist, and you wind up enjoying every page, the narrative moving along quickly and the characters standing out, interesting, weird, or bright.
I enjoyed this book a great deal, and would recommend it to anyone interested in modern conflict and journalism. While the book is a bit dated (the forward is dated 1989-90) the subject matter is relevant anyway, and the writing is wonderful.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
He tells it like it is, February 3, 1998
By A Customer
I picked this book up, after someone suggested it to me. I couldn't put it down. It is a very honest account of what war correspondents went through. Mr Caputo seems to have led a rather interesting life. All I can say is that I am glad I have never been to war, and hopefully never will. It gives an interesting perspective into what human nature can be. I urge you to read this book.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Phil Caputo's Wars, June 14, 2010
This is one hell of a good book. It's hard to believe it's been around for nearly 20 years now. I got the latest edition with a new author's note from 2008, although it wouldn't have been necessary. The book holds up well, and I especially enjoyed reading of details from the author's childhood and youth in the Chicago suburbs, his early fascination with trains and space travel ("Escape Velocity"), amplified further later in the book when he travels as an adult to the villages in Italy where his grandparents came from in a section called "The Old Country."
In his long career as a journalist and writer, Caputo has traveled to dozens of countries and war zones, often putting his life on the line, treading a fine line between bravery and foolishness, always searching for the "escape" from the humdrum kind of lives so many men are tied into. And yet he is not afraid to admit how frightened he often was, giving his accounts the ring of utter authenticity. Nearly 30 years ago I read his bestselling Vietnam memoir (althought I must admit I don't remember much of it anymore, so will have to read it again now). It's probably not surprising then, that perhaps one of the best sections in this book deals with his memories of his return to that country to cover the fall of Saigon, that ignominious end of the American misadventure there. I had to laugh at the following passage describing his final exit -
"I will not panic, I said to myself. I will behave with courage and dignity. If any women and children must board before me I will let them. I will be brave and honorable ... Most of the women could not run very fast because they were carrying bags filled with gold ingots, and, forgetting my instructions to myself, I nearly trampled them as I made for the chopper ..."
The section on his coverage of the early years of the Soviet-Afghan war was equally fascinating, detailing the hardships endured when he was nearly forty and operating on a gimpy leg resulting from being shot during the Lebanese "fighting." As he described the mujahidin leaders telling him they needed "stingahs" - Stinger missiles - from the Americans to deal with the Soviet gunships, I was reminded of the book and film, "Charlie Wilson's War." Thinking of that, it occurred to me that this particular book might have easily been titled, "Phil Caputo's Wars."
Obviously I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what to say here, so I'll just repeat what I said earlier. This is one hell of a good book. - Tim Bazzett, author of SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA
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