Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ten stars. This is a MUST READ book, January 27, 2005
A Midnight Clear is a stunning, poignant, passionate paean to the futility and tragedy of war. The setup is 6 very young, very bright US soldiers sent on a reconnaissance mission to a chateau deep within the Ardennes Forest in France in December 1944. Use of symbolism deepens the book's meaning: the men (read "boys") play chess and bridge (without cards) with deadly passion, one is called Mother because of his mother-hen neatnik qualities, another is called Father because he's a devout Catholic who left seminary cuz he didn't think he was good enough. Their leader is Wont (his name is William Knott, AKA Will Knot, AKA `will not,' thus: won't, usually shortened to Wont), a kid recently promoted to sergeant who hasn't had time to sew his stripes on yet.
So they're in this abandoned chateau in the middle of this isolated forest, burning furniture to try to keep warm, and the dialogue and situations are hilarious and horrible, but mostly hilarious...but this is a book about war, so you know bad stuff is going to happen. Reading the first ¾ of the book, you feel kinda guilty laughing, cuz in the back of your mind, you're wondering which and how many of these kids are going to die.
Then they realize there are 6-8 Germans nearby, and their fear is palpable - until it becomes clear that the Germans are just as young and scared as they are, just as sick of war, and even more importantly, the Germans know they're about to lose the war, and they want to surrender.
The denouement, when it comes, occupies no more than perhaps one single page, maybe just a couple of paragraphs, and the rest of the book becomes a weird, tragic, very believable mythic, religious, mystery play/metaphor sort of thing with the kind of events and writing that keep you riveted to the last sentence.
Highest possible recommendation. I swear it'll eventually become a classic.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
19 Year Olds at War- Far from Home-Freezing and Scared, January 13, 2002
A handful of young GI's are stuck in a snowy wilderness somewhere in northern France at the end of the Battle of the Bulge. Christmas time is approaching,and they are hoping and praying for salvation from this truly unpleasant situation. Perhaps holing up somewhere will keep them from from freezing to death, and hopefully the enemy is nowhere near. This strategy backfires when they realize that Germans have found them. Even worse, some monstrous German tanks make a very alarming appearance.Possibly, the German soldiers are as scared and sick of this war as they are...Maybe there's even a way to communicate all this to the enemy, especially as the holiday gets nearer by the day. The rest is a story that should be among the classics, one that Mr. Wharton tells perfectly. Simply, it can't be beat, and the movie was just as good. Both underrated,little known gems.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
LIVES UPTO EXPECTATIONS, October 3, 2002
"Vaughan! You have to read this book"
"What book?"
"Ohhh, its called A MIDNIGHT CLEAR... written by the same guy who is responsible for BIRDY!"The next day I purchase it on AMAZON. The following day the book comes. That same day I finish it. That day is today. Let me say, that this book was is an amazing piece of work. Its a classic about World War II, but nothing really too in-depth which would really confuse the heck out of me. A simple plot, but a very unique one, that really does play on your emotional side. I kid you not, my heart was pumping so fast at times, and I just couldn't control myself from screaming into the pages! Ahh, a book sometimes does this for me - and this one did it for me. A group of 5 soldiers, lead by WONT, really don't care about the war, and rather are discovering themselves through eachother. They hope that the enemy isn't too near, and they hope that their daily lives can be as less stressful as possible. This all changes though when a group of German soldiers seem to be in a very playful mood, and start joking around with the Americans. Leaving messages here and there, which all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. But a piece goes missing at the end. Read it!
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