Customer Reviews

Naked to Love: Letters from a Young American in Panama, 1952-54

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I am sorry to say I didn't like this book. I couldn't wait to get it because my boyfriend also was in the service in the 50s and we wrote to each other every day. I enjoyed the first part of the book and all of the "interpretations" given by Carole (his wife), but Chris himself was (even for a young man/boy in the 1950s) egocentric to the point of being boorish. I don't remember exactly when Atlas Shrugged was written, but Chris (the author of these letters) sure had Ayn Rand's philosophy of selfishness. Imagine a man telling his wife he slept with prostitutes because his "sexual urge was just like my urge to eat or to scratch an itch" and he HAD to satisfy it . . . expecting her to believe that, YET telling her if she slept with anyone else he would kill himself. Ugh. I just didn't like Chris. Also, he wrote in his letters how he was DRIVEN to write . . . but we never find out if he ever WROTE anything of significance again. Very disappointing.

A man in the Army writes home to his wife, constantly telling her to write to him. He is very self-involved and constantly begs her to tell him how much she loves him with no real feeling for the fact that she is home pregnant with his child. He pays little attention to where he is and spends his free time with prostitutes and complaining about others making too much noise. Gives very little information about much except himself.

The authors letters are honest. I had to stop and remind myself these letters were written by a very young man. It's not often we are allowed to look into the heart and head of someone so completely honest in his feelings and thoughts. I want to secret the book from others who ask me what it's about, as if the letters were written to me.

I laughed outloud on a bus while reading Chris's conversation with Andy regarding god and hell.

I was not offended because he told his wife everything including his trips to the 3 dollar whore-house. Frankly I would have been more surprised if he hadn't. I believe him when he said it had nothing to do with his feeling or love for his wife Carole. The fact that they are still married and his wife saved his letters tells me all I need to know about the character of Chris Colie.