Paco Sullivan is the only man in Alpha Company to survive a cataclysmic Vietcong attack on Fire Base Harriette in Vietnam. Everyone else is annihilated. When a medic finally rescues him almost two days later, Paco is waiting to die, flies and maggots covering his burnt, shattered body. He winds up back in the U.S. with his legs full of pins, daily rations of Librium and Valium, and no sense of what to do next. One evening, on the tail of a rainstorm, he limps off a bus and into the small town of Boone, determined to find a real job and a real bed—but no matter how hard he works, nothing muffles the anguish in his mind and body. Brilliantly and vividly written, Paco’s Story—winner of a National Book Award—plunges the reader into the violence and casual cruelty of the Vietnam War, and the ghostly aftermath that often dealt the harshest blows.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Paco Sullivan arrives in town penniless and job-hunting, the rain evaporating off the street forming "pungent steam so thick you would think his legs were cut off at the knees." In truth, the enigmatic Paco is indeed crippled. He is the sole survivor of an infantry company "pulverized to ash" in the Vietnam War. The methodical monotony of a dishwashing job in a diner offers some salve, though everyday things bring back savage memories. Heinemann's second novel--the first, Close Quarters, was based on his combat experience in Vietnam--is narrated through the collective voices of Paco's dead colleagues and offers a war veteran's envious and despairing view of the regular world. Paco's Story won the 1987 National Book Award.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
When incoming fire lights up the sky over the good old boys at Fire Base Harriet in Vietnam, the tough soldiers just look at each other and settle in, certain that the nearly 100 of them will die. And all but one are visited by the descending brightness that tears their bodies apart. The ghost of one of these soldiers narrates the story of survivor Paco Sullivan, who lies covered with flies and dirt for two days before being rescued. Badly scarred and limping, he returns to the States and becomes an introspective dishwasher in a small Texas town. This is a well-written, ruminative work in an easy-going, down-home dialect that makes the awful memories of the warthankfullya little bit distant. Heinemann (Close Quarters has a promising talent, but his novel needs a sense of propulsion, not just excellent tales and fine dialogue; and his women should also be more than lusty objects of men's desires. As is, his work is just short of important.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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More About the Author
Larry Heinemann was born and raised in Chicago. His award-winning first novel, "Close Quarters", has been called the seminal work to come out of the war in Vietnam. "Paco's Story", his second novel, received the National Book Award for fiction and the Carl Sandburg Literary Arts Award for fiction, among other honors. "Cooler by the Lake", a Chicago novel, was published 1992. "Black Virgin Mountain: A Return to Vietnam", a memoir and the third book in what Mr. Heinemann refers to as his accidental Vietnam trilogy, was published in 2005.
In 2010 "Paco's Story" was published by the Womens Publishing House (Hanoi), translated by Pham Anh Tuan with an introduction by celebrated author Bao Ninh; "Chuyen Cau Paco" is the first American-written war novel to be published in Vietnam.
Mr. Heinemann's short stories and non-fiction have appeared in a variety of publications both here and overseas, and numerous anthologies including "Humor Me", "The Other Side of Heaven", "Writing Between the Lines", "Vietnam Anthology", "Best of the Tri-Quarterly", "Lesebuch der Wilden Manner" (Germany), and "The Vintage Book of War Stories". His fiction has been translated into Dutch, German, French, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
He has received literature fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation,and the Fulbright Scholarship Program. Mr. Heinemann is the Writer in Residence at Texas A&M University.
In 2010 "Paco's Story" was published by the Womens Publishing House (Hanoi), translated by Pham Anh Tuan with an introduction by celebrated author Bao Ninh; "Chuyen Cau Paco" is the first American-written war novel to be published in Vietnam.
Mr. Heinemann's short stories and non-fiction have appeared in a variety of publications both here and overseas, and numerous anthologies including "Humor Me", "The Other Side of Heaven", "Writing Between the Lines", "Vietnam Anthology", "Best of the Tri-Quarterly", "Lesebuch der Wilden Manner" (Germany), and "The Vintage Book of War Stories". His fiction has been translated into Dutch, German, French, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
He has received literature fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation,and the Fulbright Scholarship Program. Mr. Heinemann is the Writer in Residence at Texas A&M University.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First-rate work,
By
This review is from: Paco's Story (Contemporary American Fiction) (Mass Market Paperback)
"Paco's Story" is an outstanding addition to the canon of fiction about the American soldier's experience in Vietnam. Its additional contribution lies in its exploration of the challenges facing the veteran upon his return to the U.S. The novel is unsparing in its criticism of a country that was all to eager to send young men off to fight in a controversial war in the jungles of Southeast Asia, but not so enthusiastic about dealing with them when they returned, wounded both physically and psychically. The novel also presents a world in which the soldiers on both sides are dehumanized by guerilla warfare and surrender to evil. What is Paco's story? It's a story of a grunt who survives a firestorm attack that kills all of his comrades; who clings to life desperately in a hospital far from home; who returns to the States with a cane and a complex of scars disfiguring his body; who lives day in and day out with the knowledge that he lived a life in Vietnam that he can explain to almost no one on the planet. We see him arrive in a small town via bus, looking for work. We watch him encounter fellow Americans who haven't a clue about what he has endured on their behalf and who do not appear to want to know. We return with him to experience the drudgery and brutality of life in a faraway land and the horrible day that changed his life forever. We listen to him commune with the ghosts of the men with whom he fought in Vietnam. Finally, we see him depart the town as suddenly as he came, having discovered that a girl upon whom he has spied and fantasized sees him as a disgusting freak. This is a bitter, eloquent novel that reminds us that we should never forget the soldiers who paid dearly for their service to the country. The wounds they suffered overseas should never be compounded by wounds inflicted by their own countrymen.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Story Worth Reading,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Paco's Story (Contemporary American Fiction) (Mass Market Paperback)
This book gives a glimpse into the toll that war takes on those who survive. No one but those who endure it can truly fathom the horrors of PTSD, but for the rest of us who want to understand, this book is the best I've read yet. Paco wanders through his life finding some solace in washing dishes in a small diner in Texas, losing himself in his work and barely surviving mentally from day to day. The style of writing drew me into Paco's suffering. Although it is fiction, it is written by a Vietnam vet and left me wondering how many Pacos there are among us. His story is one that may well haunt you long after the final page is read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nothing like a Vietnam ghost story,
By Ron Lealos (Vancouver, WA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Paco's Story: A Novel (Paperback)
Paco's Story, while revolving around a fantasy, is full of the reality of a bloody mindless war. The book goes well beyond just scenes of combat into the mind and heart of a survivor who believes he should have joined his buddies in the afterlife. Heineman relays fictional accounts of a tour in the jungle against the coming home of a mangled vet. It is at times astounding. At others, heartbreaking. An excelent descent into the horror of this war.Ron Lealos author of Don't Mean Nuthin'
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