Customer Reviews

Pettibone's Law: A Novel (Bluejacket Books)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just put aside everything to read John Keene's "Pettibone's Law". I wanted to finish it before his memorial on January 28th, 2000.

The book was complicated and sad, quirky and smart, packed with intelligence...much the way I remember John Keene when I met him briefly over twenty years ago.

It's been said that the Viet Nam war produced the best war literature ever written, mainly because some guys who fought the war were also able to really write about it. Well, John Keene was one of those, and he scores right on the target with "Pettibone's Law". It's written with humor and pathos and confirms what I always suspected about that war, but never knew.

It's a good read, and it's not lightweight so if you're looking for fluff, skip it. It is a must-read, though, for anyone who's interested in a good book that deals with truth and abandoning illusions about war. Yes, it's fiction, but which great fiction isn't based on truth?

Thank God "Pettibone's Law" got written. The book shares a kinship with "Catch 22", etching into our consciousness what it was like being a fighter pilot in Viet Nam. You can't help but laugh, you can't help but cry.

Oh yes, there is one chapter towards the end that's philosophical and a bit difficult to read, (I guess John wanted to have his say about a few things) but when I finished the book a few chapters later I cried genuine tears for Old Jack Rawlins with his pork "hanging out".

I recommend this book without hesitation.

Having just finished this over this past weekend. I think that it is a great read if you can get around the toss around the author makes of past and present in the story. That is the only reason that i didn't give it a 5. The story is about a young man who join the USMC and became an aviator and flew during Vietnam. The other story here is one of the same man 20yrs down the line in a defense contractor and realizing that his boss is robbing the government and the company with some future aircraft that can't preform the job. In both he faces tough choices of going on or quitting. A lot of humor in here as well. Good for a few laugh.

Keene tells the story of a F-4 jock in terms that only one who has "een there -- done that"could write it. Some of the best humor encountered in ages, mixed with true pathos many Nam vets will recognize and wish they could have put their finger on it with such stark clarity.

Keene often refers to "he other war."A vet's personal war within, and it is in this capacity that Pettibone's Law touches so many nerves. A really excellent read for both the witty humor and the mirror it holds up for any combat veteran -- but especially the Nam vet.

Pettibone's Law is the SEA veteran's "atch 22,"and is every bit the classic that is Heller's WWII-based masterpiece.

BDA (Bomb Damage Assessment) 100% from a Nam FAC who may have, unknowing to both, controlled John Keene in a different world and life so far away, yet so everpresent still. Pettibone's Law is dead center and a top shelf keeper.

Author John Keene was a Marine fighter/attack pilot during the Vietnam War, so you can rest assured that the book is more than a jaded look at the period. The Pettibone to whom the title refers is the venerable "Grandpa Pettibone" whose caustic remarks ring in the ears of Naval Aviators baptised in his "Jumpin' Jehosaphat" bombasts leveled at bonehead performances by aviators in the ingroup organ, Naval Aviation News.

The book itself is black humor reminiscent of that found in Catch-22, except that here it digs deeper into the impact that the absurdity of a politically controlled war has on the participants.

Except for a chapter in which the author steps out from behind the curtain to deliver a retrospective sermon, readers will find Pettibone's Law a rewarding experience as well as a good primer on the mindset of those engaged in a war that time has passed by.

For what it's worth, I too flew Phantoms for the Marine Corps in the war, and got to know John from the time he began the book until his untimely death not long after its publication. I know others who share my opinion that Pettibone's Law should have met with success, but unfortunately for it and John, it was released on the eve of Desert Storm, so its satire fell victim to a new patriotic call-to-arms.

Having read Catch-22 many years ago I wanted to read this. I found it kept my attention more than Catch-22, but maybe that's because I flew in Viet Nam. Outstanding, just like some of the vignettes from the USN Tailhook Magazines. I knew people like Smiling Jack so could relate well. Also knew many armchair Colonels and Generals just as he describes them. Those are the ones who should have been weeded out of all services. Remember Colonel's Jack Broughton, Robin Olds and Chuck Yeager who were true leaders and warriors, yet had yo-yo;s above them who were jealous and kept them from getting the stars they deserved