In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War [Paperback]

Tobias Wolff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 1995

Whether he is evoking the blind carnage of the Tet offensive, the theatrics of his fellow Americans, or the unraveling of his own illusions, Wolff brings to this work the same uncanny eye for detail, pitiless candor and mordant wit that made This Boy's Life a modern classic.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In This Boy's Life Tobias Wolf created an unforgettable memoir of an American childhood. Now he gives us a precisely and sometimes pitilessly remembered account of his young manhood - a young manhood that become entangled in the tragic adventure that was Vietnam. Mordantly funny, searingly honest, In Pharoah's Army is a war memoir in the tradition of George Orwell and Michael Herr.

From Publishers Weekly

Wolff's memoir of his disillusioning experience as a soldier in Vietnam was a finalist for the NBA.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books Ed edition (September 26, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679760237
• ISBN-13: 978-0679760238
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #88 in Books > History > Asia > Southeast Asia

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Honorable Man, February 5, 2003

By 

"krchicago" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War (Paperback)

"In Pharaoh's Army" is not your average war memoir, nor even your average Vietnam war memoir. Wolff joined the army because he wanted to be a man of honor and he trusted the government to use its soldiers well. Instead, he finds that while he is a better soldier than some, he is not the "wily, nerveless killer" that the Army wants him to be. He gets through Officer Candidate School (at the bottom of his class) only because he has the talent to produce the satirical revue for graduation night. New assignments repeatedly have little or nothing to do with his immediate prior training. When Wolff finally gets to Vietnam, he is sent to act as the American advisor to a Vietnamese unit, but with very little guidance as to what he is to advise them about. Tet is the only pitched battle Wolff describes, but the day-to-day challenges of mines, snipers, and being a white man in an Asian world make getting to the end of each day a triumph. Each day and every trip are endless until they are over. Survival has more to do with luck than with being a good soldier. Wolff's title is apt: "Here were pharaoh's chariots engulfed; his horsemen confused; and all his magnificence dismayed."

Wolff finds his honor in honesty. From the opening epigraph to the final paragraph, Wolff attempts to set it all down honestly, the lost war that is neither glorious nor action-packed. His prose is spare, straight to the point and yet poetic. The irony, when it comes, is devastating (and aimed at himself, as often as at others). Many of the stories would lend themselves to a more comic telling, but while the book is often humorous, Wolff always subtly reminds us that this is a deadly serious matter. The book is superbly structured, the selection and ordering of the stories designed to reinforce Wolff's points. Wolff gives us a real sense of the uncertainty and terror that pervaded every day, that led men to do things they can no longer imagine or explain. "How do you tell such a terrible story? Maybe such a story shouldn't be told at all. Yet finally it will be told." I'm glad Wolff did the telling. Highly recommended.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just beautiful, September 20, 2006

By 

moose/squirrel (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War (Paperback)

As others have said, the quality of Wolff's writing is exceptional. His prose is as lucid and tactful as any you'll find today. This memoir - perhaps somewhat fictionalized, but undoubtedly less so than Robert Graves's acknowledged WWI classic "Goodbye to All That" - will still be read decades from now for its emotional honesty in depicting the Vietnam career of an admittedly mediocre, though hardly conscienceless, young officer. And how many officers will admit in their books that they were mediocre? Reviewers who lament the dearth of sensationalism and battlefield horror in this book may need to reevaluate their understanding of what war is like. Novels require plots, real life has none. The picture that Wolff gives of Vietnam service as an SF adviser to the ARVN is every bit as true to life as more "exciting" memoirs (and in some cases maybe truer). Not every American busted jungle in a U.S. combat unit. Wolff came under some rocket attacks in his one-year tour, and that was about par for the course.

Another problem some readers may have is that Wolff is a master of subtlety and juxtaposition. Episodes that seem not to "have a point" reveal their point when seen in the perspective of other things that are going on at the margins of, or in some cases outside of, the story itself. As an example, consider the title.

Tobias Wolff is a memorable writer, and in its portrayal of a different kind of "'Nam," "In Pharaoh's Army" is a minor classic of American writing.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great memoir by Wolff., January 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War (Paperback)

After reading "This Boy's Life", I had to read "In Pharoah's Army", even though I have no interest in the Vietnam War.

The nice thing about this book is that even with a subject that I don't care for, it is told from an individual's perspective which can make or break any situation if told in the right way.

Wolff comes through with this book too, by being very honest with his readers. He seems to be holding back a little more with this book than he did with his earlier memoir, but that appears to be more of a function of space and time considerations than of concealing information.

Although there were things about his character that disappointed me, that made me like the book all the more due to it frankness.

I hope that Mr. Wolff is working on a third memoir over the next phase of his life. I can't wait to read it.