Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Honorable Man, February 5, 2003
"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.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The 'Typical' Soldier's View, November 15, 2002
Be warned... this is not an action packed novel based on military field operations. Wolff's memoir takes the reader from the beginning of the Vietnam War to the end of his experience. In sharp contrast to E.B. Sledge's With The Old Breed, this book plays out the author's feelings and experiences in a very non-imbelished and descriptive way. During the Vietnam War 80% of active servicemen did not in fact see sustained combat in the forests of Vietnam, this book is a rare piece that reflects accuratly that percentage. I would rate the book a perfect 5, but it stays anti-climatic. Wolff has a witty diction that makes this book an easy read, and even easier to level with.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great memoir by Wolff., January 12, 1999
By A Customer
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.
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