A Real Good War [Paperback]

Sam Halpert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1999

'Gritty, funny and rich with authenticity.' - Robert Olen Butler 'Sam Halpert shines his light on a well-worn subject and gives us material glowing with stoic humour and a crusty humanity. A unique and moving book' - Susan Minot Engrossing...evokes the fine line between a close call and a tragedy, not to mention the way guilt is detonated by war's deadly absurdity' - New York Times.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Engrossing fictionalized WW II flyboy memoir, a first novel from a 77-year-old retiree. Former Air Force light navigator Halpert (Raymond Carver: An Oral Biography, not reviewed, etc.) offers a conventional tale of naive, wide-eyed heroes up against fear, alienation, and unpredictable catastrophe. The story is set during the last winter of the war, as thousands of B-17s leave England regularly for bombing runs over Germany. Halpert's take on American innocence abroad doesn't come close to the grand tragedy of James Jones's epic From Here to Eternity or the absurdist comedy of Joseph Heller's Catch 22, though he manages to build compelling suspense as his unnamed and brooding narrator, the product of a broken home, wonders which of the members of his new surrogate family, if not himself, will be the next to die. Will it be the obnoxious gunner Skiles, whose annoying social tics mask a sincere desire to be accepted? The strong but vulnerable copilot Cavey? Or the swaggering, fearless squadron leader Hartak, whose obsessive passion to drop his bombs up ``Adolf's wazoo'' recalls Melville's mad Captain Ahab? The boys have predictable encounters with vindictive prostitutes, oddball locals, fatuous officers, and the occasional nice girl who just wants love. Flying high enough above platoon-movie clich‚s to give the battle scenes here a fresh and bracing realism, Halpert gives us a hero who wrestles with guilt and uncertainty as he finds himself spared the calamities, in the air and on the ground, that indiscriminately befall the good, the bad, and the merely terrified, and who discovers, amid so much violence, episodes of humor, grace, and even the odd moment of fellowship. An inspiring debut: nostalgic, ironic, and respectful of a harrowing moment in America's history. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

The novel's plot is a familiar one, its terrain even more so. What makes this book engrossing is its evocation of the fine line between a close call and a tragedy, not to mention the way guilt is detonated by war's deadly absurdity. -- The New York Times Book Review, Peter Bricklebank --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (June 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385496184
• ISBN-13: 978-0385496186
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,294,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thanks for telling it like it was, September 17, 2000

By 

J. Taylor (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Real Good War (Paperback)

Sam Halpert vividly describes the sheer terror faced by B-17 bomber crews flying over Germany during World War II. Indeed, dodging flak bursts and German fighter planes was only part of the horror. Flying in formations so tight that any given bomber was likely to crash and burn in each mission was another part. Mr. Halpert's striking account of such terror scared even me.

Mr. Halpert also does a wonderful job of putting into words the thoughts and feelings of those who flew the missions. From the early morning wake-up calls, to crazy off-base antics, few books or movies have allowed me such an intimate glimpse of the life of a World War II soldier. One such book that I recommend is "Rendezvous in the Coral Sea," by Randolph Chitwood.

And so I say thanks to Mr. Halpert for writing this story. Thanks for your sacrifice and for telling it like it was. And thanks to the men who didn't make it back.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real good book, December 5, 1999

By 

Jesse (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Real Good War (Paperback)

This is one of the best WWII aviation books I have ever read. It focuses not only on the specifics of the missions, but gets deeply involved in the psycology of this navigator. Besides finishing it in two or three sittings (a record for myself), it is the first book that really scared me by revealing the true horrors of WWII aviation.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jablonski for "Dummies", August 13, 2005

By 

B. Musler "History Gamer" (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Real Good War (Paperback)

Although a novel, "A Real Good War" reads like a memoir. Halpert's biography indicates he survived 35 missions over Europe during WW2 and his expertise borne of that experience certainly makes itself felt throughout this book. The navigator's point of view feels authentic and he makes no bones about being scared from beginning to end which is not a theme or motif, but the point: fear MAY keep you alive; bravado certainly won't.

The book is strongest on the base (Bassingbourne) and when the 91st is in the air. Halpert lays out the routines used by both the brass and the fliers themselves to get from mission to mission...but strictly from the point of view of survival. There are no ruminations of the purpose of the war, or the reasons for death unless the latter's appearance is imminent. Then is feels random. There may have been no atheists in foxholes during WW2, but there were just as few political or moral philosophers in Flying Fortresses it would seem.

The narrator is 20 and besides the bombardier, his best friend is his bunk. American brass and German flak are his enemies. Most of his other "crewmates" (which are constantly in flux,) and German fighters put in appearances, but their presence is far sketchier than I would have imagined when I opened the book.

The book is written in a more or less terse, straightforward prose, but there are times when the dialogue runs too long. Between the allusions to what's happening in the war itself, (Battle of the Bulge) and the omnipresent mission count (i.e. 17 more to go...) we always know about where we are on the timeline. This stucture works, but "A Real Good War" doesn't have a deep story arc. It's a slice of life survival story, pure and simple, and therefore feels more memoir-like than fictive.

As a novel it's most frustrating when the crew is off base because Halpert develops subplots that ultimately go nowhere, like most wartime romances, the reader supposes. For the brief time we linger in bars and bedrooms the writing is evocative enough, but not so much in any tactile sense, as in the boy's guilelessness. For obvious reasons there are allusions to Rita Hayworth, Ida Lupino, Betty Grable, Ingrid Bergman and others, but their images are remote beacons. There is adolescent posturing, particularly at the outset, but the book depicts the '40s as a time before media saturation made adopting a specific attitude necessary. You only pretended to be Errol Flynn if you were actually leading the squadron.

If you want an insight into what it must have been like to be a B-17 navigator hanging on by the skin of your teeth for at least 35 attempts on your life, then this may be the book for you. As Yossarian points out in "Catch-22", "The Germans are trying to kill me," and this book never loses sight of that first person point of view, but neither does it climb to greater rhetorical or philosphical heights. It's a down to earth reminder that for those directly involved at the time, WW2 was a WAR first and "Good" only a very, very distant second. But hey, there's always a catch, right?