Remf Diary: A Novel of the Vietnam War Zone [Hardcover]

David A. Willson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1988

" This is how it was to be a REMF in Vietnam- the ice cream, the Coca Cola, the air conditioning, the clean, starched jungle fatigues, and yes, the parades and the whores, I leave nothing out; it is all in there. The typing and the saluting, too." With this, David Willson sets the tone for REMF Diary. Between these covers is a very funny, ironic novel of the Vietnam War. It is a story told by an army clerk stationed in Saigon. His perceptions of the war and of the paper war around him make for hilarious reading.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This plotless, characterless debut, which reads as memoir loosely disguised as fiction, is related by a nameless soldier, a 24-year-old self-described loser ("a piece of jetsam on the sea of life") with a menial desk job in Vietnam. The often self-deprecating narrator is also funny, intelligent and cynical: "Read an odd article today on a feud in Ky's cabinet. Some nonsense about . . . favoritism by Ky toward Cabinet members from the North because he's from the North. Why is Ky running South Vietnam if he's from the North? The word 'corrupt' is used. I'll bet that explains it." Unfortunately, the diligent diarist barely enlivens perfunctory entries about typing letters and doing the laundry with such confidences as "Tomorrow is St. Pat's Day and I won't have to dig deep into the wardrobe to find something green to wear." Resident critic-in-country, he reviews books, movies and Army cuisine: "The usual drink with dinner here is a non-sweetened limeade made from real limes. It would cure scurvy posthumously." At times charming and clever, the obscenity-rich journal ultimately suffers from an unrelenting sameness that is the hallmark of Army life. Its weary dailiness might have been relieved had the novel of the subtitle been more in evidence. As the narrator indicates, "I glanced back over my diary entries and could not believe the redundancy but that is the way it is."
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

...funny and hard in the way of bright comic moments and gentle gestures. -- Richard Currey, Fatal Light

The narrator is magnificently annoying and I think the messages transcend him effectively...a clever yet incisive book. -- Nancy Anisfiled, Vietnam Anthology

[Willson's] characters are at once wonderfully absurd and chillingly real. -- W.D. Ehrhart, Vietnam-Perkasie --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Black Heron Pr (June 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0930773055
• ISBN-13: 978-0930773052
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,139,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique Vietnam War Story With Unusual Anti-Hero Theme, August 5, 2000

By 

Franklin D. Rast (Baton Rouge, LA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Remf Diary: A Novel of the Vietnam War Zone (Hardcover)

As a Vietnam veteran, this book made me chuckle with the author's well-depicted description of what it was like being a lowly clerk in a non-combatant environment. No one else, and this is important; because of the real courage it takes to tell about one's "real" war experiences, which are often not daring exacerbations of Herculean heroics as depicted in many books about Nam, has cut out the self-serving---"I won the war single-handed," chaff, like the simple well-written satire of David Willson. In one form or another, we all complained in Vietnam. What I have liked about the book is that it reeks not the John Wayne bull (No offense intended to the ninty-nine percent of those who served as Navy SEAL's, Green Berets, CIA ['So bad, man---I still can't talk about it.'], and the several hundred Spartacus clones who arrived back in "the World" with a genuine shrunken head of Ho Chi Minh dangling from a dried piece of enemy intestine around their necks.) I can identify with all said, and this must have been hard to write---No other book covers REMF's (Rear Echelon Mother F-----'s) with true candor like this. A rare jewel for the serious student of the Vietnam war, but God knows the author's photo on the cover will never make an Army recruiting poster. The ending is a fitting climax to a very unusual, well-written, and honest down-to-earth book about the finer aspects of the war in Vietnam. Sincerely, Franklin D. Rast, author, "Don's Nam," and "Ghosts In The Wire."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honesty hurts, November 9, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: REMF Diary (Paperback)

David Willson has written an honest book on war. There are no heroes, no glory, no war booty, but there is lots of typing. The boredom of military life shines through in this rare book. The REMF perspective is the most well known among veterans, but the least understood among the non-veterans. Read this and believe it.

5.0 out of 5 stars I Loved This Book!, March 16, 2000

By 

Diana J. Dell - See all my reviews

This review is from: REMF Diary (Paperback)

With tongue firmly planted in cheek, David A. Willson presents another side of the Vietnam War, the nonRambo rear echelon. The main character in REMF Diary, an army clerk, is funny, wise, sarcastic, and philosophical. I loved this book! Diana J. Dell, author, A Saigon Party: And Other Vietnam War Short Stories.