Rising Like the Tucson [Hardcover]

Jeff Danziger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1991

“Jeff Danziger has written a tough, scary, funny novel that deftly limns the overwhelming lunacy of the war in Vietnam. Large in scope, rich in character and incident, Rising Like the Tucson gets things exactly right. This was Vietnam: a weird mix of blundering and bravery.” —Tim O’Brien

Echoing Catch-22, Rising Like the Tucson is a darkly hilarious tale of death and real estate in Vietnam. Lt. Kit is caught in the end of the conflict. Abandoned by his government, he and his fellow officers try to answer the great questions of war: is this a defeat or an investment opportunity?

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in 1970 in Vietnam, where Danziger, a syndicated political cartoonist, served as an intelligence officer, this war novel is an uneasy mix of improbable farce and hard-edged realism. Battle-shy translator James Christopher, aka Lt. Kit, knows laughably little Vietnamese and even less about real estate. But his hawkish father, a boor puffed with racist jokes and tales of WW II glory, pushes James to help launch a real estate develoment corporation that will presumably build shopping malls and golf courses in Vietnam once the war is over. Fumbling lame attempts at vitriolic black comedy, Danziger more successfully depicts graphic stories--horrific and bizarre and tragic--about a war winding down. He tells of a U.S. lieutenant who deliberately kills eight of his own men, of a helicopter mission blasting ghost-like taped sounds meant to induce the Viet Cong to surrender, of a major who fights off his homoerotic love for Kit, and of the bungled "Vietnamization" program intended to beef up South Vietnamese troops as U.S. ground forces prepare for withdrawal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The setting: an army base in Vietnam, 1970 (where the author served as an intelligence officer). The characters: misdirected enlisted men, inept American officers, and victimized South Vietnamese. Political cartoonist and columnist Danziger ( Christian Science Monitor , Los Angeles Times syndicate) develops his characters and subplots in this first novel with wit and skill akin to Kurt Vonnegut or Joseph Heller. Scenarios play off each other in simultaneously hilarious and sobering moments as we witness the development of an unlikely postwar Saigon real estate investment scheme or a failed night-flying mission in which the taped howling of a North Vietnamese soldier's ghost broadcast from a plane is supposed to scare the Vietcong into surrender. Recommended for adult popular fiction collections and academic libraries with an interest in contemporary American fiction.
- Pamela J. Peters, SUNY-SICAS Ctr., Oneonta
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 358 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (August 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385418663
• ISBN-13: 978-0385418669
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,839,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will not let you put it down till finished, January 24, 2002

By 

"jjen" (Palm Dessert, CA. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rising Like the Tucson (Hardcover)

Danziger is nothing short of a brilliant cartoonist, he might also be one of the very best at what he does. So it came as a nice surprise to know he had a book on the market, which of course I had to have.
"Rising Like the Tucson" is a must read. It was my experience that I tried to keep up with the action by reading faster and faster as tho I were there myself trying to avoid the shells and bullets. There were times I found myself holding my breath.
His writing is such that you can see and hear and feel his characters quite vividly. You'll love the ones he intends you to and look askance at the ones he demands, as Danziger is the master here pulling all your strings. He is not only a master toonist, Danziger is a master storyteller as well.
When I can catch my breath, I want to read 'Rising Like the Tucson' again.