The Sandscrapers: A Forgotten Navy [Paperback]

Griffin T. Garnett (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 422 pages
• Publisher: Brandylane; 2 edition (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883911109
• ISBN-13: 978-1883911102
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,498,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Novel about WWII That has it all!, October 6, 2006

By 

W. H. McDonald Jr. "The American Author Assoc... (Elk Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sandscrapers: A Forgotten Navy (Paperback)

Seldom do novels about war have much appeal beyond the general macho male reader; however, in "The Sandscrapers: A Forgotten Navy" by author Griffin T. Garnett, we have a story that will appeal to wider audience--including women. The author has taken the treatment of this story and added depth to the characters so that there is more background and interest in each person involved in the telling of this WWII tale. The strongest part of this story's appeal is that we are introduced to "real people" who have families and lives beyond the deck of a ship during a war. So the reader can empathize with the people in the story and not just follow a plot that happens to have some cardboard characters that fulfill the action of the storyline.

Garnett obviously knows something about these ships and the kind of men that they carried. He was a former executive officer and commanding officer of two of these same kinds of ships. The title refers to the type of ships in this story which were officially called "Landing Ship Medium" (LSM). These were not your glorious battleships or other warships but were more humble workhorses of the Navy that were used for beach landings. They were unique and had special crews of men who loved them. That love of these ships and the men who rode the seas with them is evident throughout his book. The story may be all fiction but the ships and how the men felt about them appears to be very real.

There are some touching parts of the story like when Greg Morgan has to say good-bye to his wife and son and he ships off to war in the Pacific. Of course, when he comes home again, that reunion may give you a "case of moist eyes". The story deals with lots of interpersonal issues and not just war. We have neurotic officers, an exhausted crew, problems with morale, death, heroism, romance, intrigue and of course, the bigger issues of the war.

Garnett uses mostly narrative to tell his tale along with some limited dialog. It is efficient and works well for this story. His knowledge of the seas and these ships adds greatly to enhance the power of the story. This book has earned The Military Writer's Society of America's top book rating of FIVE STARS!