Soldier's Joy (Contemporary American Fiction) [Paperback]

Madison Smartt Bell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Contemporary American Fiction | Publication Date: July 1, 1990

A man returns home from Vietnam to his now abandoned family homestead outside of Nashville, suffering from a serious psychological wound incurred in combat. He meets up with a childhood friend who is black, and together they battle against a platoon of Klansmen for the literal salvation of a local preacher.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bell's impressive talents as a writer, which include endowing settings (here the landscape of rural Tennessee) with the significance of character, and a patient, compassionate probing of injured souls, are on full display in this uneven but intriguing story of a young Vietnam veteran's slow, brave resumption of civilian life. Thomas Laidlaw lives alone on his family land; he raises sheep, grows hay and vegetables, roams the countryside at night and practices his banjo. (The title is the name of a song as well as reference to a questionable legacy of the Vietnam war; as in his Zero db and Other Stories , the author's absorption with music enriches his prose). Gradually Laidlaw reestablishes his friendship with Rodney Redmon, a black man he'd grown up with and with whom he'd spent time in Vietnam. Also gradually--the operative word for most of the book, where details accumulate with the authority of a natural process--Laidlaw puts together a band, including the fiddler Adrienne, whose lover he becomes, and they begin to play at local bars. At the end, when Laidlaw, Redmon and a third reclusive vet are involved in a shoot-out with a cadre of Klansmen who attack a popular evangelist, the story disintegrates in an unexpected, if powerful, finale. For all its lack of balance, this novel's rewards far outweigh its flaws.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Though in no way a typical "Vietnam novel," this major work by critically respected Bell concerns the postwar lives of two veterans from rural Tennessee. The two men are introduced separately, as Laidlaw (a white) returns to his dead father's land and teaches himself to play the banjo, while Redmon (a black) leaves jail (he'd been set up), works in a warehouse, and hangs out at a Muslim restaurant. When they meet up, these boyhood companions resume an uneasy friendship until local racial tension forces them to draw on their military training in a dramatic finale. With its well-developed characters and well-maintained tension for such a long story, this important, insightful novel belongs in most libraries.
- Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 465 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (July 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140133593
• ISBN-13: 978-0140133592
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,235,868 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

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars deeply affecting, July 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Soldier's Joy (Contemporary American Fiction) (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book, the kind that you start to read slower when you get close to the end because you don't want to say goodbye to the characters.

the story itself is engaging and interesting, but the subtly crafted dialog, revealing so much about the characters so naturally is what astonished me.

This is a book that celebrates the extraordinary in ordinary people, and made me feel better about humanity (be warned, I don't think you'd call it a 'feel good' book though!).

I loved this book, and will be seeking out more by the author.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Aftermath, May 21, 2003

By 

Smoten (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soldier's Joy (Hardcover)

Laidlaw and Redmon were raised together in the Tennessee hills on the horse farm owned by Laidlaw's father; the black Redmon family living in one of the out-buildings and Redmon, Sr. working for Laidlaw, Sr. The boys are friends, a friendship complicated less by their different races than by young Redmon's perception that his father prefers Laidlaw to him. The boys, as boys will, grow to manhood, enter the army and are shipped to fight in Vietnam, where terrible things happen. They return, independent of each other, and spend much time alone-Laidlaw living in the Redmon's old home (Laidlaw's father died when the main house burned down) and Redmon in prison as the fall-guy in a real estate scam. Laidlaw had used his solitary year, surrounded by nothing more than a motley of farm animals, a stray dog, and a runaway peacock, to become proficient enough with a banjo that he can attract a following playing with a blue-grass band. Redmon seeks him out at a performance and the friendship is renewed.

In "Soldier's Joy", Madison Smartt Bell has much to say about tragedy, loss, solitude, betrayal, fathers and sons and the psychological devastation that can be wrought upon young men who have spent a year up to their elbows in gore. This is a book rich in both description and nuance. The Tennessee countryside is vivid and the musical imagery-and there is a lot of it-doesn't come across as forced or cloying but instead reads like a soundtrack. The writing is so fine, so "writerly" that it is easy to overlook the fact that the plot is almost an afterthought and is full of holes. This is not to say that Mr. Bell can't tell a story-he can. There are several scenes of firefights that are gripping and exciting and rank with the best of the breed. However, the basic plot (introduced well into the novel) about the Klan being somehow offended by the interracial friendship of Laidlaw and Redmon and by the interracial following of a local evangelist and trying to end both by violence, is thin. There are also two characters-Laidlaw's musician girlfriend and the ex-Green Beret leader of the Klan-who deserved better development. These are quibbles. "Soldier's Joy" is post-Vietnam fiction that is well worth reading.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not 'chick lit' -- that's for sure, July 19, 2004

By 

MissionPk (Cupertino, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Soldier's Joy (Contemporary American Fiction) (Paperback)

A great book that sneaks up on you over time. The relatively slow beginning is a wonderful evocation of the rural south and of the healing power of music and nature. However, violence is not that easy to tame. As someone who grew up after the Vietnam War (born 1969), I've often wondered why so many veterans ended up training in some form of martial arts. This book goes a long way towards explaining that need. The violence from the war bleeds through the lives of the vets in this novel as both a liberating and a destructive force; they can't shake it and they aren't sure if they really want to.