The Useless Servants [Hardcover]

Rolando Hinojosa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1993

From Publishers Weekly:

"The timeless truths of war--the slaughter of civilians, atrocities condoned, legions of refugees--are related with near-documentary realism in this powerful novel of the Korean War... Hinojosa gives us a graphic picture of the unchanging face of war--raw, gritty and inhumane."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The timeless truths of war--the slaughter of civilians, atrocities condoned, legions of refugees--are related with near-documentary realism in this powerful novel of the Korean War. Told in the form of a journal kept by Rafe Buenrostro, a Mexican-American soldier from Texas, it also portrays the social dynamics of this particular conflict. Through his protagonist's voice, Hinojosa ( Rites and Witnesses ; Partners in Crime ) draws on his own experience in Korea to reveal the racism that Mexican-Americans faced from fellow soldiers. Buenrostro's tense, fragmentary diary entries expose combat's seamy underside: black troops kept in segregated units (though they would later fight alongside whites); thousands of Korean civilians shot to death in unacknowledged barbarism; Marines massacred after being issued old, inaccurate survey maps; napalm and fragmentation bombs giving an eerie foretaste of Vietnam. As the corpses pile up, those left standing begin to fear they will go crazy: one lieutenant does snap, committing suicide. Though his diary entries preclude developing a plot in the conventional sense, Hinojosa gives us a graphic picture of the unchanging face of war--raw, gritty and inhumane.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"American literature abounds with war novels, but few are so tersely horrific as The Useless Servant." -- Chicago Tribune

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Arte Publico Pr; First edition. edition (August 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558850686
• ISBN-13: 978-1558850682
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #607,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > United States > Hispanic

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