Customer Reviews

War Stories

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I've been enjoying Haldeman's new work so much that I forgot how focused and powerful his older writing was. While not as polished as the writer he is today, the emotional impact of this book is simply unequaled. It took me back to the first time I read Herbert's Dune, Simmons' Hyperion, Tepper's Grass, etc.

The two bookends of War Stories (novels in their own right), War Year and 1968, are the kinds of books you can't put down, but absolutely need to for sanity's sake. Both are semi-autobiographic in that they are both stories of Viet Nam combat engineer (although they are not Haldeman's specific story). It is a good thing these are separated by several short stories and poems as they are simply too intense to read back-to-back. Even separately, they leave the reader shaken... for all the right reasons.

The middle portion of short stories and poems contain old favorites, sharp interludes, intense horror, fun, sadness... your basic Haldeman buffet.

Before each section, Haldeman gives personal insight into the situations surrounding the writing. All-in-all, a must have for Haldeman fans and readers of war fiction from someone who's been there and lived through it. I think I speak for Haldeman when I say even when you live through it, a piece of you is left behind. This collection helps you remember and cherish those forgotten pieces.

I purchased Haldeman's "War Stories" not really knowing what to expect, I had thoughts of a science fiction themed story instead I fell head first into an account of the Vietnam war that immediately brought to the fore memories of a time I had long set aside, as much as possible. Before I was finished I had laughed, I had cried and I had paused in silence for long periods remembering my own experiences in that conflict. Many times I found myself nodding my head and mumbling in agreement with something Joe Haldeman had written that echoed my own memories and experiences.
After reading War Stories that day and for a couple of more days beside, I would go to bed and walk through my mind in my dreams from the memories that had been aroused and wakened. I also remembered some unfinished business that I had promised to do when I came home, I have now finished what I had promised then. I owe a thank you and a salute to Mr. Haldeman for being the instrument in bringing about that completion.

I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to experience and learn a little more from that time, even secondhand.

His other short stories in this collection were both amazingly thought provoking and deliciously new and novel and from a former soldier's point of view, scary. The what if's that come to mind and the possibilities that frighteningly jump out at you make for geat reading. Thank G0d I do not have to experience them.