The Names of the Dead (Paperback)

by Stewart O'Nan (Author) "Larry Markham's wife left him while he was asleep..." (more)
Key Phrases: connex box, aid bag, third platoon, Carl Metcalf, Smart Andy, Leonard Dawson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Heart-rattling melodrama set against a thriller background hallmarks O'Nan's second novel?just as it did his first, Snow Angels, which won the 1993 Pirates Alley William Faulkner Prize for the Novel. By 1982, Larry Markham, an army medic in Vietnam, has been reduced to delivering Hostess snack cakes around Ithaca, N.Y. One morning, he awakens from familiar dreams of combat to find that his wife, Vicki, has left him again. Fed up with his attachment to the war and with his reluctance to share his wartime memories, she has fled with their learning-disabled young son, Scott. As Larry struggles to reunite his household, the failing health of his father becomes a problem, as do his growing feelings for Donna, the lonely neighbor who looks out for him in Vicki's absence. Worse, Larry also is being stalked by a dangerous hospital escapee, a trained assassin and fellow Vietnam vet with a mysterious score to settle. This suspense element, though ably presented, is the least satisfying facet of the novel: it's neither as poignant as Larry's complicated family drama nor as original (Peter Straub's Koko limned a similar scenario). Unusually powerful, however, are the extensive renderings of Larry's Vietnam memories, which come alive with gruesome violence, complex camaraderie, tension, humor, hope, superstition and terror. While not as seamless as O'Nan's first novel, this follow-up offers a confident, gripping narrative, as well as some of the most searing wartime storytelling in recent memory.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Having triumphed with his first novel, Snow Angels (LJ 10/15/94), winner of the 1993 Pirates Alley William Faulkner Prize, O'Nan ventures forth with a tale both subtle and sensational: a down-and-out young man whose wife has disappeared with their child discovers that they are being stalked by a former member of his Vietnam veterans group.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140263098
• ISBN-13: 978-0140263091
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #476,128 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dealing with incurable illness, June 9, 2001

By	Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Stewart O'Nan plunges the reader into the chambers of horrors that are the aftermath of Vietnam. He understands the razoredge tension of being underfire, the hopelessness of being without the security of even minimal coping that eats the brains of many Vietnam Vets, and he knows the vagaries of the promised paths of healing from physical and mental war wounds. Some writers describe actual moments of battle contact better than O'Nan but few dig into the battle rattle that so chronically impaled the men and boys who came home from Vietnam. And with all this ammunition on board, O'Nan has written a very fine novel that is, yes, grounded in the sequelae of war, but succeeds in unraveling a fascinating story of at least one man's survival. This is a pithy book and deserves to be placed on the shelf along with O'Brien, Caputo, Turner and the other fine writers who still struggle to make sense out of the irrational Vietnam error.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, not the usual Viet Nam book, May 31, 2000

By	Janice M. Hansen (California United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is not your typical Viet Nam read. As usual, Stewart O'Nan takes his incredible literary skills to a new dimension. He portrys the life of a young medic in his first mission in Viet Nam. His experiences are gripping as you track this vulnerable young kid on the plane there, and eventually living with the guys in his unit and out on their daily duties. Included in the recount of his experiences, is the hell he is going with as he struggles to adapt and make peace with himself. I passed this book on to several friends who were in Viet Nam. When one of them handed the book back to me, I asked them what they thought of it. I got a nod, a silence, and a choked up stammering response. It was so good, he couldn't even talk to me about it yet. We will talk about it some day, I hope. After a while, perhaps, when it doesn't seem so real to him. I knew to wait and be patient.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I would have given it 5 stars, but..., January 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Names of the Dead (Hardcover)

I'm a viet vet (navy)- found the book well written with excellent descriptions of action and inaction throughout. I would have given it 5 stars, but I didn't understand the ending. The present-day plot doesn't wrap up until the final 4 or 5 pages. It left me confused as to what, why, how... and I really was interested in knowing w,w,h. I suppose it could be that I'm just dense or maybe it's supposed to be indefinite, but if anyone can clue me in, I'd appreciate it (by email- I don't want to give the ending away).