Pearl Harbor (Movie Tie-In) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Randall Wallace (Author) "Danny Walker could still smell the sweet scent of the pine wood where Rafe McCawley had bored two holes through the nail keg and run..." (more)
Key Phrases: wing guns, training captain, command bridge, Pearl Harbor, United States, West Virginia (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Pearl Harbor is a beautifully written and suspenseful epic saga of love and war. Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker are two daring young pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps who have grown up like brothers and first learned to fly in crop-dusting planes. Rafe has fallen in love with Evelyn Stewart, a beautiful and courageous nurse serving in the U.S. Navy. But they are soon separated by war when Rafe volunteers for the Eagle Squadron, a group of Americans fighting alongside the English during the Battle of Britain. With the solemn promise that he will return, Rafe heads off for the deadly skies above the English Channel, while both Evelyn and Danny are transferred to the paradise of Hawaii's Pearl Harbor. Their Eden is shattered, however, when word reaches them in the Pacific that Rafe has been killed in combat. Grief-stricken, they hold fast to each other for support, and ultimately fall in love. Then Rafe returns....

About the Author
Randall Wallace is the author of five novels and three feature films: Pearl Harbor, The Man in the Iron Mask, and the 1995 Academy-Award¨winner Braveheart. He graduated from Duke University with a major in religion. He lived his childhood years in Tennessee and Virginia, and now resides in Los Angeles. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 309 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786890053
• ISBN-13: 978-0786890057
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #590,892 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An Appalling Junk, May 11, 2001

By A Customer

I don't complain of this story being a sloppy melodrama; I love sloppy melodramas. I don't disapprove the fiction that Admiral Yamamoto leads the Japanese task force himself and sails to Hawaii ; OK, the author just wanted to perk up the story. And I can live with some peculiar things written about Japan and the Japanese; that was predictable. But why does the Pentagon exist in 1941? Why is General Marshall is appointed the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff before the Pearl Harbor? Why is B-25 tagged as a four-engine bomber? Above all, how dare the author write that of the Dolittle raiders, "all but five would make it back to the United States alive"? (In reality, seven flyers could'nt get back home alive.) And what's the meaning of stating "Of the five flyers who died, two were executed by the Japanese inside Japan itself" (Why ignore the third flyer who was executed?) Won't this negligence scandalize American readers? There are many more inaccuracies, and most of them have nothing to do with "perking up" the story. If the author doesn't care about historical facts, he should write a fantasy story and refrain from preaching the significance of the Pearl Harbor Attack or fact and truth of history. Of all my forty years of reading experience I have never seen a novel that was more crowded with infamous falsehood and distortions.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars enjoyed it guiltily, June 14, 2001

By A Customer

Why do I say I enjoyed the book guiltily? Well, cos' I went to watch the movie and I loved it, I guess i must be a hopeless romantic. But I stiil had to agree about the superficial aspects of the storyline. The war scenes were good but somehow reviews had taught me to beware of the love scenes. Ya right, I honestly liked that crap and that's why I feel guilty. But nevertheless read it only if you are a hopeless romantic like me. Really. don't bother wasting your time to read it and slam the book so disgustingly and give it 1 star and drag the whole rating down because there are still some people who swear by the book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pearl Harbor, June 12, 2007

By	purple "pioneers" (A small town) - See all my reviews

"I got em Danny!" Rafe said joyfully as he shot down one of the Japanese fighter planes. For those of you who don't know what book this is out of don't feel too bad. This section is based on a book that tells an event that is down in history to this day. This book is called Pearl Harbor. This book is about two country boys named Rafe and Danny that have known each other since they were young and all they ever wanted to do is fly planes. When these young boys got older they joined the military as fighter pilots but they made a promise to each other that if one went to war then the other one would go with that person so they have someone there to talk to. This promise stayed true until Rafe was chosen to go to Germany and fight. When Rafe didn't return Danny felt lonely so he started to hangout with Rafe's girlfriend. After hanging out with her they started to like each other and she ended up pregnant. Then when all this occurred Rafe shows up. Everyone celebrates his coming home so they stay up late and party. The very next day Rafe and Danny wake up to the sound of a ship being bombed. This was known as the attack on Peal Harbor. Will Rafe and Danny be able to bring back revenge on the Japanese?

While reading this book I enjoyed lots of sections but the one I enjoyed most was when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and when the U.S. attacks Japan not because of the casualties but because they explained with detail and it was easy to understand and get pictures in my mind. It was very easy to tell what was happening at the bombing.

Even though there's so much going on in this book I think that if you really think about it that every book has either a theme or moral. In the book of Pearl Harbor I think that the moral/theme of the book is friendship because when Danny and Rafe need each other they are there for each other to talk to and to lean on too because they are so close.

What I liked most about this book is that it's a non-fiction so I learn part of history at the same time just reading. The main thing I would change is not have Danny die so I could see what would happen between him Rafe and Evelynn (Rafe's girlfriend). I think that this book is for older people because kids won't really understand what's going on in war so they will be all confused and the older people might have a clue.