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The Junior Officers' Reading Club: Killing Time and Fighting Wars Paperback – September 7, 2010

by Patrick Hennessey (Author)

22 customer reviews

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Hailed as a classic of war writing in the U.K., The Junior Officers' Reading Club is a revelatory first-hand account of a young enlistee's profound coming of age. Attempting to stave off the tedium and pressures of army life in the Iraqi desert by losing themselves in the dusty paperbacks on the transit-camp bookshelves, Hennessey and a handful of his pals from military academy form the Junior Officers' Reading Club. By the time he reaches Afghanistan and the rest of the club are scattered across the Middle East, they are no longer cheerfully overconfident young recruits, hungering for action and glory. Hennessey captures how boys grow into men amid the frenetic, sometimes exhilarating violence, frequent boredom, and almost overwhelming responsibilities that frame a soldier's experience and the way we fight today.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While no doubt the bravado with which Hennessy frames his account of daily life in a war zone reveals the crucial but often overlooked heart and mind of a soldier, the unsettling results confirm the vapid promises of war: that in battle, there is no context, no history, but only boredom, adrenaline, or grief. "Fun," "thrill," and "excitement" drive Hennessy, and apparently his comrades as well, even after a lot of blood and death; that this fact endures becomes more horrifying than the wars enveloping them. Hennessy's story jumps from daily life at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, to drills in the British countryside, to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the sum of these parts never quite adds up to a cohesive tale, though sections share a hurried disjointedness that occasionally comes off as narrative momentum. The jargon and relentless use of acronyms certainly captures military speech but obscures the basic development of many scenes. Though a glossary of terms is included, flipping for every DTDF, OPTAG NCO, and GPMG would make for more back-and-forth than any attention span would permit.
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Oxford graduate Hennessey decided he wanted to do something exciting, so he went to Sandhurst, England’s Royal Military Academy, and then to Bosnia, Iraq, and, ultimately, Afghanistan as a lieutenant and platoon leader in the Grenadier Guards. There he found what he was looking for, and this voluble, kinetic, and often funny book recounts his experiences. He’s cheeky about Sandhurst, describing it as “Hogwarts with guns” and asserting that military knowledge and leadership were taught primarily through “MARCHING, IRONING, and SHOUTING,” but he also acknowledges the program’s effectiveness. (He became the Royal Army’s youngest captain.) His time in Iraq melded boredom and frustration because he and his fellow guards realized they “weren’t going to have a fight” in Baghdad; with time on their hands, Hennessey and his fellow junior guards formed the titular reading club. Reassigned to Afghanistan, however, he found his fights, which rivaled Korea and even WWII in intensity. The book’s pace, never leisurely, accelerates in Afghanistan, as Hennessey vividly describes near-constant battle with Taliban fighters and confronts his reactions: exhaustion, fear, grief, fellowship, confusion, and what he calls the “rapture” of war. All wars generate fine books. This may be one of the best to come out of the war in Afghanistan. --Thomas Gaughan

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Product details

Paperback: 310 pages
Publisher: Riverhead Books; Reprint edition (September 7, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594484791
ISBN-13: 978-1594484797
Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 22 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #697,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #263 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Military > Afghan & Iraq Wars > Afghan War
- #314 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Military > Afghan & Iraq Wars > Iraq War
- #689 in Books > History > Military > Iraq War

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3.5 out of 5 stars

5 star		32%
4 star		36%
3 star		5%
2 star		9%
1 star		18%

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Compelling

ByL. A. Hillon June 5, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A story of a young man's coming of age in combat that is worth reading. It's a little slow to get going, and would have benefited from a larger index of British Army acronyms and slang, but in the end a compelling book.

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The Junior Officers Reading Club: Killing Time and Fighting Wars

ByHolcombe1018on June 17, 2012

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

In The Junior Officers Reading Club: Killing Time and Fighting Wars, Patrick Hennessey creates a journey that almost any everyday citizen can follow of the men that lived through the sleepless nights of officer training to the sand in Iraq and ending in the mountains of Afghanistan. The highs and lows that come with being in the military, and the way that it will alter the psyche of all its members.
As Patrick begins his military career, just like most soldiers, he is looking for the common ground where he can find good friends. Finding a good core group of friends can ultimately lead to success, without a tight knit group, there is now where to find solace. Enjoying reading, he soon creates the junior officer reading club where they can read and share stories of the tribulations that each member is currently facing and what they expect. The idea of finding a common group to share a passion is no different than most members of today's military. Each can share their stories, laugh and take in the moment. As the books, months and even years started to pass, so did the original members. Different units were deploying to different places and this is where Patrick Hennessey began to learn the most about him and eventually combat veterans in general. In the beginning, uniforms, rules and uniformity were the status quo and would lead to a successful military career. Once being shot at and seeing your good friends die in the battle field this can began to wear thing and not be nearly as important. As he began to witness this transition, he began to push aside the others (everyone without combat experience) for they had no idea what it took to be in his shoes. After returning home from Afghanistan, Mr. Hennessey realized that life would never be the same. Knowing that people would not know that sacrifices that were given during the battles, how would Mr. Hennessey continue living his life without some of his best friends that died?
The plot is similar to many war time veterans' stories, which depict the hardships that the soldier faces while at war. Knowing that some of your best friends may not return can be hard and this book does not waver from this idea. Where this book differs from others is the approach in the main character and how his life revolved around his men and how they affected the outcome and eventually him. Mr. Hennessey does a fabulous job describes these hardships and the affects and the changes that the men will go through. Seeing it from the eyes of their leaders, this so called figure of authority can alter the perception of the men. He does a great job in showing that regardless of either being enlisted or officer, that everyone is affected in some way or shape by warfare.

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Sandhurst, Iraq and Afghanistan

ByFrederick Botton January 28, 2011

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A very bright young university graduate, Patrick Hennessey, has given us a very readable, entertaining and insightful account of his decision to opt for Sandhurst after graduation from university, followed by tours of duty which eventually bring him to Iraq and then Afghanistan. He writes extremelly well, often with humor. In Afghanistan his unit was paired with an
Afghan battalion whose commander's high motivation Hennessey clearly understood and respected, and Hennessey's accounts of strategies, tactics and combat are thought provoking.

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Five Stars

ByAmazon Customeron March 15, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Great book!

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One of the most honest and funniest books I have read.

BySimon Feekon September 27, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Excellent read with the time honored sense of humor of the British Army shinning through!

Any YO should get a copy of this book before leaving RMA Sandhurst.

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Read it now before it dates itself into irrelevance

Bycjaon December 8, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Very good look at warfare in Afghanistan. The title bears minimal reference to the actual content, but a worthwhile read

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Interesting read.

ByJacob Summerson June 5, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Still reading, and I like it. Quality is good - it was a Kindle purchase. So the content is really all that is subjective.

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Where was the editor?

ByBrian Tilburyon September 18, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I suppose there is a story here, struggling to be heard. I'm half-way through the book, and so far on almost every page I find myself saying 'Did an editor every read this book?'. Unexplained and undefined acronyms and slang - not one or two, but scores of them of them - (and I am British and ex-military, and they are inexplicable and unknown to me, too) Time shifts in the story are totally confusing --- is this before, during, or after, he got to (pick one) Iraq, Sandhurst, Absurdistan? The time-line of his Sandhurst days is one big puzzle - only a Sandhurst graduate would understand half of what he writes about. There are references to the Reading Club before he even gets to tell us what it is --- only reason I knew what he was talking about is because Reading Club is described on the cover. Is this the trend in publishing these days? Stick a catchy title on the cover of a mss, send it the printer, and bingo. Or god forbid, was this book in fact read by someone known as an 'editor'? If so, was this a person actually educated beyond high school? Shame, shame, - an insult to the author who deserves better.

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Most recent customer reviews

Self-involved

Yawn. No thanks.

Published 4 months ago by Jack

An honest sharing in these days

When the world prefers avoiding references of war this is what we are left. It shapes and changes you without apology.Read more

Published 6 months ago by Amazon Customer

Amazing book

Loved every page of this book. Haunting, descriptive, and amazing. A great account of what the military go through around the world.

Published on April 12, 2014 by Kaitlyn

Kindle paragraphs out of sequence

I bought this on Kindle. The first chapter or two are ok, but after that the paragraphs are in more or less random order. Not good enough, Amazon.Read more

Published on July 9, 2013 by Tom O'Kane

Very British, Very interesting

Apparently Patrick Hennessey is a bit of a star. An Oxford grad in English, he entered the Royal Army and wound up at Sandhurst, graduating and going off to war, first in Iraq and...Read more

Published on May 16, 2013 by David W. Nicholas

Self-indulgent Nonsense

A "good read", but due to many wild inaccuracies and his constant self-promotion I often doubted if the author had been in the Army at all.Read more

Published on January 5, 2013 by John

Touching

Thoug sometimes uneasy, even more for a non native english reader, I have foud this book illustrative of:
- which are the drives behind an illustrated man becoming a military...Read more

Published on May 20, 2012 by Courious reader

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