If you grew up in the Vietnam War era and ...
595125
If you grew up in the Vietnam War era and know someone that did his duty, you'll appreciate the song. Period.
1727134
this takes me back to my combat experience in Vietnam...Songmy was the village area of the My Lai incident, which was just south of the AO in which I worked.
3871927
If you were in your twenties in the sixties (as I was), and can't remember what it was like (as I can), this book will bring it all back.

If you weren't born yet in the sixties, and would like to visit there, not just read about it but actually GO there somehow to see what it was like in reality (whatever that is), this book is your time machine to take you there.

VD meant either syphilis or gonorrhea.  Aids hadn't been invented yet, and Herpes was just a dark cloud on the far horizon.  Hippies lived in communes and had free love and cheap pot.  Or perhaps it was free pot and cheap love.  (I'm not sure, as I never had either.)  Acid was not the opposite of alkali, but a ticket for a trip.  Also a type of guitar playing.  The only thing that could get in the way of a great sex life was your particular set of inhibitions, which you needed to shed as quickly as possible..  The only possible complication therefrom was pregnancy, and that could happen to only half of the population.

Alexandria Quartet author Lawrence Durrell (rhymes with girl) alleged that there were five sexes, not just the traditional two.  Gavin Arthur went him a few better and declared for twelve.  Hence this book.  (It's a circle that has been divided up like a clock face.)  If you had read the book and knew somebody else who did, one of the favorite sports of the time was figuring out what 'time' on the clock you were and they were and where you could safely consign other people you knew.  I was (and still am) somewhere between 11:10 and 11:15.  The person I discussed it with the most-- my wife at the time-- was pretty sure she was at exactly 5pm, though I disagreed.  (As far as I was concerned she was off the chart.)

I won't try to summarize the whole book, as that would take as long as the book itself.  Maybe longer.  I will only say that I found the theoretical stuff quite interesting, and the constant flow of anecdotes proving the author's points not just irrelevant but unsettling.

It's hard to read. (It would probably help to have at some illegal substances first.  I wouldn't know: I haven't tried that approach myself.)  But if you can light some incense, puff some occasional potpourri vapors over the pages, wear a flower in your hair, eat an Alice B. Toklas brownie or two, and just sort of let your brain go, you can get through it somehow, and be in the sixties, when everything was simple except the achievement of simultaneous orgasm.  And there were books to help with that, too.
4453217
Enjoy this deep reading book. If you ever had questions why we ended up in Vietnam, just get this book.
3785536
Fifty years after first arriving in Vietnam as a "newby", and after fighting and living there the following six years, this is the first book I've read that I feel truly gives an account of what it felt like to be Vietnamese and growing up during the "American" war in Vietnam!
4823664
This book really explains what it was like to be in Vietnam during the 60's. Many of us misunderstood the reasons we were in Vietnam and what our
troops went thru there. Amazing heroes who did their job and did it well.
3789691
A powerful book -- well worth reading although hard at times.  Especially for those of us who grew up in the Vietnam era.
1052462
If you were a hippie Christian in the early 1970's you may have read this version of the New Testament. If so, then you will "get it".  It is written in the street language of the time.  I had forgotten some of the language used until I read it again.  So I consider this almost an historical document.

For those of you who were not a teenager in the late sixties and seventies it may all just sound weird to you.  You would probably enjoy a version written in your slang.  Or you might like to find out how teenagers talked back in the 1960's and 1970's.

I loved it.
1871652
Take a trip back to Saigon of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The sights and sounds of Vietnam are presented to you. The protagonist finds himself involved in some controversial activities. Enjoy.
2601468
This writer fad a higher tolerance for the Vietnam War than I did. I went to the war as a warrant officer and came back with my body intact but not my mind. I tried not to kill anyone, and I hope I didn't. This writer did a great job in explaining why this war was not worth one life, Vietnamese or American.
540949
Very good read, but I am real partial to any biographies of the Vietnam War era!!  Very informative of what these guys went through and why so many have had struggles dealing with their experiences.  Thank You to all the Vietnam Vets for your sacrifice and my apologies for it taking so long for this country to recognize their service.  I started reading books about the Vietnam War because I wanted an insight to some of what my husband went through while he was over there serving on the DMZ and it helped to fulfill that desire.
4869261
This book resumes the cycle of maturation of the combat soldiers in Vietnam. The addiction to combat in vietnam, comradship fears and loneliness. It is without prententions which makes it a very nice read.
If anybody finds this now famous CBS News video, please let us know.
Thanks Sergent "Jergensen" for the show.
Best Regards.
Norbert
2281121
I grew up in the Vietnam era and watched on TV what I thought the war was. It was sanitized and really misrepresented. In this novel, Mr. Maurer has given us a real view of the "ground pounders" and their inner struggles and fears of combat in an impossible theater of war. This book should be mandatory reading for any person considering serving their country and those that have returned from it. For those of us not in those categories, we should more fully respect and honor the sacrifices made by men and women of our armed forces.
This book is a literary gem. It gathers and holds the readers complete attention. Yeah....it's hard to put down. Enough said.
2368272
Really enjoyed reading it. My brother was in Vietnam in 1969-1970. I just was not discussed much and he really didn't talk much about it. I ask him some about it after reading the book and he explained his duties when he was there. He worked on an APC (Armored Personal Carrier). Gave me a lot of insight about the war and how it affected the US armed forces there.
4517154
Yes. Ho did this in a deadly land reform that year in North Vietnam. Understand this fact (mentioned in Ken Burns's new book Vietnam--also available at amazon)before you watch of this interesting stuff. The North Vietnamese were worthy of being stopped in the 60's!
4911843
post: Jan 3, 2010 7:29 AM PST
 N. Girod says:
When I read this book, I found it to be honest and just. I was never taught the Vietnamese side of their history, just the American and where 'we can do no wrong'. Yet war is war, no matter who is fighting it. Living right now with the Iraqian war still strong, I can only imagine the horrors of the Iraqian people that are not disclosed to us Americans. The author took no sides but just told her point of view of her life during the long two wars that destroyed her country. No favortism was cited with the Revolutionist beyond it being apparent they fought for their freedom against the French and the Americans.

The beauty of her country was so well written that I now would love to visit this country. Her description of their cuisine or her childhood landscape only wets my appetite to see Viet Nam for myself. According to the author, it was plentiful for all to live off of its riches, a life of simplicity mixed with traditions, that is, until the Indochina War followed by the American invasion disrupted its delicate balance.

What an incredible life to have lived with the constraints of war. I cannot imagine how I would personally survive a similar circumstances. The inner strength and uncontrolable sense of survival to live just leaves me speechless. I have heard from my paternal grandmother her stories of WWI and WWII she, too, had experienced but none of them match to the intensity of this one. After reading this book I no longer sweat over the little stuff and how fortunate I am to have a life surrounded by love and peace.

This book not is interesting but also an inspiration, I highly recommend it!!!!
3911699
Interesting to me due to my service in Vietnam, in the same area as the author. Many of the descriptions were very familiar, and brought back memories.
For someone that has no association with the war in Vietnam, I am not sure that this would be interesting.