Anyone read "A Rumor of War"?

[Trident-za]

By Philip Capputo.

Awesome book. Non-fictional account of a young gung-ho Marine officer who went to Vietnam, and his gradual descent into madness, ending with being charged as a war criminal.

Very though provoking, and a good illustration of how even good men get screwed over by war. Should be compulsary reading for all people intending to serve in the military, and all gung-ho dudes. I wasn't involved in combat long enough to experience what he did, but a hell of a lot of what he said "connected" with me...

P.S. I realize that my description is hardly likely to encourage the average patriotic youngster to read the book... but reality is a bitch. Forewarned is forearmed etc. etc. You REALLY should read this..... 5 star ranking at amazon, based on 63 reviews.

[Trident-za]

OK, just to spice it up a bit (why am I not suprised that nobody has read it?) here are some quotes from reviewers:


Caputo takes you into the muddy foxhole with him, making you feel the heat and annoyance of the ever-present insects, and the sniper shots that all united to deprive you of the precious commodity of sleep. He takes you on patrol with them down, "Purple Heart Trail," where the main enemies were the heat, the insects, and endless mines and ****y traps. The reader can feel the rage of the infantrymen who fought endless battles with an enemy that was everywhere, yet nowhere. Gradually enthusiasm turned to pessimism; pessimism to despair; and despair to rage; rage that ultimately vented itself in mindless violence against anything Vietnamese. They were then left with the heat, the insects, and guilt borne of actions taken that they would never have dreamed of a few short months before.



From a Vietnam Vet:


A Rumor of War" is a darkly disturbing book. It is set in what was the early, "optimistic" Vietnam in the spring of '65 when we thought we were fighting for "freedom" and before the reality of the place hit home. Vietnam hits Lieutenant Caputo very quickly, as it must have for all Marine Corps platoon leaders. It's all right there-****y traps, mines, trip wires, leeches, foot blisters, jungle rot, constant shelling, dysentery, pigs eating corpses and cold C Rations. As a Vietnam vet, I was surprised the author never mentions RATS!, but we both know they were there too. (THEY were everywhere). Lt. Caputo's transfer to a staff job is worse than the field, so he transfers back to the bush as a platoon leader.It's more of the same-patrolling and repatrolling the same trails, the same hills, the same villes. All watched over by unsupportive and bureaucratic commanders. "RW" offers yet another look at the Vietnam War, one more pessimistic than most because so many of us felt that the years of '65 and '66 were more positive than this. I might suggest reading Joseph Owen's "Colder Than Hell" to compare the Marine experience in Korea with Lt. Caputo's. Reading the late Bernard Fall's "Street Without Joy" will make us aware, again, that perhaps there was never a time to be optimistic about Vietnam. I must admit that I constantly found myself curious as to how I would have handled many situations in "RW". How would I have measured up? What would I have done? How would the men have judged me? While the story of "RW" tends to stray at times, I found no fault since the author is relating a painful part of his past.




I read this in two sittings. This book consumes you. If you harbor any romanticized notions of combat, A Rumor of War will shatter them. Caputo joins the military for the same reason so many other young men do: to validate his masculinity through acts of valor. It is Caputo's story, but it could be the story of so many others. He "escapes" his banal suburban town and becomes a Marine officer. Soon the monotony of Marine training is replaced by the stark realities of combat. The reader can sense a gradual transformation of Caputo's pysche. At the onset of the conflict Caputo is transfixed and mesmerized by the carnage(he describes in lucid detail what brains look like as they spill from a man's skull). By the end of the book Caputo is savage and even bloodthirsty, completely callous and almost indifferent to the brutalities that surround him. I honestly think this book hits harder than any film can (saving private ryan, platoon, etc.) about how hellish combat is. Film can only utilize imagery, but literature, through words, more vividly captures the tattered consciousness of the participant. I thought the most disturbing part of the book was when Caputo recalls the euphoria that he felt when he finally accepted the inevitability of his own death. at that point i think he ceased to be human in the sense that most people know. the only thing that detracted from the book was the somewhat mundane descriptions of military logistics.

[OB Kenobi]

OK, just to spice it up a bit (why am I not suprised that nobody has read it?)

I read it back in high school for a paper, still have it.

"My mind shot back a decade, to that day we had marched into Vietnam, swaggering, confident, and full of idealism. We had believed we were there for a high moral purpose. But somehow our idealism was lost, our morals corrupted, and the purpose forgotten."

[California Joe]

Heard something about that. I dunno, like maybe what you'd call a "rumor".

;)

[James]

By Philip Capputo.

Awesome book. Non-fictional account of a young gung-ho Marine officer who went to Vietnam, and his gradual descent into madness, ending with being charged as a war criminal.

Very though provoking, and a good illustration of how even good men get screwed over by war. Should be compulsary reading for all people intending to serve in the military, and all gung-ho dudes. I wasn't involved in combat long enough to experience what he did, but a hell of a lot of what he said "connected" with me...

P.S. I realize that my description is hardly likely to encourage the average patriotic youngster to read the book... but reality is a bitch. Forewarned is forearmed etc. etc. You REALLY should read this..... 5 star ranking at amazon, based on 63 reviews.

I read it (coincidentally) while I was in the USMC. It is a good book. I agree with your assessment.

[Red]

By Philip Capputo.

Awesome book. Non-fictional account of a young gung-ho Marine officer who went to Vietnam, and his gradual descent into madness, ending with being charged as a war criminal.

Very though provoking, and a good illustration of how even good men get screwed over by war. Should be compulsary reading for all people intending to serve in the military, and all gung-ho dudes. I wasn't involved in combat long enough to experience what he did, but a hell of a lot of what he said "connected" with me...

P.S. I realize that my description is hardly likely to encourage the average patriotic youngster to read the book... but reality is a bitch. Forewarned is forearmed etc. etc. You REALLY should read this..... 5 star ranking at amazon, based on 63 reviews.
Triden-Za nice book

[Mark Sman]

Read it about a million (20) years ago.

[FuturePara]

Great book.

[DANJANOU]

Read it a fair while back. I agree a good book, and one of the few that deals accuratley with the earlier years in Vietnam. Obvious that Caputo had a bit of an agenda writing it. Perhaps trying to purge his own ghosts?

Their was a low budget made for TV movie/mini series made form it filmed in Mexico and starring Stacey Keach. I can't remember too much about it, but it was worth a rent if you can find it on video/DVD.

[Argyll]

I read it back in the 80's when serving in NI