Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War

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Synopsis
Intense, powerful, and compelling, Matterhorn is an epic Vietnam war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and James Jones' The Thin Red Line. It is the timeless story of a young Marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as teenagers and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: racial tension, competing ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company finds itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the Marines are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them forever. Written by a highly decorated Marine veteran over the course of thirty years, Matterhorn is a spellbinding and unforgettable novel that brings to life an entire world--both its horrors and its thrills--and seems destined to become a classic of combat literature. The end of the book includes two glossaries of terms used.
Copyright:
2010

Book Details

Book Quality:
Excellent
Book Size:
600 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780802119285
Publisher:
Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Karl Marlantes
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Military, Literature and Fiction
Submitted By:
Liz Halperin
Proofread By:
Liz Halperin
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

4 out of 5

By on

I was unexpectedly sucked into this novel of the Marines as I was proofreading it. The book has a double glossary in the back, and I highly suggest you read this before you read the story. It was my coming of age era for war, and I saw the way we treated the soldiers both here and upon return. A very big factor in the military which is constantly confronted in the book is the racism that was so prevalent. Major characters struggle with this theme throughout the whole book. Of course, there's no resolution to it. Another factor was that the majority of "grunts" (foot soldiers) were mere teenagers, not yet old enough to drink in the US, and at that time, also not old enough to vote. (Voting age was still 21.) The author consistently draws our attention to the youth who were making serious tactical decisions by calling them "kids." There was rarely a reference to "men" unless it was to describe older officers who'd been in prior wars. Like the war itself, the book just starts with the main character being dropped into combat and ends with the war going on… For those who want to know more about the era, the reality of the famous Marines, even the casual references to the safety of using Agent Orange to defoliate parts of the jungle, I recommend adding this book to your reading list.