The Thin Red Line (1962)
Basis for the well reviewed new movie,
this second book in James Jones' WWII trilogy tells the story of C-for-Charlie
company & their participation in the battle of Guadalcanal. It really
reads more
like a Viet Nam precursor than like a novel of WWII. The men of C-for-Charlie
are sodomites, drunkards, cowards, slackers, homosexuals, thieves, sadists
& only occasionally heroes. Their war is a battle against tedium, the
elements, each other & their officers as much as against the Japanese.
In the end, we sense that the actual battle against the Japanese has been
fairly meaningless; just a fight over "property" as one character says.
I find this grunt's eye view of war to be pretty obtuse & unsatisfying.
I'm sure a soldiers life is difficult, it must have been especially so
for those fighting in the South Pacific (see William Manchester's war memoir
Goodbye
Darkness). However, one has to ask, so what? Is it really important
that a grunt understand why he's fighting for Hill #517? Is it important
whether he's bored & fungus ridden & sexually deprived? I think
not. Wars are fought for national purposes, not to entertain the troops.
Perhaps we shouldn't have had men fighting in the Pacific, but when we
decided, as a nation, to fight the Japanese, their presence in that theater
became inevitable. It seems petty &
selfish to complain about how little fun the troops had during the
ensuing war.
Ultimately, the book offers an interesting picture of the daily life
of soldiers, but it is devoid of the larger themes that made From
Here to Eternity a great book.
(Reviewed:)
Grade: (C)
