- Marlantes is a graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar who went on to serve as a Marine lieutenant in Vietnam, where he was highly decorated
- Matterhorn will be copublished with El Leon Literary Arts
Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
From Amazon
Matterhorn is a marvel--a living, breathing book with Lieutenant Waino Mellas and the men of Bravo Company at its raw and battered heart. Karl Marlantes doesn't introduce you to Vietnam in his brilliant war epic--he unceremoniously drops you into the jungle, disoriented and dripping with leeches, with only the newbie lieutenant as your guide. Mellas is a bundle of anxiety and ambition, a college kid who never imagined being part of a "war that none of his friends thought was worth fighting," who realized too late that "because of his desire to look good coming home from a war, he might never come home at all." A highly decorated Vietnam veteran himself, Marlantes brings the horrors and heroism of war to life with the finesse of a seasoned writer, exposing not just the things they carry, but the fears they bury, the friends they lose, and the men they follow. Matterhorn is as much about the development of Mellas from boy to man, from the kind of man you fight beside to man you fight for, as it is about the war itself. Through his untrained eyes, readers gain a new perspective on the ravages of war, the politics and bureaucracy of the military, and the peculiar beauty of brotherhood. --Daphne Durham
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
"Visceral . . . Evocative . . . We feel the Marines' exhaustion as they dig gun pits, carry dead and wounded comrades, and nearly die from hunger. . . . We hear the scream of the M-16s, the thunk of mortar shells, the hammering of AK-47s and the crack of bullets. We smell the stink of fear, blood and unwashed bodies. . . . [Marlantes] pitches us into a harrowing narrative we won't soon forget." --USA Today
"I've laughed at Catch-22 and wept at The Thin Red Line, but I've never encountered a war novel as stark, honest and wrenching as Matterhorn. . . . By turns, this book horrified me, crushed me and beat me up, but I found it nearly impossible to stop reading. More than any living American novelist I've read, Marlantes made me feel what I already must have known: that war is worse than hell." --NPR
"Matterhorn is a novel of great authority and humanity. It builds inexorably to a devastating and magnificent final movement." --Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain
"Unforgettable . . . A beautifully crafted novel of unrivaled authenticity and power, filled with jungle heroism, crackerjack inventiveness, mud, blood, brotherhood, hatred, healing, terror, bureaucracy, politics, unfathomable waste, and unfathomable love." --Christina Robb, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of This Changes Everything
"Matterhorn is that rare modern novel destined to become a classic. Karl Marlantes has written a riveting and harrowing portrait of young men at war." --Vince Flynn, author of Pursuit of Honor
"Matterhorn is one of the most powerful and moving novels about combat, the Vietnam War, and war in general that I have ever read." --Dan Rather
"As warfare shapeshifts its way into a new century, the publication of Matterhorn is perfectly timed. Karl Marlantes tells a riveting, richly detailed personal tale of soldiers in Vietnam, and in doing so, he brilliantly illuminates the defining war of the last half of the twentieth century. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
"I've laughed at Catch-22 and wept at The Thin Red Line, but I've never encountered a war novel as stark, honest and wrenching as Matterhorn. . . . By turns, this book horrified me, crushed me and beat me up, but I found it nearly impossible to stop reading. More than any living American novelist I've read, Marlantes made me feel what I already must have known: that war is worse than hell." --NPR
"Matterhorn is a novel of great authority and humanity. It builds inexorably to a devastating and magnificent final movement." --Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain
"Unforgettable . . . A beautifully crafted novel of unrivaled authenticity and power, filled with jungle heroism, crackerjack inventiveness, mud, blood, brotherhood, hatred, healing, terror, bureaucracy, politics, unfathomable waste, and unfathomable love." --Christina Robb, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of This Changes Everything
"Matterhorn is that rare modern novel destined to become a classic. Karl Marlantes has written a riveting and harrowing portrait of young men at war." --Vince Flynn, author of Pursuit of Honor
"Matterhorn is one of the most powerful and moving novels about combat, the Vietnam War, and war in general that I have ever read." --Dan Rather
"As warfare shapeshifts its way into a new century, the publication of Matterhorn is perfectly timed. Karl Marlantes tells a riveting, richly detailed personal tale of soldiers in Vietnam, and in doing so, he brilliantly illuminates the defining war of the last half of the twentieth century. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By bonnie
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
we have not had the time to read this novel yet so it is impossible to give it a rating at this time
By booklver
Format:Paperback
This book was incredible from beginning to end. At the end of the book I had to give it to my Dad who also was a Marine Corps infantryman in Vietnam. He echoed my views that said Marlantes hit the nail on the head with this one.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Toni Osborne
TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
A novel of the Vietnam War
This is a time when U.S. political tensions are at a boiling point, campuses erupt in violence and protesters take to the streets, racial agendas dominate the enlisted ranks and young Americans are embroiled in brutal combat at the other end of the world. A conflict that will divide the population like never seen before.
The author's astonishing writing immerses his readers deep in the thick of the action: they quickly feel they are part of the story, witnessing the fighting side by side with the courageous soldiers.....Before setting out in this spellbinding novel, make sure you have plenty of repellent, do not forget to keep dry, leave your fears behind and lets go forward....a mission is awaiting..... Emotions will be so real you will soon understand what I mean.
The year is 1969 during the monsoon season deep in the jungles and the sweltering mountains of Quang Tri province, Vietnam.
Bravo Company First Platoon lead by a green Lieutenant Waino Mellas and his seasoned officers Fitch, Hawke and Kendall are given the orders to claim and establish a strategic point (the Matterhorn) , an advance fire-support base. The reader quickly learns that a simple sounding plan presents more than one enemy to the soldiers: Mother nature, the unfamiliar and unforgiving terrain, the fear of being isolated and the very capable opponents are just some of the life threatening hostilities they are bombarded with.
Just when the Lieutenant and his men think they have time to catch their breath and count their loses new orders hit them almost as hard as any enemy. Higher command orders them to abandon everything and embark on another dangerous but crucial mission: sever N.V. supply lines at all cost.
The men that are still standing are more and more concerned, will the final cost be worth it. Totally exhausted and feeling demoralized they wonder if new technology and long range communications have left command insensitive to their plight.
Chapter after chapter, the author immerses his readers through one intense battle after another, it is a very exhausting read. The story is told from the point of view of lieutenant Mellas and with extensive dialogue between the soldiers in a language that is dense in slang, jargon and technical terms. The author has provided a detailed glossary, I found it hard to refer back and forth at first but the price of knowing and understanding the terms early on paid dividends, patience enhanced my reading pleasure.
The author himself a decorated veteran of the time has written a complex novel (sometimes difficult to read) of what " Tour of duty" meant to those who served and hopefully to those who will take the time to read this gruesome account of trying times. Will mankind ever learn.......
This is one outstanding novel filled with emotions and lasting impressions. Very well done Mr Marlantes.
This is a time when U.S. political tensions are at a boiling point, campuses erupt in violence and protesters take to the streets, racial agendas dominate the enlisted ranks and young Americans are embroiled in brutal combat at the other end of the world. A conflict that will divide the population like never seen before.
The author's astonishing writing immerses his readers deep in the thick of the action: they quickly feel they are part of the story, witnessing the fighting side by side with the courageous soldiers.....Before setting out in this spellbinding novel, make sure you have plenty of repellent, do not forget to keep dry, leave your fears behind and lets go forward....a mission is awaiting..... Emotions will be so real you will soon understand what I mean.
The year is 1969 during the monsoon season deep in the jungles and the sweltering mountains of Quang Tri province, Vietnam.
Bravo Company First Platoon lead by a green Lieutenant Waino Mellas and his seasoned officers Fitch, Hawke and Kendall are given the orders to claim and establish a strategic point (the Matterhorn) , an advance fire-support base. The reader quickly learns that a simple sounding plan presents more than one enemy to the soldiers: Mother nature, the unfamiliar and unforgiving terrain, the fear of being isolated and the very capable opponents are just some of the life threatening hostilities they are bombarded with.
Just when the Lieutenant and his men think they have time to catch their breath and count their loses new orders hit them almost as hard as any enemy. Higher command orders them to abandon everything and embark on another dangerous but crucial mission: sever N.V. supply lines at all cost.
The men that are still standing are more and more concerned, will the final cost be worth it. Totally exhausted and feeling demoralized they wonder if new technology and long range communications have left command insensitive to their plight.
Chapter after chapter, the author immerses his readers through one intense battle after another, it is a very exhausting read. The story is told from the point of view of lieutenant Mellas and with extensive dialogue between the soldiers in a language that is dense in slang, jargon and technical terms. The author has provided a detailed glossary, I found it hard to refer back and forth at first but the price of knowing and understanding the terms early on paid dividends, patience enhanced my reading pleasure.
The author himself a decorated veteran of the time has written a complex novel (sometimes difficult to read) of what " Tour of duty" meant to those who served and hopefully to those who will take the time to read this gruesome account of trying times. Will mankind ever learn.......
This is one outstanding novel filled with emotions and lasting impressions. Very well done Mr Marlantes.
Want to see more reviews on this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 777 reviews
4.5 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
It is not the great Vietnam novel, it's a good one
The story, the characters, the setting, social, political and racial issues of the day, are all well presented, unfortunately I just didn't get to the point were I cared very much. Read more
Published 18 months ago by smoke
3.0 out of 5 stars
I fought in a different Vietnam War
I read the novel primarily because I had served as an Army infantry lieutenant in Vietnam during 1967 and 1968. Read more
Published 22 months ago by A. T. Lawrence
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book
This was the best book on the Vietnam war I've ever read. He pulls no punches and tells it just as it was, from the soldier on the grounds point of view. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Gale P. Comin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Realistic, perceptive, enlightening, visionary
'Matterhorn' follows the Lieutenant Mellas's first year as a marine in the Vietnam War. It's 1969 and America is in a losing war with North Vietnam they believe is ideological and... Read more
Published on Mar 13 2011 by Len
5.0 out of 5 stars
Documentary and Fiction are United
I had just finished Sabastien Junger's book "War" prior to reading Matterhorn. It is interesting to compare the books as one was written by an embedded reporter in an Afghanistan... Read more
Published on Sep 6 2010 by Kevin MacLellan
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pace an Issue
This book has received a great deal of acclaim but I found the pace extremely slow and the characters almost cartoonish if not stereotypical (this made it very hard to care about... Read more
Published on May 23 2010 by Jeffrey Swystun
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
