- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Bantam (Sep 1 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0553380575
- ISBN-13: 978-0553380576
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,737,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Reflecting the author's own experiences, the characters in this graphic, grippingly authentic first novel are the combat-tested soldiers of the Special Forces in Vietnam. Quinn, nerveless, seemingly made of granite and steel, amuses hismelf and some onlookers by biting off the heads of live ducklings. Hanson, the protagonist, who begins his mornings with beer and amphetamines, not only enlisted for service in Nam while in law school but signed on for an extra year for the privilege of joining the elite corps. "College boy" though he isa term of contempt mixed with envyhis patriotic credientials are unimpeachable: he, too, can't abide hippies, draft dodgers, antiwar protesters and other "sloths." When Quinn is accidentally killed by blundering American troops, Hanson exacts bizarre, deranged, murderous revenge in a wild climactic scene that serves to compound the novel's ambiguous perspective on war in general and the Vietnam conflict in particular. Though a skillful writer, Anderson's depiction of war is a shade too melodramatic and cinematic, too much a way of separating the men from the boys. Yet he vividly involves the reader in the unending nightmare thatHanson is "doomed to survive."
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Hanson is an effective killing machine in Vietnam. He exults in the chase, the surviving, the countryside, and a few buddies, like Quinn and Silver. In a series of episodes the cruelty and madness of war mold him into almost a nonhuman. The scenes of his basic training and the idiocy of his various officers strengthen his inner resources. In the dramatic climax his buddies die, but Hanson is "doomed to survive the war." There are plenty of passages of power and almost unbearable descriptions in this deeply felt first novel; but the organization of the material is shaky, and some of the transitions are weak. Still, a potent study of men at war. Robert H. Donahugh, Youngstown & Mahoning Cty. P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Best,
By A Customer
This review is from: Sympathy for the Devil (Mass Market Paperback)
If you enjoy reading about special forces you will love this book. I have had it for years and have just read it for the 3rd time.
5.0 out of 5 stars
modern day illiad,
By Dan "Lasombra" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sympathy for the Devil (Mass Market Paperback)
Having just read this book and the Illiad, the similarities are readily apparent. The callousness, brutality, and combat addiction of Hanson and his Green Beret teammates are as timeless as the effects of war on Achilles, Hector, and the rest of the warriors of the 2,000 year old classic. That's what is so great about this book; despite the vast change in the technology, methodology, and reasons behind war, its effects on the human psyche are the same. Many previous reviews knock the book for its geographical or chronological inaccuracies; but this book is not a memoir of Vietnam, it is a profound statement on violence and what it does to us. Sympathy for The Devil really made me think about the Special Forces guys out on the front lines in Afghanistan, and how they and their families are adapting when they rotate home.
4.0 out of 5 stars
TRULY A MASTERPIECE IN FICTION TODAY!!,
By Apollo Reader (Florida) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sympathy for the Devil (Mass Market Paperback)
I was just blown away with this novel. It was truly an experience in opening one's eyes to the horror of war and just what the men must of went through over there in Vietnam.Kent Anderson has a unique writing style that really gives you the sense of what went on over there back in the 60's and 70's, leaving you feeling everything from shock to mind-numbing pain. Moments of sheer happiness to deepest despair is where Mr. Anderson will take you in this journey. This is a must read for those who want to get not only a great read, but want to get a glimpse of the hell of war and it's aftermath.
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