Whistle [Paperback]

From Here to Eternity portrays barracks life in Hawaii just before the attack at Pearl Harbor; The Thin Red Line is a wrenching account of island fighting in the South Pacific; and Whistle is the story of four men from the same infantry company, all wounded in battle, who are brought back to the U.S. on a hospital ship and then sent to an Army hospital in the South.

The book does a fine job of portraying the complex relationships between the four men and the inner demons each has to face. First Sergeant Martin Winch is a cynical, but superb leader who struggles with congestive heart failure while trying his best to protect the other three men. Mess Sgt. Johnny Strange is the nurturer who looks after the others while he struggles with the infidelity of his wife, and the injustices of the Army pecking order. Buck Sergeant Marion Landers tries but fails to handle the monstrous fury that wells up inside him. Corporal Bobby Prell fights to save his legs from amputation and copes with feelings of guilt over a Congressional Medal of Honor that he does not believe he deserves.

This was Jones’ final book, and he was unable to finish the final three chapters before he died of congestive heart failure (his death is portrayed in the movie "A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries" based on the book written by his daughter, Kaylie.)

Unfortunately, the last book of the trilogy doesn’t measure up to the first two, and it pains me to write this because I am one of Jones’ major fans. The story, the writing, Jones’ unique ability to get into the head of the GI just aren’t as sharp in this work.

There is also the matter of his preoccupation about a man performing oral ... on a woman– he goes on and on and on about it throughout the book. The ... is graphic, even by today’s standards. All well and good, but the preoccupation with oral ... stretched and exceeded the limits of its role in the story line. It’s like Jones’ had a statement to make, and he made it too often; and he made it too important for credibility.

And then there is the end of the book, which should have been handled differently. Jones was unable to complete the final three and one half chapters, but he let his intentions for the finale be known in detail. A friend and neighbor, Willie Morris, wrote the last chapters from notes and recordings. They are not written as fiction, but as a summary of what the author intended to happen. The novel would have been much better had a skilled writer done the end as a continuing fictional narrative, imitating Jones’ style. (Of course, there would need to be an appropriate explanation of how it was handled at the beginning of the book.)

Whistle is not James Jones best work. But it’s still a fine story by one of America’s most underrated authors.