Jarhead

Anthony Swofford

I am not usually drawn to read books about the military or military battles, but this book was different… it held me from the first sentence and I could not let go. It's an anti-war book by an ex-Marine sharp shooter. His battle was the first Gulf war but the lessons and scenario could be equally applied to the current conflict.

Anthony Swofford writes with prose that borders on poetry. This is a book for anyone who wants to experience the truth of battle and not just through the media's filter.

This is a perfect gift for anyone who needs to know the true reality of conflicts, as seen through the eyes of one who was there.

I highly recommend this powerful memoir that is also powerful literature.

I have taken the liberty of quoting some powerful passages from Jarhead:

"I remember about myself a loneliness and a poverty of spirit: mental collapse, brief jovial moments after weeks of exhaustion, discomfiting body pain, constant ringing in my ears, sleeplessness and drunkenness and desperation, fits of rage and despondency, mutiny of the self, lovers to whom I lied, lovers who lied to me. I remember going in one end and coming out the other. I remember being told I must remember and then for many years forgetting."

"Some wars are unavoidable and need well be fought, but this doesn't erase warefare's waste. Sorry, we must say to the mothers whose sons will die horribly. This will never end. Sorry." Review by Tony Kainauskas