Matterhorn

Matterhorn

Synopsis

Thirty years in the making, a powerful, visceral war novel that conveys the terror and immediacy of combat with rare authenticity. Intense, powerful, and compelling, 'Matterhorn' is an epic war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and James Jones's The Thin Red Line. It is the timeless story of a young Marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: racial tension, competing ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company finds itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the Marines are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them forever. Written by a highly decorated Marine veteran over the course of thirty years, 'Matterhorn' is a spellbinding and unforgettable novel that brings to life an entire world - both its horrors and its thrills - and seems destined to become a classic of combat literature.

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• Matterhorn

  Reviewed by Coogee Rob | see all reviews by Coogee Rob

  15/10/2010

  As a bit of a Vietnam fanatic, I couldn't wait to get my hands on Matterhorn. 30 years in the making, my expectations were high.
  
  I am 2/3rds of the way through and it is a book of a different style. It sort of lacks the intense excitement and adrenalin that we have come to expect when in a firefight or the fear of waiting for what might happen next.
  The book describes the patheticness of the line of command in Vietnam and the impact of the politics of this on the grunt.
  The demarcation between blacks and whites and the unrest in the ealy days of Black Power tells us some of the comlications of managing soldiers in Vietnam.
  These things when coupled with the psychology of "lifers" versus "draftees" made for tough times for the "in combat", on the ground troops.
  The one area of dissappointment I have so far is the way the main character Mellas just seems to float across the top of the detail and emotion. I never feel like I am really in Vietnam, in the jungle, feeling the fear, anger and pain. Hopefully the last 3rd will bring it alive. I will let you know.
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