Matterhorn; Karl Marlantes

 

Title: Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War

Author: Karl Marlantes
Publication Year: 2010
Publisher: Blackstone Audio Books
Edition: Audiobook 

Reader: Bronson Pinchot (excellent)
Source: Library
Date Completed: 1/31/2011
Setting: Vietnam War
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Recommend: Yes 

Ever since I listened to The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, about (5) years ago, I wanted to listen to another audio book about the Vietnam War.  Matterhorn seemed like the perfect choice based on the story and the rave reviews.

The novel is set during the winter monsoon season of 1968-69 on and around a critical fire support base called Matterhorn, which was located near the Laotian boarder. The story's young protagonist, is 2nd Marine Lieutenant, Waino Mellas, the ambitious platoon leader of Bravo Company. Not only is he ambitious, he is smart, Ivy League educated, and thinks also thinks that politics might be in his future. For now, he finds his role as Platoon Leader to be somewhat of a balancing act, between showing some authority and being one of the guys.

The story is not for the squeamish, as early on conditions and situations are explained in vivid detail using words like pus, guts, stories about blood-sucking leeches, dehydration, diarrhea, jungle rot and more. This too, is before the more serious casualties of war take place.  The battle scenes will stay with you as troops are ordered to pump up the body count. Particularly troublesome was the political egotism, with little regard for the men on the battle field. To me, it showed just how inept some of the commanders in charge really were.

Matterhorn was an extremely difficult book for me to review. It was an eye-opener for sure.  It's a novel, yet written in such a way that only someone who experienced the war themselves, could give written such a detailed, realistic account of what the Vietnam War must have been like. The politics, the death scenes, the racial tensions, and even the camaraderie among soldiers. Men who day end and day out were just trying to keep themselves and each other alive one more day.

This was a searing, and unforgettable account of the Vietnam War. There were numerous characters in this story, and I found impossible to keep track of all their names by listening to the audio book. Besides Fitch, Cassidy, Hawke, Blake and Simpson, the rest have disappeared from my mind. I was told that there is some type of chart in the book itself, which is critical in a of this book this size (16 cds or 600 pages).  Bronson Pinchot, the audio book reader was wonderful. If you want to find out what Vietnam must have really been like in the late 1960s, you must read this book. It's long but worth it. 

The author, Karl Marlantes,  is a cum-laude graduate of Yale University and Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, was a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten air medals. He has lived and traveled all over the world and now writes full time. He and his wife, Anne, have five children and live on a small lake in Washington state. This novel was (30) years in the making.