Fields of Fire
by James Webb
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Book Summary Information
Author: James WebbEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-08-28
ISBN: 0553583859
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of Fields of Fire
Book Review: War has its own sordid reality
Summary: 5 Stars
Passing in Review
"Fields of Fire", written by James Webb
Review by M. Vince Turner
March 2006
Despite the fact Fields of Fire was written nearly thirty years ago, the book remains a timely write.
James Webb is a superb writer, with most of his works fiction or historical fiction composed around Military themes. Since Fields of Fire was written, Webb has added handsomely to his repertoire of fine books.
Fields of Fire exposes the raw and ugly aspects of war. Those ugly realities are not confined to Vietnam. The brutality and gruesomeness of war may be exacted with various themes, but it is always human life that suffers the toll.
Fields of Fire provides the reader with a very good insight into Military life, despite the book's backdrop being the Vietnam War. Clearly, if Webb did not personally experience everything he writes about in Fields of Fire (Webb did serve in Vietnam), he certainly came close enough to what is depicted to personally resonate with them.
Fields of Fire is raw in its reality. It does not sugarcoat or romanticize this war, or any war. The diverse personalities that form this small cadre of fighting Marines are in themselves very real. Having served in the US Military myself, I know and understand how one may and most likely will serve next to someone they fully dislike or ever loathe. Yet, that tension cannot and must not get in the way of fulfilling the mission.
The ironies that crop up in Fields of Fire are magnificently true to life, although in many in-stances they are sad and sorrowful realities. But, isn't that life's own reality? Is that not the truth of war? How is it one man who is well liked, even revered, saves another Marine who is not well liked, giving up his own life? The message is clear: Personalities cannot and must not get in the way of protecting a fellow soldier's life. God does not favor the popular over the less popular in such settings.
Parts of Fields of Fire are graphically gruesome, but that is not theatrics or literary drama. Any-one who has read anything about the Vietnam War knows of its human destruction, physical and psychological. The reader grows to like, even become fond of, certain characters and to dislike or loathe others. Webb does an excellent job of pulling the personalities off the pages, bringing each character to real life for the reader.
I came away from Fields of Fire feeling sad, but that has been the case with me on most books written about Vietnam. Yet Fields of Fire held me captive from start to finish. And, at the finish I actually was wanting of a "bit more". I wanted it to continue, as though there was yet more to tell. It is well worth a good read for anyone interested in books of this genre.
Summary of Fields of Fire
They each had their reasons for being a soldier.They each had their illusions. Goodrich came from Harvard. Snake got the tattoo ? Death Before Dishonor ? before he got the uniform. And Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes.
They were three young men from different worlds plunged into a white-hot, murderous realm of jungle warfare as it was fought by one Marine platoon in the An Hoa Basin, 1969. They had no way of knowing what awaited them. Nothing could have prepared them for the madness to come. And in the heat and horror of battle they took on new identities, took on each other, and were each reborn in fields of fire....
Fields of Fire is James Webb?s classic, searing novel of the Vietnam War, a novel of poetic power, razor-sharp observation, and agonizing human truths seen through the prism of nonstop combat. Weaving together a cast of vivid characters, Fields of Fire captures the journey of unformed men through a man-made hell ? until each man finds his fate.
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