Sunday 1 December 2013

The 13th Valley by John M. Del Vecchio

Intriguing Vietnam War novel by an author who was actually there. This tells a tale of a battle hardened unit of American infantry who fought their way into the jungle to root out an entrenched NVA base.  While the book includes some of the usual Vietnam tropes of self obsessed first world soldiers struggling to come to grips with life and death in the jungles of the third world it also has a lot more than that. These "Boonie Rats" are a highly educated group of young men who ponder about big questions in life,  philosophy and politics. At times all the introspection makes the book heavy going but there is real combat action in there too. Overall a worthy read.

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