The Naked and the Dead (by Norman Mailer)
Back to the reading list with this one! It's a World War II novel about the invasion of a Japanese island, sort of The Thin Red Line, except good. It's thought provoking, full of moral ambiguity and realism, suspenseful, and extremely well-written. It's up there with All Quiet on the Western Front and almost as good as Catch-22 (which I have an overpowering desire to read next, but I can't find my copy).
The big problem I have with this book is that the characters are so diverse, but they all have one thing in common: they think women are faithless whores. I can only think of one character who doesn't have "all women are bitches" as a personal motto, and there are many characters in this book. And it is surprising that a book about a bunch of men being all penisy and bellicose on an island would have so much to say about women, but it sure seems to.
I note that Norman Mailer (I have never read anything else by him) wrote a book called The Prisoner of Sex, which purports to "take on Gloria Steinem, women's liberation, and the politics of sex." I have a sneaking suspicion that this book would make me VERY ANGRY. At best, his premise is that monogomy is not a natural state. (Oh yeah, all his characters who think women are whores are all cheating on their hateful, frigid wives by fucking anything that moves. It's great.) But maybe this book would mitigate or elucidate his ideas about women. You can tell me all about it after you read it, because I don't have to. Yay!
Okay obviously this detracted from the enjoyment of the book for me. But if you like books about war that are messy and real and vivid and thoughtful and haunting, you should definitely give it a read. There is a lot of truth in this book, and a lot to think about when you're done reading it. Recommended, in spite of everything.
"We have the highest standard of living in the world and, as one would expect, the worst individual fighting soldiers of any big power. Or at least in their natural state they are. They're comparatively wealthy, they're spoiled, and as Americans they share most of them the peculiar manifestation of our democracy. They have an exaggerated idea of the rights due themselves as individuals and no idea at all of the rights due others. It's the reverse of the peasant, and I'll tell you right now it's the peasant who makes the solider." (Page 139)
The big problem I have with this book is that the characters are so diverse, but they all have one thing in common: they think women are faithless whores. I can only think of one character who doesn't have "all women are bitches" as a personal motto, and there are many characters in this book. And it is surprising that a book about a bunch of men being all penisy and bellicose on an island would have so much to say about women, but it sure seems to.
I note that Norman Mailer (I have never read anything else by him) wrote a book called The Prisoner of Sex, which purports to "take on Gloria Steinem, women's liberation, and the politics of sex." I have a sneaking suspicion that this book would make me VERY ANGRY. At best, his premise is that monogomy is not a natural state. (Oh yeah, all his characters who think women are whores are all cheating on their hateful, frigid wives by fucking anything that moves. It's great.) But maybe this book would mitigate or elucidate his ideas about women. You can tell me all about it after you read it, because I don't have to. Yay!
Okay obviously this detracted from the enjoyment of the book for me. But if you like books about war that are messy and real and vivid and thoughtful and haunting, you should definitely give it a read. There is a lot of truth in this book, and a lot to think about when you're done reading it. Recommended, in spite of everything.
"We have the highest standard of living in the world and, as one would expect, the worst individual fighting soldiers of any big power. Or at least in their natural state they are. They're comparatively wealthy, they're spoiled, and as Americans they share most of them the peculiar manifestation of our democracy. They have an exaggerated idea of the rights due themselves as individuals and no idea at all of the rights due others. It's the reverse of the peasant, and I'll tell you right now it's the peasant who makes the solider." (Page 139)
posted by mo pie at 10:04 AM
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