- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade); Reprint edition (30 May 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 061805670X
- ISBN-13: 978-0618056705
- Product Dimensions: 22.2 x 14.3 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 537,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Synopsis
Follows political scientist Sydney Parade in his exploration of 1965 Saigon as French planters, American "democratizers," and the Vietnamese become caught up in the conflict threatening to tear the country apart.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Just's book is beautifully written and organized. You know what happens to the principle characters within the initial pages, while the rest of the book is dedicated to telling us why those people we've just met are important. Sydney Parade, with the best of all intentions, inadvertently causes a horrible chain of events, making him the title character, the "dangerous friend." Comparisons must be made to Greene's "The Quiet American," another book which focuses upon the innocence of a single character to illustrate the overall naivete of a nation's efforts. We Americans love to believe that simple optimism, confidence and determination will win the day. As Parade -- and America -- learned, there are several more factors involved.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Only The Triumph and the Glory affected me as profoundly as A Dangerous Friend. I was very moved by it, it is a terrific novel, one that you would do well to read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Comparisons of Ward Just's "Dangerous Friend" with Graham Greene's "Quiet American" are inevitable, not just because of context and setting, but because of the gauzy style in which the lyrics of both stories are told. But there are important differences. Greene evokes a tropical melancholy, a vague portent of things to come. Ward Just picks up about where Greene leaves off and leads us slowly into the vortex of senseless American arrogance that came to typify our war in Vietnam. It's mostly a gentle journey with a solar plexus punch at the end. Just's insight is unerring, crystal clear, and his language is a model of simple eloquence. "A Dangerous Friend" reminds us vividly of much we would like to forget.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Terrific
What a terrific writer Ward Just is. I have read all his books, and this is one of the very best. Even though I have disagreed with him over the years about the rightness of our... Read more
Published on 26 May 1999
Possibly Just's best book.
I found A Dangerous Friend sexy and sad and incredibly moving -- you feel the ignorance and idealism of the volunteer Americans who come to Vietnam just as the war is beginning,... Read more
Published on 4 May 1999
Possibly Just's best book.
I found A Dangerous Friend sexy and sad and incredibly moving -- you feel the ignorance and idealism of the volunteer Americans who come to Vietnam just as the war is beginning,... Read more
Published on 4 May 1999
Ward Just's best, and most timely, novel
I loved this book! Ward Just's writing is, as usual, some of the best around (the first page is one of the most beautiful pieces of prose I've ever read), and his topic couldn't... Read more
Published on 2 May 1999
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