- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy The Diamond Jubilee A Classical Celebration Album for just £2.50 Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Johnny Got His Gun
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Johnny Got His Gun (Penguin Modern Classics) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Powerful ... an eye-opener' - Michael Moore 'A book that can never be forgotten by anyone who reads it' Saturday Review
Product Description
It was the war to end all wars, the global struggle that would finally make the world safe for democracy - at any cost. But one American soldier has paid a price beyond measure. And within the disfigured flesh that was once a vision of youth lives a spirit that cannot accept what the world has become.
An immediate bestseller upon its first publication in 1939, Trumbo's stark, profoundly troubling masterpiece about the horrors of the First World War brilliantly crystallized the uncompromising brutality of war and became the most influential protest novel of the Vietnam era. As timely as ever.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There are few books which I can honestly say have altered my outlook on life, whose covers I have closed a different person. "Johnny got his gun" is one of them, though I fear I lack the eloquence to persuade you to read it.
It tells the story of a World War One soldier, horrifically wounded in battle to the point where he is totally cut off from the outside world. With only his memories for company, he attempts to make sense of his situation, and make the most of his world, such as it is. After a long time (having no way to measure time at first, he can be no more precise than this), he eventually manages to communicate with the staff attending him in hospital, and then with his army commanders.
Trumbo's masterstroke is, to my mind, quite subtle: he hardly uses any punctuation at all, save for full stops. This relates very effectively the disordered stream of the soldier's thoughts, and at times, makes the prose all the more disturbing.
His protests to the outside world, first unheard and later ignored, are extremely powerful and moving, and make the book as a whole demand repeat readings.
Everyone should me made to read this book at sometime or another.
(In case you were wondering, the other life-altering books were "One flew over the cuckoo's nest", "Slaughterhouse five", "Farenheit 351" and "1984" - read them all.)
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Next time you watch a "smart-bomb" create a puff of smoke on a green screen, or, you see the clouds of dust settling on a hill in Afghanistan or Iraq you might be forgiven for thinking that war really is now "clinical", "painless" and "humane".
This book illustrates what war looks like up-close and personal, from an author black-listed for "un-American" behaviour. Every time you see a bomb exploding you never see the real casualties. These are too graphic to appear on TV and therefore we are safely insulated from seeing what we are responsible for. But the pictures themselves show only half the truth.
This book lays bare the reality of suffering and the stark reality that war, for whatever reason, is not glorious. It is not honourable. It is not heroic.
It illustrates how the with the best intentions and through being caught up in patriotic or nationalistic ferver your life can be taken and never returned. All the while, those who choose to start war never, ever have to put their lives on the line.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Previous reviews suggested that this would be a thought provoking book, but believe me they cannot prepare you for the effect this book will have. It not only provides a disturbing insight into the horrors faced by one man, but makes you question the very foundations upon which western society is based. You could struggle for a lifetime with the issues raised by this book and never find answers. Trumbo's dialogues are a moving and powerful expression of one man's hell. The book is beautifully written and the lack of punctuation only makes the text more compelling.
Do not be mislead or detered by the title, this is not a war story in the traditional sense; it is so much more. I cannot recommend this book highly enough but if you only read one book in your entire lifetime it should be this one!
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Johnny Got His Gun
I'm not sure how the majority of people who read this book heard about it but for me it was through the song 'One' by Metallica. Read more
Published 10 months ago by josh L
Gut Wrenching
one of the best books i have aver read. A true enditement of the horrors of war and the politicians who continue to send our boys to die to this day. Read more
Published 21 months ago by verbal kint
Go Get Your gun...
I stumbled across this book completely by accident whilst hunting down new things to read on Amazon.
Wow. This book is intense. Read more
Wow. This book is intense. Read more
Published on 25 May 2010 by Ms. C. Hankinson
Johnny Got His Gun
Got book on time and in an OK condition. The book is definately not for the faint hearted.
Published on 10 Feb 2010 by Prem Mehra
A sensorial whorlwind
I love this book, upheld as one of the greatest anti war novels, and so it should be. The main character's narrative slowly but surely draws you in and the gradual severity and... Read more
Published on 9 Feb 2009 by Ms. Sally Atkinson
Tedious, boring...typical lefty drivel
Anyone who comes up with the original "Give this to Bush" really does have their head up their own ass.
War only occurs because conditions WORSE THAN WAR exist. Read more
War only occurs because conditions WORSE THAN WAR exist. Read more
Published on 4 May 2008 by David Campbell
Fails to Make Its Point Convincingly
This book chronicles the intermittent dreams and growing consciousness of a young man who wakes up in an army hospital and gradually becomes conscious enough to realize that he's... Read more
Published on 30 April 2008 by Jeri Massi
Powerful, thought provoking and very sad
I read this book about ten years ago and am re reading it again now. It is one of those stories that stays with you for a long time and makes you think about the realities of war. Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2005 by Toni
Passionate Read About the Qualities of Human Life
Well what can i say? At first, once hearing the synopsis, i was quite skeptical. Most war novels, in my opinion, lack the narrative initiative to keep my attention sustained. Read more
Published on 17 April 2004 by Lousson
Address to: Mr Bush
This is the kind of book we should send to Bush before he starts war on another country.
The book contains some very powerful and gruesome images that depict the true... Read more
The book contains some very powerful and gruesome images that depict the true... Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2004
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
