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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good But Not Great, 11 Jan 2003
There can be no question that there is a surprising deficit in fiction about the Gulf War. In fact, other than James Blinn's out of print 1997 novel "The Aardvark is Ready For War", I can't think of another book of fiction set in Gulf War. However, what seems to have happened is that this utter void has resulted in rather over-enthusiastic praise for Hudson's brief collection of eight short stories. The critics who are calling it the seminal fictional treatment of the Gulf War, on a par with Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" are only right insofar as there is no competition (whereas there are literally hundreds of Vietnam War novels)!In any event, Hudson is surely to be commended for hitting on the whole range of Gulf War issues, from the dubious reasons for the war, to gays in the military, shaky media coverage, the need to "get over" Vietnam, military intelligence failures, racism, warrior myths, the new technology-laden war machine, Gulf War syndrome, and of course, the terrible psychological toll of the war on those who were in it. All of these are brought forth in stories of soldiers who are physically and psychological scarred-perhaps beyond redemption. In dark and sometimes surreal tales laden with macabre humor, Hudson emphatically drives the message home that this was not the clinical clean victory that was presented on CNN. And while I agree in general with his outlook, his style has a smug, preaching-to-the-choir aspect which will limit the book's audience and impact to the self-selecting literati he belongs to. There are two stories which really stand out from the rest. Over seven pages, "The American Green Machine" imagines a Marine recruiting effort aimed at high school seniors which involves a brain implant and "Brain-Mail". It wonderfully captures the gung-ho recruiting and military bureaucracy lingo and is a truly funny bit of satire. The other notable piece is the 50+ page story "Notes From a Bunker Along Highway #8" in which a Green Beret deserts his unit, carrying a wounded comrade. They hole up in an abandoned Iraqi bunker populated by five chimpanzees, and get into yoga. Perhaps because it is the longest and most developed of the stories, it is also the most engaging and moving. On the whole, I find the book useful and necessary, but not the masterpiece it's been proclaimed. The people who really need to read this kind of critique of the war simply aren't going to pick up a collection of absurdist short stories. So, in that sense, the book has very little power or impact. One final note: Amazon lists the book as 192 pages, it is in fact 178. And of these 178 pages, 42 are not writing, they are blank dividers, story title pages, table of contents, dedication, etc., so be forewarned that this is a slim book that you will finish in a little over two hours.
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