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Has anyone read the book Jarhead?

S

Strk

Lifer
Well, they made a movie of it, but I was thinking of grabbing the book. I was wondering if it is good or not really worth the read.
 
Originally posted by: Strk
Originally posted by: Amused
So an absurd sniveling book is going to become an absurd sniveling movie staring the same absurd sniveling actor that made this pile of crap?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388795/
Click to expand...

Did you ever read the book or are you just going by the actor?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't comment on the book if I wasn't familiar with it.

And let me tell, you, his book is an insult to every Marine I have ever known. You'll find most military people and vets find this book absurd and full of sniveling nonsense. I know I do.

Instead of wasting time writing one myself, I'll let this review speak for me, because it sums up my thoughts perfectly:

I find it insane, incomprehensible, and sad that anyone in their right mind would try and compare Swofford's overwrought writing and paper thin observations about life in the Marine Corps with past war classics written by Eugene Sledge, William Manchester, Jim Webb, etc . . . The true classics have survived on their own merit. Swofford's immature antics reflect pop culture at its worst, and nothing more.

Swofford is the anti-Marine. Everyone who has served in the Corps for any length of time knows who they are: the barracks sea lawyer, the Marine who disagrees with everything the chain of command does, the Marine who bad mouths everything to do with the Corps because he thinks he's smarter than everyone around him, etc. Those of us who have served can point these Marines out immediately. Swofford fits this mold: The platoon pariah who needs to knock off the churlish attitude, and start helping get the mission accomplished, rather than smugly sit back and take pot shots at Marines trying to do their duty.

"Jarhead" is not a "modern classic." It's a joke, and an insult to Marines who are putting their lives on the line in Iraq and Afghanistan on a daily basis.

My recommendation: go to your local bookstore, buy a latte, pick up "Jarhead" and hang out in an overstuffed chair thumbing thru the pages. If you like it, by all means buy it, but all you're going to get is boorish writing by a bitter, attention seeking, self-indulgent former Marine. If you don't like it, bury it in the self help or fiction sections where it belongs. Swofford couldn't cut it in the Corps, so now he's fooling everyone with "Jarhead." The joke is on you, if you choose to buy this mindless drivel.
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: Strk
Originally posted by: Amused
So an absurd sniveling book is going to become an absurd sniveling movie staring the same absurd sniveling actor that made this pile of crap?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388795/
Click to expand...

Did you ever read the book or are you just going by the actor?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't comment on the book if I wasn't familiar with it.
Click to expand...

I had to check, as it is the internet; the place where everyone must express their opinion, no matter how uninformed they are. 😉
 
I read the book and thought it was a little stupid at times. More went into whining and b!tching than actually talking about the marines. Movie should be interesting.
 
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