TCCDM Dig & Flip: "American Boys" - Steven Phillip Smith (1975)

American Boys
by Steven Phillip Smith
(1975)
Paperback, 435 pages

NO SPOILERS:
     Oftentimes, the worst part of going anywhere is the anticipation of the return.  American Boys follows four soldiers in Vietnam in 1966.  The writing was partially based on the author's personal experiences during the war.  Steven Phillip Smith left little doubt about the brutality and monotony of war, and just how hard it was to balance the highs with the lows.  Totally a mind-flayer keeping it all in check.  There are some brutal scenes Smith delivers that really leave a mark.   And yet, his descriptive prose somehow finds beauty in the mundane and the chaos.  

     The fighting was more from a helicopter/gunnery perspective, which I found both fascinating and horrific.  And the importance of it all was not lost on me.  As with all aspects of war, each moment can spell your last.  Lucky this; unlucky that.  Yet somehow, with the cynical monotonies of war, it just becomes what it is.

      And the soldiers' downtime/rec-time is more depressing still.  Time to worry about what's ahead or what just happened.  No actual rest.  No serious relaxing.  Smith's writing flows smoothly enough, but there is an oppressive and depressive cloud that never clears.  What the story truly lacked was some friendly camaraderie.  Something, anything, to quote Rundgren, to just give the reader a breath of redemption.  There was none.  No one is remotely likable, and maybe that's the point.  For whatever reason, the novel is a treadmill through fog for 400-plus pages.  Whaddygonna do?  American Boys wasn't a bad read.  Just a depressing one.  By the turn of the final page, I was glad to finally put this bamboo snake to bed.  Outta five...I give this three flips.

"Helecopters" - Barenaked Ladies / "Maroon" (2000)

Good stuff.

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