A Rumor of War by Phillip Caputo is a a personal memoir about the Veitnam War. This is a heartwarming and educational novel about the horrors of what men experienced. Phil starts out by saying in the prologue “This book does not pretend to be history. …. In a general sense, it is simply a story about war, about the things men do in war and the things war does to them.” And so he goes on for 346 pages to talk about his personal struggles, losses, and experiences during our nation’s longest conflict. Caputo was one of the first men to enter the war, and he was also one of the last men to leave. His novel captures so many images and events from the war that it simply blows your mind. When he left school he entered the Marine Corps and was sent directly to Vietnam to fight in the rice paddies. Some of the men he went to training with and got sent over with were among the first to die and that really rattled him. By the end of the novel you can feel the desperation and humiliation radiating out of him which is a very powerful thing.
I would use this novel to teach about the devastation that was faced by many US soldiers at home and over seas. I would use it as a read aloud.
No comments:
Post a Comment