Class of 1957 Book Review Site. ©2007. To add a Book Review, or to comment on a book already in this listing, send your material or review to Sam Coulbourn at Persnav@shore.net. Photo at top of each page shows VADM C. Turner Joy (1895-1956).  Joy was Commander Naval Forces Far East for most of the Korean War, presided over Armistice Talks with the North Koreans, and then came to Annapolis to serve as Superintendent. He was our Supe during our plebe year.  Revised 3 August 2008.  

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FICTION

Final Bearing (Tom Doherty Associates Book)

 

By CDR George Wallace, USN (Ret.) and Don Keith, 2003, Forge Books, 510 pp., hardcover (also in Mass Market Paperback)

 

             This book,  by George Wallace with acclaimed novelist, Don Keith, starts off gangbusters and never lets up. Anti-drug campaign, submarines, SEAL Teams, Colombia, DEA, covert operations, jungles, police, politics, and what else can I say?

             When finished with the 510 pages, the feeling is, "why does it have to end?"

             Some of you may have served with George. He retired after 22 years as a nuclear submariner and commanded the USS Houston SSN 713 from 2/90-8/92. He had a distinguished career, and I sure enjoyed his book. Subsequently, I loaned it to a friend who read it cover to cover without stopping. It is pure fiction, but believable, unlike many futuristic sub books that I've read which are not. 

             The last email address that I have for George is georgew@rmi.net for anyone who might want to contact him, though it might have changed.

 

Review by Jim Paulk, April, 2007.

FICTION

Innocent Man, The

 

By John Grisham, 2006.

             John Grisham’s novels have become popular by the twists in the plot sometimes suggested by the title. His first novel, “A Time to Kill”, was not broadly published until after he had made his name with his blockbuster hit “The Firm”. Both books wound up bringing home the title in an unexpected way.
             His writing style strikes me as easily readable, and I can say, as a lawyer, that his attention to detail, and, in particular, his attention to the legal process, would be worth the read, even if you weren’t drawn into the whodunit nature of the plot.
             “The Innocent Man” is his most recent work, and it continues his expertise in involving the reader from somewhere near the git-go until the end. The legal processes, the police procedures, and the construction of evidence found herein might make those far removed from the criminal justice process skeptical. But take my word for it, the process he unfolds has the ring of truth to it; the 'it', as the cover says is "Murder and Injustice in a Small Town".

 

 

 

FICTION

Kite Runner, The

 

By Khaled Hosseini,  2003.

 

Hosseini traces several recent turbulent decades in Afghanistan’s long history by following the interaction between Amir, the son of a wealthy businessman, a Sunni Muslim, and Hassan, the son of the businessman’s servant a Sh’ia Muslim. The story begins under the relatively peaceful days of the monarchy, moves into the civil war, the Russian occupation of about a decade, and the rise of the rule of the Taliban after the Russians leave. Amir’s family leaves for America during the time of the Russian occupation, but Amir comes back in an unsuccessful attempt to bring Hassan out during the Taliban regime. The book provides an account of family and friendship, and of betrayal and salvation. It is a portrait of decades of violence and struggle at the national and personal level.

 

Reviewed by Paul Roush.

 

 

 

FICTION

Life and Fate

 

By Vasily Grossman,  1986.

 

This work has been hailed both as “the great Russian novel of the 20^th century” and as “the greatest book never known.”  Publishers Weekly described it thusly.
”Obviously modeled on War and Peace, this sweeping account of the siege of Stalingrad aims to give as panoramic a view of Soviet society during World War II as Tolstoy did of Russian life in the epoch of the Napoleonic Wars. Completed in 1960 and then confiscated by the KGB, it remained unpublished at the author's death in 1964; it was smuggled into the West in 1980. Grossman offers a bitter, compelling vision of a totalitarian regime where the spirit of freedom that arose among those under fire was feared by the state at least as much as were the Nazis. His huge cast of characters includes an old Bolshevik now under arrest, a physicist pressured to make his scientific discoveries conform to "socialist reality" and a Jewish doctor en route to the gas chambers in occupied Russia. Ironically, just as Stalingrad is liberated from the Germans, many of the characters find themselves bound in new slavery to the Soviet government. Yet Grossman suggests that the spirit of freedom can never be completely crushed. His lengthy, absorbing novel which rejected the compromises of a lifetime and earned its author denunciation and disgrace testifies eloquently to that spirit.”

 

                         

FICTION

Ordinary Heroes

 

By Scott Turow, 2005.

 

This somewhat irregular World War II novel touches a lot of familiar places like OSS activities and the Battle of the Bulge but does so in an offbeat manner that has put off some reviewers. Told as flashbacks by Stewart Dubinsky attempting to find what his father, Stephen  Dubin, had actually done in the War, the book gets into the position 

of military lawyers and of Jews in the American Army as well as some other minorities. Some of the incidents may seem a bit far-fetched but the book pounds home a theme of the excessively realistic smells, sounds and suffering of war. As such, it is something of an antidote to some of the prettified Stephen Ambrose stuff and should be required reading for every Defense Department official who has never 

seen combat. It is an interesting departure from the usual courtroom stuff of this author and an engrossingly good read.

 

 

FICTION

Restless                                        

 

By William Boyd, 2006, (324 pp. —Due in paperback March, 2007)

 

             This veteran English novelist has spun a subtle spy thriller told in part by a young Oxford graduate teaching English to foreigners in a warm English summer of 1976 who finds that her quiet widowed mother may have been someone else. In fact, she may have been Russian, and also a spy.

             The story cycles between the daughter exploring what her mother may have been and the mother’s flashbacks to 1939. After her brother is killed under mysterious circumstances, she is recruited by British intelligence.  Sent to an interesting training course at a great house somewhere in the English countryside, she is then posted, first to Belgium and then to New York. There, she is involved in an almost forgotten effort by British intelligence to encourage the U.S. to enter the war. This effort comes to an end with Pearl Harbor but not until after she is forced to go into the cold.

             Her struggles to adapt and survive in a series of demanding situations make for fascinating drama. The daughter, a single mother of a young boy, contends with raising him in a student environment while helping her mother deal with imagined threats to her life. Or are they imaginary?  Coming out soon in paperback, this is a sophisticated tale well above the average spy story. Makes a good weekend read and would make a wonderful movie with either Kate Winslet or Cate Blanchett

 

Review by Tony Crowell, February, 2007
                                 

 

FICTION

Shantaram

 

By Gregory D. Roberts, 2003.    

             This is a tremendous  "page turning blockbuster" of a novel, portraying an "India few outsiders know."  Pat Conroy says  "a novel of the order of a work that does for Bombay what Melville did for the South Seas, and what Thoreau did for Walden Pond. Roberts makes it an eternal player in the literature of the world.”

 

 

FICTION

Everyman

 

By Philip Roth, 2006.

 

             A bittersweet short novel of a 71-year old man reviewing his life in our contemporary America. Sort of an updated condensation of his American Pastoral. 

 

 

FICTION

Terrorist

 

By John Updike, 2006.

 

             Another very contemporary novel which might give some insights into how people of different backgrounds actually think and reason. Vivid characterizations from this modern master. 

 

 

FICTION

To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War

 

By Jeff Shaara, 2004.

 

             It is a novel on WWI with  fictionalized characters being exposed to some of the actual events which occurred in the Great War. There are realistic explanations of air warfare duels with the German Red Baron. It provides insight not only from the allied side but from the German side as well. The 500 + page book also provides the reader with some of the issues and the ordeal facing the common doughboy in trench warfare and the frontal assault concept. It is an easy to read book which I highly recommend. As an aside Jeff Shaara has just released his latest book, The Rising Tide which is his first of a trilogy on WWII. I have purchased the book but have not yet started it. I will let you know what I think on a subsequent report

 

 

FICTION

Haj

 

By  Leon,Uris, 1984.

 

             Historical novel written from Moslem perspective covering the origins and perpetuation of Arab-Jew antagonism.  Main character is chieftain of an Arab village. Tale relates his and his people’s trials and tribulations preceding and subsequent to the formation of Israel and the inter-Arab influences which militated against an early resolution of Arab-Jewish animosities.  While essentially a period peace(1920's-1956), the author provides an historical basis for the current cultural and religious mindset of the Arabs and their preference to adopt and practice self-destructive measures rather than bring themselves to enter into co-operative ventures with the Jewish state.  The story is held together by the introduction of real people and historical events.

 

 

FICTION

Mission Compromised

 

By Oliver North,  2002

 

             Set during the Clinton administration.  A former KGB general holding a high UN position chooses between losing a profitable but clandestine deal involving the sale of nuclear weapons to Saddam Hussein and executing a successful, UN sanctioned multi-national, military special ops assassination plot against the Iraqi leader, OBL, and other terrorist chieftains. He opts to compromise the mission.  He is joined in his objective by the President’s National Security Advisor.  Working in concert, they intimidate or otherwise bully members of the NSC and UN staffs to unwittingly cooperate in sabotaging operations. Their duplicity is facilitated by the indiscriminate, surreptitious sale of US developed high tech encryption equipment to foreign organizations without the knowledge of US control agencies.  These devices allow the precise location of the special ops groups to be disclosed to the intended targets.   There is an eerie sense that this sub-plot is reminiscent of the sale of high tech guidance system technology to the Chinese.  The hero is, not surprisingly, a Marine officer. 

 

 

FICTION

Joe Cynik: Don't get me started

 

By Petro, Bill (Class of ’57), 2006.

 

                 Joe Cynikowski is a fifty-five-year old cynical, Republican conservative who is an investigator for the U.S. Navy. He meets thirty-year-old Frank Goodman, a liberal Jewish post graduate student in a Tempe, Arizona bar. Frank is trying to write a thesis for his doctorate degree in philosophy and has chosen “Cynicism” as his topic. Frank and Joe begin bantering about the current social climate in America and they discuss the views of conservatives, liberals, and the effects of media slants. Frank convinces a reluctant Joe to ride along with him on his business trip to continue the discussion. During the trip, they rescue a battered woman from her violent husband and with the help of the Border Patrol, they save a young Mexican illegal immigrant whose parents have been kidnapped by Mexican coyote slavers.

             The story contains severe criticisms by Joe about the ethical and moral decay in America, and discusses bigotry, racism, and religion. Joe explains the reasons for his cynicism and Frank counters with a liberal, more positive view. They team up together to do a few good deeds by helping those in distress and hope that their actions will make things better in some small way. During the course of their shared experiences, each of them considers the other’s views and moves toward a more acceptable explanation for cynicism and the polarization of our political structure.

             It is a story with a powerful message. The message is that individuals at opposite ends of our social structure can gain mutual respect for one-another and live together in harmony while our current institutional breakdowns tend to polarize us and tear us apart. Certain passages might offend some readers, even though they contain moral discussions and conclusions.

 

 

FICTION

Suite Française

 

Irène Némirovsky, 2006

 

The author was a Ukrainian-born Jewish woman living in France, having fled her native country at the time of the Russian revolution. She intended to write a five-part novel describing life after the Germans overran and then occupied France during World War II. Two of the parts were finished when someone reported her to the Nazi authorities. She was deported to Auschwitz and died a month later. Her daughters hid the manuscript containing the finished parts of the novel, and it has now been published more than sixty years later. The first part of the book describes the flight of the civil population in a desperate attempt to escape the onslaught of the German armies. The breakdown of the entire system that sustains life in a civilized society is very thorough, with vignettes of remarkable courage and acts of incredible kindness intermingled with acts of violence, deception and barbarity in the struggle to survive in the midst of massive dehumanization. The second part of the novel describes life in the midst of occupation. Families whose sons, husbands and fathers were killed or taken as prisoners of war are forced to co-exist and in many cases share living quarters with their German conquerors. A thought-provoking work that makes the reader yearn to know what might have constituted the next three parts, had the author been able to conclude her work.

 

Reviewed by Paul Roush, March 2007.

 

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