Matterhorn

Title: Matterhorn
Author: Karl Marlantes
Genre: Modern Fiction (Vietnam War)
Pages: 640
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***
Reviewed by: Ben
Description: Lieutenant Mellas arrives in Vietnam and joins Bravo Company deep in the bush.  The book follows Mellas and Bravo Company over the next three months as they struggle to capture Matterhorn (a low-lying hill), while coming to grips with the meaning of the war and life and race and growing up.
Thoughts: This was an incredibly captivating, well-written book that really opened my eyes to what the Vietnam war was like for at least some of the Marines.  It's really hard to comprehend what it must have been like for these 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds to suddenly be making decisions on which the lives of many men depended, and to be faced with dealing with the mental burden of living with those decisions for the rest of their lives (if they lived).  This book does a great job of trying to convey that, though.  However, I can't whole-heartedly recommend this book due to lots and lots and lots of bad language (F-bombs), heavy violence (as you might expect), and many inappropriate sexual references as well.  In the end, I kind of feel like reading this book is like watching Saving Private Ryan (which I haven't seen): in order for it to be realistic, there is a lot of filth and violence.  So, that's why it gets three stars from me.  I'm glad that I've read the book, but I'm not going to recommend it to my boys when they're older.
Disclaimer: Lots of language, violence, and inappropriate references.  HEAVY disclaimer on this one.