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A review by storyorc
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I wish all books that make you a more thoughtful member of society had been serialised initially. The short chapters really keep this one clipping along. The battle scenes had me sweating, cheering, and sometimes wanting to puke.
It starts off with grievous training and first blood where every death is a gut punch, every war crime a sick feeling in your stomach, then tosses in time dilation - how every battle is going to wrench Mandella further into the future, away from what he's fighting for - and you realise you are going to experience whole new dimensions of loss. The times he tries to fit back into a culture that has moved on are a chilling glimpse at how alien we must seem to returning combat vets. I could never understand before what would possess someone to do a second tour.
If I had any lingering romantic delusions about soldier life after Slaughterhouse 5, this held their heads under until the bubbles stopped. Where Slaughterhouse was a more intellectual critique, this one just plain shows the inescapable daily terror, boredom, and general suck of being recruited.
Can't give full stars due to the homophobia and subtle misogyny. Wild to say that for a book that contains more women and gays than any other type of character but see content warning for light-spoilers details.
It starts off with grievous training and first blood where every death is a gut punch, every war crime a sick feeling in your stomach, then tosses in time dilation - how every battle is going to wrench Mandella further into the future, away from what he's fighting for - and you realise you are going to experience whole new dimensions of loss. The times he tries to fit back into a culture that has moved on are a chilling glimpse at how alien we must seem to returning combat vets. I could never understand before what would possess someone to do a second tour.
If I had any lingering romantic delusions about soldier life after Slaughterhouse 5, this held their heads under until the bubbles stopped. Where Slaughterhouse was a more intellectual critique, this one just plain shows the inescapable daily terror, boredom, and general suck of being recruited.
Can't give full stars due to the homophobia and subtle misogyny. Wild to say that for a book that contains more women and gays than any other type of character but see content warning for light-spoilers details.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Misogyny and Sexual harassment
The homophobia is whack because you can easily read the rise of homosexuality as shorthand for the world's decline, which - don't threaten me with a good time. Especially because there is an element of the end that implies hetero = turning back to the Good Path. However, you could also read it more sympathetically as the shock of a Vietnam vet coming home to find that Pride is a thing. The hero does make an effort to accept it and his romantic interest chides him when he is resistant. He is never hateful or rude. In one situation, he is even the only straight guy in the room and looked at as a deviant for it. If only this in-their-shoes experience had made him reflect on his prejudices. ------ Some people use tha/ther/thim pronouns in the future. It is not remarked upon negatively, just curiously. However, the hero does 'flip a coin mentally' to decide between using he and she when they come into contact with someone androgynous instead of using those. ------ A veteran who has had to have a mechanical lower half after an explosion claims it has made him 'not hetero...a cyborg' and is referred to an asexual cyborg which, badass, but yeah. ------ The main form of misogyny is that army women are legally required to sleep with the dudes. This feels like it is meant to shock readers and count against the military, and it does, buuuut it feels like Haldeman wants to have his cake and eat it too. The women are at worst a little tired by this requirement, none ever speak against it, and certainly none rebuke our hero. He doesn't seem to dwell on it like he does the homosexuality either. That said, the book is teeming with women soldiers. At times it feels like he's joined a hyper-competent women's sporting team. Not sure if this was just so he could fuck them all or if that was incidental. They get personalities and proficiencies outside wanting to fuck him too, and some even outrank him, though I don't recall any at the very top echelons. I only wish he hadn't picked the least interesting one for his romantic interest.