GOODBYE TO SOME

by Gordon Forbes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 25, 1961

A second novel of the war (Too Near The Sun. 1955, was his first) is a report, by Patrol Plane Commander Carl Iverson, Lt. (J.g.), of U. S. Navy Air Wing, VPB 400, a Patrol Bombing Squadron flying man-killing Liberators from an island in the Sulu Sea. From the Air Wing chiefs to the men, this is the story of the postures and attitudes assumed to beat the boredom, the fear and the irritation, of the fantasy worlds that protect them from the reality of death, of childish and irresponsible ways in which to rebel against orders. On the ground and in the air there are the personality conflicts as well as the personal problems; there are the safe runs and those loaded with danger and terror; there are the bonds that make up a flying group. Iverson has his share -- when he files with Prime, when he is shot down and manages, with most of the others, to escape from a jungle in Borneo, and when, on the last leg home, a takeoff crash kills more of his unit. The minutiae of the life of squadron is the background for the many characters that are developed and the picture -- mocking, grim, despairing and sometimes tender -- is often brutality effective.

Pub Date: Sept. 25, 1961

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1961

Categories: FICTION