A SPARTAN EDUCATION

by Albert D. Werder ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 15, 1978

Neither his adolescence spent in Catholic military schools nor his pre-draft job as an operating-room technician prepares Wynn Jamison for what he finds in Vietnam: the earlier discipline and blood seem piddling by comparison. Medic to his patrol, Wynn is involved in the Cambodian excursion, in decimating whole villages, in smoking mucho dope, discovering NVA tunnels underground, surviving a whorehouse ambush, and finally in a support mission in the Boloi Woods. But you've got to take Werder's word for how terrible this all was, because his word is all you get: we're told but never really shown. Amateurishly organized and stiff, Wynn's travails reach out for reader empathy but never quite connect. A weak also-ran when compared to such vivid Vietnam novels as Webb's Fields of Fire (p. 716) and, especially, Gustav Hasford's The Short-Timers (p. 1209).

Pub Date: Jan. 15, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Beekman

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1978

Categories: FICTION