An engrossing depiction of the Vietnam War.
A medic recollects a year of service during the Vietnam War.
Debut author Hinson volunteered to work as an Air Force medic in Vietnam for one year starting in March 1967. On the fourth day following his arrival at the Air Evacuation Hospital in Da Nang, he was sent on a mission to retrieve wounded soldiers when the C-130 cargo plane transporting him was forced down. His group—led by Green Berets—stumbled upon a Viet Cong patrol, and the author was forced to shoot and kill an enemy soldier with a shotgun. That shotgun became his constant companion during his year of service, which routinely included similarly perilous missions. He developed a reputation for grace under pressure—and a willingness to accept dangerous assignments. Hinson often went on assignments with Air America, a CIA–supported but civilian-run airline used for classified transportations. He once learned, at the conclusion of a trip, that his plane was ferrying 500 pounds of opium paste. Another CIA flight carried a bedroom set for a general from the Philippines. The author recounts his brushes with death with both humor and gravity by turns; once a piece of shrapnel was prevented from piercing his chest by a collection of Hemingway stories. Another time, Hinson dove into shark-infested waters to rescue a lieutenant; he only learned there were sharks after he was roundly congratulated for his bravery. Hinson’s memoir comprises a series of generally brief recollections, presented more impressionistically than chronologically, each a trove of action and insight. Accompanying the author’s quick wit is a gimlet-eyed appraisal of war in general: “War is a terrifying and violent environment. Human beings do brutal things to other human beings without remorse and without pity. All wars are alike, whether people are hit with rocks or vaporized with nuclear weapons.” Hinson’s remembrances are deeply absorbing and supply an ideologically unencumbered meditation on human nature.
An engrossing depiction of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5255-0424-2
Page Count: 294
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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