book review

MATTERHORN by Karl Marlantes
This memoir/ novel , set during the later phase of the Vietnam war, tells the story of a recent graduate from an ivy league university who is sent to Asia, assigned to the 3rd Marine Division's 1st Battalion/ 4th Marine Regiment. The year is 1969, and the months are January and February. The narrator/ 2nd Lt. is given his first assignment as platoon leader in Bravo Company.
The story captures a brief time frame:from arrival to aftermath of the battle in which Bravo Company is decimated by a confrontation with North Vietnamese Army regulars on a hilltop set in the farthest north corner of then South Vietnam. The hilltop, called Matterhorn, is the site of an outpost or landing zone, that according to higher ups, provides a perch that oversees the route(s) to be used by the North Vietnamese as they mount an attack east, toward the coast with its densely populated cities, harbors, and supply centers used by American forces and South Viet forces alike. For anyone familiar with the course of the war, this is deja vu all over again. One could turn the clock back to 1967, and find the same tactics and strategy. Or, one could glance back to 1968, find similarities during the famously reported Tet Offensive of February,1968.
The author is not breaking new ground in terms of the warfighting timeline: it's the same war, over and over again. But 1969 brings new elements into the field with the Marines. A new attitude among the troops is detailed in repeated conversations with the enlisted men by the lieutenant. He is aware, like his peer group, that hostility to the war is at fever pitch back in the States; and the racial divide that has followed years of civil rights struggles has been accentuated by repeated violent confrontations.
Marlantes gives the characters the racial voice in the members of his platoon who are African American. They are now Brothers first and Marines second. The many scenes with Blacks discussing racial politics, at a grassroots level, add a flavor that borders on disbelief. Can these young men be more concerned with politics when their very lives are in jeopardy every waking minute? The Lt. character, Malles, seems to think that he can work with these platoon members and still do his job. There are several other characters: some NCO's, some superior officers, and some other lieutenants that enter into the story to some extent to fill out the texture of the narrative.
Marlantes included a scene that has a patrol member killed by a tiger. There was one recorded incident, verified, during 10 years of war: a Marine on recon patrol was attacked and killed by a large animal, believed to be a tiger. It sounds dramatic in any retelling. He also includes the various scenes with colonels and majors who make the decisions, sending the Marines hither and yon to find and destroy the NVA.
The back story about the book is that it was written 30 years ago or more, and was edited down from 1600 pages. It then followed a torturous path, following the author on his own life path. A small press took a chance and published it and then it was picked up by the larger house for general distribution. This is not uncommon in today's book selling strategies.

to be continued