Matterhorn

Well paced, interesting and engrossing. Make sure you have a free 30 hours before pressing play as turning it off may be an issue. Also hats off to Jeff Harding for some brilliant narration.

If marching troops to the top of the hill and then marching them down again meets your idea of 'effective Generalship' you'll love this book.



Karl Marlantes's book perfectly encapsulates the idiocy of warfare at 'the sharp end' where the man on the ground does his best to carry out the wishes of those often too remote from the situation or too stupid to know better. It was also harrowing evocation of a time when territory counted for little and strategic decisions were driven by the body count, notwithstanding the cost of gaining that territory, and his depiction of the conditions under which the Marines operated says so much for their perseverance and courage. Not a pleasant book, and not one that wraps-up neatly, but then, neither was the war in Vietnam.

One other thing the book brought home was the strange attitude to one's fellow-soldiers,at least to those of us from a British or Australian Military viewpoint. The manning of combat platoons and companies by people who were complete strangers to each other, had never trained together and had nothing in common apart from their currently sharing the same grid reference point, exacerbated tensions and limited the opportunity for the bonds of 'mateship' to develop. Such friendships as did exist were usually transitory and the benefit the Brit Squaddies or Aussie Diggers get from being 'in it together and here for each other' seldom arises beyond the short-term.

Jeff Harding, as usual, was great. I almost expected Jack Reacher to make an appearance.

I didn't know much about the Vietnam war, but this was so vivid you felt like you were there with the men, and in some cases, boys. The thing that got me was the generals sitting like fat cats in their hospitality tent, dining on fine food and wine while their platoons were getting slaughtered, it was horrendous.

You really got to care about the soldiers in Bravo team and inevitably when some of them died, I was really upset, as I felt I'd got to know them, which is a sign of a pretty good book if you ask me.

Not the sort of book which I would generally go for so perhaps I am reviewing this with a bit of a jaundiced eye. It is, however, quite entertaining to any follower of this particular genre and is probably worth a listen on a rainy day

Twenty two hours long with 2 hours of action! If you want none stop action then this is not for you? Not even a conclusive end…. Beautifully read by Jeff Harding as usual and that’s why I gave it 1 star….far too long……