No other war (or police action to be precise) has been more dramatised in fiction in modern times than the Vietnam conflict. We’ve all seen the movies and heard the stories of this war that, like so many before and since, have appeared such deadly exercises in futility. Despite this being a well mined field (pardon the pun), Matterhorn takes it to a higher level. Written by a decorated Vietnam veteran over 35 years, we follow a young Lieutenant, who, unlike the other grunts he charges over, is well educated and not obligated to be there.
This novel has an incredibly sincere quality and is consistently powerful. There is no doubt that Marlantes really knows what he’s writing about and the peripheral issues such as race relations and politics within the marine corp are tackled head on. This is war literature of the highest order and the raw emotion captured is, at times, quite simply breathtaking. Its no boys own adventure but equally it is not portrayed without humour; there is much of the gallow variety here.
The writing is superb, telling it like it is; and without pretention. This novel has reached a wide audience, including no doubt those whose previous knowledge of Vietnam was limited to Oliver Stone movies and China Beach. It’s clearly a project of passion and deserving of all the accolades it has received.
