Matterhorn

Reviews

“Marlantes’ epic debut is a dense, vivid narrative…A decorated Vietnam veteran, the author clearly understands his playing field, and by examining both the internal and external struggles of the battalion, he brings a long, torturous war back to life with realistic characters and authentic, thrilling combat sequences…a grand accomplishment.”

“Narrator Bronson Pinchot should get a medal for his extraordinary portrayal of Lieutenant Waino Mellas…Pinchot breathes life into each member of Mellas’ Bravo Company…A surprise attack by a wily jungle cat heightens the eeriness of the tension-filled environment, a quality that is perfectly matched by Pinchot’s performance. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”

“A raw, brilliant account of war that may well serve as a final exorcism for one of the most painful passages in American history.”

“There’s a reason this big Vietnam War novel made such an impression on the public consciousness. It is a deep and devastating achievement.”

“There has never been a more realistic portrait or eloquent tribute to the nobility of men under fire and never a more damning portrait of a war that ground them cruelly underfoot for no good reason.”

“Carefully constructed and beautifully realized…Filled with truth, wisdom, love, and a rich vein of dark gallows humor.”

“A brutally vivid debut novel…The visceral Matterhorn is as much a tribute to the marine culture of bravery as it is a dissection of a contentious war and a meditation on the American civil rights movement…Marlantes’ writing is evocative. We feel the marines’ exhaustion as they dig gun pits, carry dead and wounded comrades, and nearly die from hunger…[Marlantes] pitches us into a harrowing narrative we won’t soon forget.”

“Marlantes doesn’t introduce you to Vietnam in his brilliant war epic—he unceremoniously drops you into the jungle, disoriented and dripping with leeches, with only the newbie lieutenant as your guide…Readers gain a new perspective on the ravages of war, the politics and bureaucracy of the military, and the peculiar beauty of brotherhood.”

“One of the most powerful and moving novels about combat, the Vietnam War, and war in general, that I have ever read.”

“Marlantes writes with a spare clarity, but he’s unafraid to plumb the emotions of the young men in Bravo Company…More than any living American novelist I’ve read, Marlantes made me feel what I already must have known: that war is worse than hell. There it is.”

“Even as the Vietnam War recedes into the past, the despair, confusion, and mythology it generated retains a grip on our culture. Debut novelist Marlantes offers a realistic, in-the-trenches look at that war…The battle scenes, at which the author excels, are frequent, brutal, and viscerally energetic, and the skillfully rendered dialog reveals a bunch of strangers attempting to communicate in life-defeating circumstances. In the end, there are no real victors…this is a major work that will be a valuable addition to any permanent collection.”

“The Vietnam novel has come of age, and this is a worthy addition to the genre…The environment is painted in vivid, intense hues: the fog malevolent, the bugs and leeches constant torturers, and jungle rot universal. The enemy is always near and often unseen until firefights explode with shocking savagery…the characters are, if traditional, certainly believable. This tough, unsentimental saga is filled with frightened men; most endure and achieve a certain nobility in spite of themselves. An engrossing chronicle of men at war.”

“What makes this novel so irresistible is Marlantes’ skill at peeling away the many layers of truth in combat…Marlantes’ depiction of men under stress—no matter what race or background—is searing and complex. Matterhorn will not only take its place on the top shelf of war fiction, it’s going to knock a few books off. It’s that good.”

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