Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War
By Karl Marlantes
Read by Bronson Pinchot
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ISBN: 9781441742308
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An incredible publishing story—written over the course of thirty years by a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, a New York Times bestseller for sixteen weeks, a National Indie Next, and a USA Today bestseller—Matterhorn has been hailed as a "brilliant account of war" (New York Times Book Review). Matterhorn is an epic war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and James Jones' The Thin Red Line. It is the timeless story of a young marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: racial tension, competing ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company finds itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the marines are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them forever. Matterhorn is a visceral and spellbinding novel about what it is like to be a young man at war. It is an unforgettable story that transforms the tragedy of Vietnam into a powerful and universal story of courage, camaraderie, and sacrifice—a parable not only of the war in Vietnam but of all war, and a testament to the redemptive power of literature. A bonus PDF is included, with maps, a Chain of Command hierarchy, a glossary, and other interesting facts and information.
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Summary
Summary
Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award
Winner of the 2011 Colby Award
Winner of the 2010 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize
Winner of the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction
Winner of the 2011 Indies Choice Book Award
A New York Times bestseller
A 2010 AudioFile Best Book of the Year
A Time Magazine Top 10 Book of the Year
One of the New Yorker's Best Books of the Year
One of the New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books
A USA Today Best Book of 2010
A Washington Post Best Book of the Year
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2010
An Amazon Best Books of the Year Pick
A 2011 RUSA Notable Book for Fiction
An incredible publishing story—written over the course of thirty years by a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, a New York Times bestseller for sixteen weeks, a National Indie Next, and a USA Today bestseller—Matterhorn has been hailed as a "brilliant account of war" (New York Times Book Review).
Matterhorn is an epic war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and James Jones' The Thin Red Line. It is the timeless story of a young marine
lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not
merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: racial
tension, competing ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company finds itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the marines are thrust into the raw and
all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them forever.
Matterhorn is a visceral and spellbinding novel about what it is like to be a young man at war. It is an unforgettable story that transforms the tragedy of Vietnam into a powerful and
universal story of courage, camaraderie, and sacrifice—a parable not only of the war in Vietnam but of all war, and a testament to the redemptive power of literature.
A bonus PDF is included, with maps, a Chain of Command hierarchy, a glossary, and other interesting facts and information.
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
Reviews
Reviews
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This is the Viet Nam I knew and the soldiers
- I like this book. True to story and being a veteran during the 1968 Tet Offensive this was a test of any man newbie or old salt. I laugh< I was serious, I was remembering and most of all I remember the KIA's who never knew it was coming. Good Book, very good book.
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gritty, thrilling trip to a combat zone
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This novel was riveting and heartstopping. The scenes depicted in the jungle of vietnam, fighting boredom, jungle rot and bullets were so realistic, it was almost painful to read at times. Excellent writing that captured brilliantly the themes of racism, war, violence, youth and the numbness of military hierarchy.
Marlantes clearly knows his stuff and is a masterful storyteller. His characters are alive, real, and flawed. You can see why it was so highly reviewed critically. This story belongs in the pantheon of Black Hawk Down and Johnny got his gun
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If it was a physical book, i wouldn't be able to put it down..
- Not allot to say about this besides buy it, enjoy it and learn from it...a wonderful book illustrating men, and the stupidity of war and loss of the human spirit. highly recommended to young and old alike.
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Matterhorn – great novel, even better audiobook
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Given the amount of fiction that has been written about the Viet Nam conflict one would not expect that a Nam novel published in 2010 would be breaking any new ground. From journalistic masterpieces such as Michael Herr’s Dispatches (from which sprung much of the screenplay for Full Metal Jacket) to Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the War, it’s causes, it’s escalation, and the mark it left—on the baby boom generation, on American warmaking policy, and in Southeast Asia—seems a thoroughly exhausted subject.
In Matterhorn Karl Marlantes, who, as a young Marine Corps lieutenant, led men through the monsoon jungles of the Viet Nam highlands, offers a tale of war that while similar to previous works, is ambitious in its scope and compelling in its narrative. The lead character is clearly based on the author, and the novel has a semiautobiographical feel, combined with an omniscient aspect. Jungle ambushes (some involving tigers), incompetent senior officers, tension along racial lines, underfed marines dealing with jungle-rot and malaria along with the NVA, and characters suffering horrible fates just a few pages after you begin to grow to love them, are staples of most Nam novels. But Marlantes offers some new perspectives—particularly on the motivations of the marine grunts, many of who are barely old enough to vote. Marlantes does some finger pointing. As a veteran he was clearly disgusted by the portrayal of marines “baby killers”; and he is unsympathetic to men who attempted to get out of the bush by faking illness or psychological disorder. But Marlantes’ reserves the better part of his scorn for power hungry, often drunk, senior officers who took no thought of the young boys suffering and dying in the jungles so that they might add more brass to their shoulders.
The audio presentation of Matterhorn, narrated by Bronson Pinchot, is nothing short of amazing. Pinchot pulls no punches. With a cast of about twenty characters he commits to giving unique voices and personality to all of them—and succeeds. Pinchot’s emotional investment in the book is evident in the strained, almost hoarse, nature that his voice takes on. In many settings this would not be as appropriate, but when narrating dialog between two young men who have been crawling and hacking their way through the jungle without food or rest this gruff, overworked tone is fitting. Overall, this is one of the finest narrations I have ever heard. The vocal talents are impressive enough; when combined with the emotional content, which to be true owes itself by-in-large to Marlantes’ skill as a character writer, results in a heartrenching experience.
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Perfect!
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What an amazing book! Written and preformed without flaw. Ever since I can remember I have always been intrigued by Vietnam. My father, who was a Medic in the Army, would always take the time to answer my question, share his collection of slides (hundreds). He would nit-pick the movies we would watch together, "that is wrong, they wouldn't do that," so no being there myself, I always felt I had a solid foundation of what he went through.
Karl Marlantes painted such a vivid environment, it pulled me into the jungle, the mud, the frustrations; it made me feel as if I was there. Bronson Pinchot blew me away with the passion he brought throughout the book. This is the finest example how a book should be preformed!
Matterhorn brought me to a new level of understanding and appreciation for our Armed Forces.
Author
Author Bio: Karl Marlantes
Karl Marlantes, a cum-laude graduate of Yale University and Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, was a marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten air medals. His novel Matterhorn and his nonfiction book What It Is Like to Go to War, both based on his combat experience, are also both New York Times bestsellers.
Titles by Author
Details
Details
| Available Formats : | Digital Download, CD, MP3 CD |
| Category: | Fiction |
| Runtime: | 21.19 |
| Audience: | Adult |
| Language: | English |
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