The trials and triumphs of a Vietnam vet, revealed in a
soft-spoken, sometimes even bloodless sequel to Mason's acclaimed
war memoir, Chickenhawk (1983). Since his return from Vietnam in
1966, Mason has led what seems a terrifically eventful life: Locked
in debt with his wife and young son, he launched a successful
mirror-manufacturing business; plunged back into poverty when his
partner forced him out, he crewed a pot-smuggling ship - only to be
caught and thrown into prison; trapped behind bars, he became a
bestselling author and wrote a successful technothriller, Weapon
(1989) - and all this backdropped by struggles with alcohol,
Valium-addiction, and infidelity. But Mason's prose here is so
without resonance that his story carries little punch - for
example, in his discussion of his substance abuse: "My body sent me
a painful message, saying that it had developed an extreme dislike
of alcohol. What a shock. Alcohol was as much a part of my biology
as my blood. The message was a headache so horrible that I couldn't
see straight....I switched to smoking pot....I began to feel better
immediately." Potentially dramatic episodes mire in minutiae: The
pot-smuggling cruise to Colombia - the book's centerpiece - bogs
down in wrestlings with seasickness and broken machinery; the
prison that Mason is sent to turns out to be a minimum-security one
where his greatest concerns seem to be what job he'll get next (he
graduates from landscaper to commissary clerk) and how his writing
will fare (he quotes reviews of Chickenhawk at length). It's only
when Mason flashes back to Vietnam or, early on, swoops through the
sky in a chopper that his tale soars above the mundane. Forthright
but fiat-footed, and far less paradigmatic than Mason's first
memoir. Enough of this author's life, already; henceforth, he
should stick to his clever, winsome thrillers. (Kirkus Reviews)
'I read this as a young pilot about to embark on a career flying
military helicopters. It should have put me off for life. Robert
Mason tells a gripping account of the relentless courage and
heroism amidst the insanity of the Vietnam war. The final few pages
are the most shocking I have read in any book.' Tim Peake ________
A stunning book about the right stuff in the wrong war. As a child,
Robert Mason dreamed of levitating. As a young man, he dreamed of
flying helicopters - and the U.S. Army gave him his chance. They
sent him to Vietnam where, between August 1965 and July 1966, he
flew more than 1,000 assault missions. In Chickenhawk, Robert Mason
gives us a devastating bird's eye-view of that war in all its
horror. He experiences the accelerating terror, the increasingly
desperate courage of a man 'acting out the role of a hero long
after he realises that the conduct of the war is insane,' says the
New York Times. 'And we can't stop ourselves from identifying with
it.' CHICKENHAWK contains the most vivid, astoundingly intense
descriptions of flying ever written. It is a devastating account of
men at war, of courage and cowardice, boredom and exhilaration,
lasting friendship and sudden death. It is not a book for weak
stomachs, but its powerful message will stay in the memory long
after the last page is turned.
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