Rating: 
Summary: Great in print and on tape
Review: I've been listening to the book on tape after having read it several years ago. It is brilliant either way. I'll keep this review short. Dickey's use of language is phenomenal. The recurring themes of camoflage and eyes are chilling. This book does an exceptional job of capturing a man's descent into paranoid schizophrenia, all in the first person perspective. He is not a serial killing in the way that term is usually applied. The main character begins the book as a tightly wound, somewhat paranoid character, but as the plot unfolds and he has no structure or familiar reality to ground him, he begins to decompensate. The book is harsh and disturbing ... and utterly brilliant and compelling.
Rating: 
Summary: Reality and nostalgia collide
Review: If you are a fan of the more popular war writer, Tim O'Brien, I think you will particularly enjoy this book. Like a lot of O'Brien's work, Dickey's story is a mixture of flashbacks amidst a harsh war reality that is hard to cope with. Unlike, Dickey's Deliverance (another fantastic book), this book doesn't have a lot of interesting side characters--the main character is on a solo trip behind enemy lines, killing without remorse and sinking deeper and deeper into his thoughts and memories of the wilds of Alaska. Where this book does share with "Deliverance" is a great understanding of nature and how man 'reverts' back to instincts shared with other predators and prey in the animal world when placed in a survival situation. I really enjoyed this book--the language is beautiful and even if it is often hard to be sympathetic to the main character because of his violence, we can understand his state of mind.
Rating:
Summary: The audio version is a masterpiece, far better than print
Review: Narrated entirely in the first person, the reader of the audio version is superb. He IS the "hero." He delivers Dickey's poetry in a voice that is both mesmerizing and believable. You listen to this man's words and you will never, never forget him, his story or the sound of "his" voice. I listened to this book while on an exercise bike and was totally absorbed for the entire 9 hours (obviously in 1-hour segments!) It helps is you are old enought to remember World War II, but not essential.
Rating:
Summary: coming one day to a theater near you
Review: Reports are Joel & Ethan Coen are working on a film version of this book to follow their next feature "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". Supposedly save for the first 5 minutes, it will be completely sans dialogue.
Rating: 
Summary: Escape through death
Review: The basic story is that of a WWII bomber crewman shot down over Tokyo immediately prior to the great firebomb raids at the end of the war. He is alone in enemy territory. We follow our tail-gunner as he plans to escape Tokyo during the confusion of the upcoming firebomb raid the following night. We watch him as he struggles to stay alive with his only goal to keep moving north. To the ice regions like his home in Alaska, where he feels he will be safe. We are given many glimpses into the thoughts of our crewman as he tries to survive. The ending of the book we have our main charcter sort of at home with his surroundings and he seems to accept his fate at the end. I did find this a bit of a slow read. And therefore rated it 3 instead of 4 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Dark undertones to "into the white sea"
Review: There are hints in this book that the protagonist may have been a serial killer in his previous life before being shot down over Japan. For instance, he briefly mentions a "college student" that he may have killed back in Alaska. Is there the implication that the skills and attitude needed to make his way from Tokyo to Hokkaido, living off the land, were molded in his previous existence as a "hunter" in Alaska ?
Rating:
Summary: Adventure through Japan and a Man's Soul
Review: This is one of the leanest stories I've ever read about such a complex character. The central conflict is simple and immediate and it doesn't let up until the very last sentence of the book. Dickey's prose is lyrical and captures the mind's eye better than any action/adventure novel I've found. There's virtually no dialogue as Dickey focuses on action, page by page, revealing the protagonist's nature along the way. You'll read this book in a matter of days if not hours. I found To the White Sea to be better than Deliverance - the book Dickey will always be remembered for. It's both fitting and sad that Dickey's last book was his greatest.
Rating:
Summary: Adventure through Japan and a Man's Soul
Review: This is one of the leanest stories I've ever read about such a complex character. The central conflict is simple and immediate and it doesn't let up until the very last sentence of the book. Dickey's prose is lyrical and captures the mind's eye better than any action/adventure novel I've found. There's virtually no dialogue as Dickey focuses on action, page by page, revealing the protagonist's nature along the way. You'll read this book in a matter of days if not hours. I found To the White Sea to be better than Deliverance - the book Dickey will always be remembered for. It's both fitting and sad that Dickey's last book was his greatest.
Rating:
Summary: Ted Bundy's "Deliverance" Adventure.
Review: This is the story of a serial killer, who just happens to be a WWII airman shot down over Japan in the closing days of the war. Dickey excels at painting our "hero's" surroundings and does a nice job of profiling a man you don't want living in your neighborhood. A pretty good read for "Deliverance" fans....may seem bizarre to others. This was my reading material on a flight from Australia to the U.S. and it got me from Point A to Point B
Rating:
Summary: A Riveting Study in Character and Writing
Review: This novel operates on myriad levels, and there is enough here to make you think for years. Multiple readings will only raise more questions, and/or cause you to rethink the conclusions you've previously thought solid. Merely for the fact that this is a book that makes one think and ponder and consider, it is a great book. The basic story is that of a WWII bomber crewman shot down over Tokyo immediately prior to the great firebomb raids of Spring 1945. He is utterly alone on a hostile foreign island, likely listed as missing, presumed dead, with the book's opening pages promising a superior adventure as our protagonist struggles to stay alive and eventually repatriate. But, as the story matures and we gradually learn more about Muldrow, we see that repatriation has been only a fleeting inspiration. Mudrow has been freed, and he pushes north toward a place that is much more imagined than real. As he struggles north Muldrow changes from serviceman to fugitive, from survivor to predator, from endangered hero to questionable protagonist to a perplexing and difficult-to-like principal character. To my reading, Muldrow is an unpredictable, dangerous psychotic, with only the regimen and discipline of societal interaction and military service having kept him in check during brief periods of his life. When in his element, out in the wilderness relying only upon himself, he is a nation unto himself, free to make any choice which suits his needs and his whims. We see it in the flashbacks to Alaska, and we see it in his maniacal odyssey to Hokkaido and the White Sea, and to a mental and physical place which of course does not exist. In the end where does Muldrow go? This is as debatable as the nature of his character, the origins of his actions and thoughts, and his motivations. Dickey takes us from a strong, pulsing adventure narrative in the opening pages to a lyrical, poetic, almost mythical climax as Muldrow finally dies/transforms/transcends. It is a fascinating transformation for the character, for the narrative, and for the experience of the reader. I wholeheartedly recommend this riveting, expertly written book.
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