Up Country

Rating:
Summary: Way Up Country
Review: I have read many of Nelson DeMilles novels and have enjoyed them immensley for their intrigue, characters and settings. This one was different.

I bought the paperback in Dusseldorf, Germany, to read on the flight home. Over 800 pages...bit of a tome.

I have not read "The General's Daughter", where the central character, Paul Brenner, originated. I didn't need to. Brenner's character is well defined in this book.

I understand why some people might think that the book bogs down in places. When you've been through a DeMille novel, like "Plum Island", or "Lion's Game", you develop a certain expectation for swiftly moving adventure and deft plot twists. A quick read, a great story, and possibly something to think about.

That is not the case with "Up Country". It's a long read, a great story, and a lot to think about.

I think that in this novel DeMille vetted his views on the political, cultural, economic and social impact of the war we fought in Vietnam. The detail of Brenner's trip back to Vietnam,
his insights about the places he'd been, the battles he'd fought, and the battles he's still wondering about, are richly described.

Those descriptions are the meat of this fascinating novel.

DeMille doesn't really need Susan or Colonel Mang to make this story interesting. In a way, they kind of both detract from the realism in his descriptions of Vietnam today.

I was left with food for thought, and not caring so much about the characters. But I like food for thought in a novel. DeMille delivers bigtime in that category in this one.

I was 9 in 1968, but, our war with the North Vietnamese affected me too. I still have my own questions. DeMille answers a lot of them in this book through the eyes of someone who was there.

"Up Country" is quite a ride.

Rating:
Summary: Superbly entertaining and thought-provoking...
Review: I listened to the unabridged version of this book - At 20+ hours I thought it would take a couple of weeks - Big mistake! -
Character development, geographical descriptions, historical significance, kept me listening hour after hour, and I finished in less than 3 days - Please, Mr DeMille, let's have one more Paul Brenner novel, and don't forget Susan Weber, a worthwhile accomplice in almost any situation...

Rating:
Summary: Maybe not his best, but still better than the rest
Review: Okay, this was not Charm School, or Gold Coast or Plum Island, which I rate as the author's best books. But as usual, I was in heaven reading all 700 pages of this book and was disappointed when it was over. This is, in fact, a far superior read to the General's Daughter. I enjoyed the "travelogue" nature of the book and found myself hungry for more information about the war and Vietnam in general. Colonel Mang is one of DeMille's best villains, a guy you could hate and almost root for at the same time. And I didn't care if the plot was totally believable or the ending completely satisfying. It was all about a great road trip that I found myself happy to be along. The only annoying aspect of the book was the incessant love patter between Paul Brenner and Susan Weber. Just once, I would like to see DeMille write a thriller where the female character doesn't fall in love with the central protaganist 10 seconds after they meet.