Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointing Marine
Review: After reading the favorable reviews in the press, I looked forward to "Jarhead." However, as a retired Marine separated by more than a generation from the author, the book left me cool and not able to recommend it. On one hand, Swofford has created a well crafted, vivid remembrance of his experiences in a first person, Jack Kerouac style narrative.
On the other hand, I had great difficulty with the character of the author and his portrayal of the Marine Corps. He thinks nothing of stealing and reselling Corps and fellow Marines' property, drinks beyond excess, has no respect for rank, and on and on.
You can pass this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Candid Recollections
Review: It's simply a recounting of one person's experiences -- through the tricky prism of memory. The author came to the Corps with plenty of baggage and left with some more. Yes, it's profane. Yes, there are a lot of acronyms -- although no more than I've encountered in my non-military professional life. No, the author wasn't the best of the best of the best. It's neither an endictment of the Corps nor a recruiting tool. It's a good read that doesn't require a military background to be appreciated for its emotional candor.
Rating: 
Summary: This is how it really was
Review: I was in 1/3 at the same time (task force taro) and can tell you that Swofford's book is spot on. Reading some of the other reviews here, it seems that a few people are taken aback by the attitudes and actions of the marines potrayed in Swofford's account, but I can tell you that after spending 6 years in [place] it is all true, with no exagerations on the authors part. Thank you, Cpl Swofford, for giving the Marines of that generation a "Rumor of war" of their own. Buy this book if you want to understand the mind of todays Marine.
Rating: 
Summary: another pathetically sad little ex marine dumps on war
Review: undereducated autodidact ex marine dumps on war and corps, what else is new? save your money. jacket blurbs and newspaper reviews highly misleading.this is more like a very vulgar long magazine article than a real book. nobody, but nobody is in the least bit admirable. the drill sergeants are insane killers, the baby blue marines are vulgar, uneducated jerks, there is a vast conspiracy in the government to control oil (not exactly a shiny new theory), and war is bad. what an amazing discovery.
while the other boys play drunken louts, our hero, or anti hero, reads Homer, the ancient philosophers and poets, and contemplates (allegedly) suicide or murder. seems more like adolescent fantasy than reality. former lance corporal swoffie does not say he killed anyone, wounded anyone, or saw anything new. read james jones (another ... savant but at least with realistically crafted characters and situations), robert graves (yes, a limey from Oxford in WWI, disillusioned but elevated by war) RupertBrooke, or Kipling and leave this jarhead to wallow in his own pathos. you have read it all before, better handled with more perspective, intelligence, and insight. the best novel of recent war is still Sympathy For the Devil, very similar theme of disillusioned hard headed grunt, but head and shoulders above the drivel level.
Rating:
Summary: SENSITIVE EXPLORATION OF WAR AND JOURNEY TO MANHOOD
Review: Anthony Swofford in JARHEAD gives the reader a rare firsthand account into the experience of going to battle--the fear, excitement, anxiety, and tedium of it. He conveys his story with not only the swaggering bravado of the marine corps grunt but the sensitive observations of a nascent writer. The exploding artillery turns the sand into blossoming flowers. The first night of war is like a boys slumber party with razzing, dirty jokes, and simple kindnesses. There is brother-in-arms companionship and existential loneliness. But JARHEAD is more than a book about war. Yes, Swofford makes the reader understand the draw of the military for a boy searching for the path to manhood in the footsteps of his veteran father, uncle and grandfather and for a young man looking for a home as his own disintegrates with his parent's divorce. But JARHEAD also shows us the choices that young men confront as they grow up: to be brutal or kind, to respect women or use them, to be tough or vulnerable, and how one young man can shift between all of these things as he tries to know himself and find his place in the world. For a glimpse into the minds of our warriors waiting in the desert right now, for a bead on the hearts of all young men asking themselves what it means to be a man, for an account of anyone wrestling with his or her faith, identity, and sense of justice, read JARHEAD. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: An existentialist in the Marine Corps
Review: This book is not for the faint of heart or stomach. The language is crude though appropriate for the gripping subject matter. The author is unusually candid in disclosing himself--he admits to being a liar, a thief, a brawler, etc. To a non-military type like myself it has the air of versimilitude and honesty. The book is at its best when describing the experiences of Lance Corporal Swofford and those around him. These are brutal, poignant, and heart-wrenching. The author adopts a fundamentally nihilistic view of the war, existence, etc. He experiences a loss of religious faith (Catholic) during the conflict. Reading Swofford makes me a bit wistful for the Joyful atheism of Mencken who knew how to appreciate beer, Bach, books and bellylaughs and who did not forget the Good when dismissing God. The author seems less comfortable when attempting to navigate the waters of geo-politics. Because he saw flaming oil plumes, tasted oil etc. he seems to swallow the liberal canard that the Gulf War (PGWI will we be calling it?) was "all about oil." Lance Coroporal's war may have been "all about oil" but surely this does not prove his generalized point. Indeed, the author appears to be a political and economic "naif". .... George Bush is surely not above criticism with regard to his handling of PGWI. ...! Semper Fi.
Rating:
Summary: A Look back; A Thinking Vet's Perspective
Review: The writer is obviously grown in many ways since serving in the Gulf. There is no "anti-war" nor "shoot-the ragheads" slant to the book. ... He appears to have differing perspectives (naturally) as he has grown older. So have we all. It is an emotional book, read in one sitting. It is powerful but gentle. The book is more pointed toward what the man feels than toward a cronology of events. It may make one weep if one relates to some of the issues presented; it is that well written. A good book for some vets.
Rating:
Summary: I was a ten-percenter
Review: One of the USMC MOH recipients said that, in his experience, any unit in the Corps broke down into 10% leaders, 80% who did a good job when properly led, and 10% not worth the cost of a round to blow them away. After reading this book, I came away convinced that Mr. Swofford was not in the top ten percent. For comparison, I would suggest Frank Schaeffer's "Keeping Faith." My reason for interest - two children in the Corps, one in Kuwait and one at Pendleton.
Rating:
Summary: Dark as well as motivating
Review: As a former marine who served in an infantry unit during the early 90's, I can say that the author scores a direct hit on the life and attitude of the Marine Corps. It is hard to put into words the way we all felt while we were "in". To an outside reader it might seem as if we did not want to be there. I think the author sheds light on a lot of feelings that we all had, while not taking away from our own personal desire to serve our country.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written, intensely honest memoir of war
Review: I approached reading Anthony Swofford's Jarhead with naiveté -- after all, I'd watched the Gulf War on television, what more could I learn? At the time, the conflict seemed relatively cut and dry to my teenaged sensibilities. But Swofford's brutally honest memoir taught me lesson upon lesson about the reality of what went on in Iraq just over 10 years ago. I don't think any of my words will do Jarhead justice. It is to the Gulf War what Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is to Vietnam. Swofford's prose grips his reader, making him feel the sting of the sand and the damp of his trousers as he enters into his first contact with the enemy. As I plunged deeper into his prose, I found myself alternately enraged at the leaders of his squad - who seem to rank impressing reporters higher than their troops' safety - and deeply saddened as young men face grisly scenes created by American bombs. Swofford's prose is stunning, his honesty astounding. Jarhead is truly one of the finest books I've read in a very long time.
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