Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: I admired James Brady's descriptive writing and character development in this novel. Less compelling--less artful, really--was the way he wove nonfiction accounts of the First Marines' fighting withdrawal and incorporated profiles of the principal commanders into his story. This surprised me, since I was expecting Brady's touch to be more deft, in view of the power of his other writing, here and elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: I Felt The Cold
Review: I'm not a lover of war stories, perhaps because I fought in one and I find realism lacking in most writers. Brady has proved to be an exception. His depiction of the misery suffered by the Marines at the disaster that was the Chosen Reservior made me grateful that I spent a year in the infantry in the virtual paradise (by comparison) of Vietnam. You feel the cold as the Marines retreat from an untenable position, fighting a numerically superior Chinese army and becoming victims of Douglas MacArthur's meglamoniacal career plans. Brady gives MacArthur a justified raking over the coals and mixes his fictional characters with real ones; Chesty Puller is here as is Bob Hope and others. All in all a fantastic read.
Rating: 
Summary: Not in Same League
Review: Though well-written, this novel by Brady is not up to other embellished true accounts of the Korean War by such as Martin Russ. In fact, it is not as instructive or interesting as Brady's own "The Coldest War". The novel is a man of letters' tour of part of the war, and is not as hard-hitting as the true story. Does every journalist have to get a novel into print?
Rating:
Summary: War is hell
Review: Who knew James Brady, puff piece-er to the stars, had this great book in him? I was a kid when the Korean "conflict" took place, and remember more of the politics than the warfare, so, altho the Chosin Reservoir retreat was in my memory bank, I could not have explained why. Now I know, and memorably. Brady's prose is so vivid, you can almost feel your own toes becoming frostbitten as you read; the icy roads and the snow, the cold, the Chinese troops relentlessly attacking or sniping at our troops as they retreat down a narrow mountain road at the rate of a couple of miles a day. Brady lets MacArthur have it, for putting our troops in this untenable position in the first place. The main character, incidentally, is loosely based on the late Senator John Chafee of Rhode Island. I've read a few other war books, but this is perhaps the most vividly done. It leaves me wanting to be sure to pay homage to all our soldiers in some way this Memorial Day. A powerful book. Don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: unforgetable!
Review: excellent, chilling, superb puts you right in the middle of Korean war.
Rating: 
Summary: Rave Praise for THE MARINES OF AUTUMN:
Review: "Brady has produced a moving, harrowing, hard-eyed look at men and duty...The battle scenes, and the bone-freezing cold, are drawn with the precision of a MASH surgeon's scalpel...The last two chapters are as tough, poignant and darkly funny as war writing ever gets, and it rings all the more true for that. There is honor here, and all the promises a culture and tradition can keep. This is a hell of a book about a hell of war by a hell of a writer."- New York Daily News
Rating:
Summary: Praise for THE MARINES OF AUTUMN
Review: "The Korean War now has its own Iliad, historicallyprecise and harrowingly poetic." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr." "War novels such as THE MARINES OF AUTUMN are not for the faint-hearted.... James Brady, Korean combat veteran, is one of the few writers who has the credentials and the talent to write about that war with authority and passion. THE MARINES OF AUTUMN is right up there with the very best of combat writing and is destined to become one of the defining novels of the genre." - Nelson DeMille, author of The Lion's Game "The privation undergone by the U.S. Marines at the "Frozen Chosin" in Korea 1950 stands with the monumental infantry ordeals in the history of warfare. Now James Brady, who himself fought as a Marine rifle platoon leader in the same Taebaek Mountains of North Korea, brings this annal of valor to life in prose that is at once brutal, humorous, harrowing and indelible. THE MARINES OF AUTUMN takes its place among the unforgettable chronicles of war crafted by men, to paraphrase Whitman, who were there, who knew, who suffered. Outstanding." Steven Pressfield, author of TIDES OF WAR and GATES OF FIRE "In this thoroughly engrossing novel Brady captures the way the Marines of 1950 thought, talked, fought, and died. His MARINES OF AUTUMN are not the Marines of World War II or Vietnam but the Marines of Korea, and a uniquely fascinating breed they are...At last we have a major Korean War novel!" - Martin Russ, author of Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign "THE MARINES OF AUTUMN is a you-are-there epic story that portrays the horror and the heroism of the Corps' finest yet most critical hour. A truly gripping tale of a war that America has sadly forgotten." - David Hackworth, Soldier, Korea 1950
Rating:
Summary: Great writer...bad editor
Review: I had very high hopes for this book. For one, I was very impressed by "The Coldest War". Brady did an excellent job capturing what life must have been like during Korea. But... This book does vividly describes the "Amphibious Landing in Reverse" (As many Marines refer to it) and what the Marines and soldiers went through in their fighting withdrawal. The book breaks down in a simple way...too much repetition. Too many times we read about a letter Verity writes to his daughter with the explanation that "Madame will read it to her". Too many times we read the phrase "trudging on frozen feet" and how many times can he tell us that "The Chinese who were wounded were left to die"? There are so many repetitions in this its pretty clear that the editor either wansn't up to par or didn't care enough to point these out. Did I mention that it was repetitous? Fortunately, I purchased this book in electronic format for my ebook and I won't feel guilty about having it take up space in my bookcase because I hate throwing books away, wouldn't really recommend it to anyone, and can simply delete it with a clear conscience. If you want to read about the Chosin campaign, I strongly suggest you read "Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950" by Martin Russ or "Colder Than Hell : A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir" by Joseph R. Owen. Both are much better than this and are more factual (being non-fiction and all). Kudos to Brady for trying to tell this story in this fashion, but get a new editor and buy a new thesaurus.
Rating:
Summary: A Marine's Story of Korea
Review: James Brady's Korean War novel tells the story of the first autumn of the war from a U.S. Marine's perspective. Brady, a Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War, presents a compelling portrait of a typical Marine officer called into action at an inconvenient time. The protagonist of the novel, Thomas Verity, is called from his teaching post at Georgetown University to serve as an observer of Chinese action in North Korea. A veteran of World War II, Verity is an officer in the Marine Corps Reserve. Upon the beginning of action he is recalled because the government "needs" him. Verity leaves his young daughter with a nanny and sets off for a "short" tour. Early in his service he frequently writes letters to his daughter telling her of Korea and promising to return to take her to Paris. As time passes, the weather grows bitterly colder, the situation in North Korea grows more desperate, the letters become less frequent--it is no longer possible for him to keep his letters cheery and optimistic. Verity becomes a pawn whose expertise in Chinese is no longer needed but who is used by the military to lead Marines in battle. Brady presents a typical Marine view of the war which strained their sense of duty. The American troops are directed by "Dugout Doug" McArthur (a reference to McArthur's escape from Bataan peninsula in WWII) who never spends a night in Korea and oversees the war from a hotel in Japan. The force is divided, separated by a range of mountains, making it easier for the invading Chinese troops (whom McArthur never believed would attack) to reek havoc. As the Chinese move in, the Americans are forced to retreat quickly and, in the process, many dead and wounded are left behind--a violation of the Marine promise to leave no one behind. Captain Tom Verity, Gunnery Sgt. Tate, and their driver Mouse Izzo maintain their commitments to one another and to the Marine Corps ideal, in spite of the situation, and each is honorable in his own distinct way. A good read, this is a true-to-life story about a time when Americans were sent into harm's way without proper planning or appropriate leadership. Yet, these soldiers still performed in a way that should make us proud of their service.
Rating: 
Summary: THE MARINES OF AUTUMN
Review: The Marines Of Autumn The Marines of Autumn was an ok book on the Korean war. It focused more on Verity's personal life an problems it also jumped thought time a lot, from him, to his wife, child and the present war at hand. So far this book has taught me a lot about the Korean war and codes they used during the war. It taught me also that there are numerous Chinese dialects and that their army was actually organized, and wasn't just a mob. I thought that this book jumped around a lot, but it also told a lot about the war and what happened. This book uses a lot of racial comments such as, calling the Chinese chinks and some of the abbreviations for their armies.
This was a well written war novel and I would request reading it.
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