Buffalo Soldiers (Vintage Contemporaries)

Rating:
Summary: Dark fantasy
Review: As a huge fan of military novels, I picked this one for a pack of summer vacation reading.

What a disappointment! Clearly the author knows nothing factual about the military beyond what he must have picked up at campus protest meetings.

How can a story set in the eighties portray army personnel who have been drafted (draft ended in the early 70's)?

This sounds like the wet dream fantasy of a fevered flag-burner.

I give it a one star rating because clearly there will be those who share this anti-American view but even then a point should be subtracted for defaming the name of the glorious Buffalo Soldiers of the Civil War (or maybe the author is too dumb to know of the first all black enlisted unit).

Rating:
Summary: Dark satire with great characters
Review: Don't expect to find any heroic soldiers in this story. In fact, don't expect to find characters you will like. However, you will find believable characters in believable situations. Contrary to what some reviewers have written here, everyone in the military is not perfect. Kudo's to the troops that swept through Kuwait during Desert Storm, but let's not forget the Tailhook incident. This story is not about all the military, just one small group of soldiers at one base in Germany at a particular point in time....and it's a NOVEL (i.e. fiction).

And what a story it is....black market deals, love affairs, exploding tanks, and a main character that is about as unlikable as they come. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: A Second Person Masterpiece
Review: I can only think of one other book told in second person narrative ("Bright Lights, Big City," by Jay McInerney, whose "critical" commentary of "Buffalo Soldiers" appears in the front of this book), and it's interesting how effectively this perspective lends itself to wry irony and outright comedy. O'Connor is a master of ironic understatement, and his narrator in this book possesses an engagingly cynical wit. The main protagonist ("you") is wholly likeable despite the fact that he's wholly unlikeable, and it's this kind of inherent anti-hero dichotomy that makes him such a compelling character with such a compelling story. I don't agree with the opinion that this is satire, because it doesn't appear to be satirizing anything. More, it's an exploration of the darker and more self-destructive aspects of a generally dark and self-destructive soul, while offering entirely believable glimpses into the unique culture of America's volunteer Army. It's a complete joy to read.

Rating:
Summary: Buffalo Soldiers
Review: I first read this book five years ago, and enjoyed it immensely. Having read it again twice since, it was only the third time that it struck me as one of the finest novels about the absurdities of army life, perhaps only bettered by 'Catch 22' (Joseph Heller) and 'One to count cadence' (James Crumley). Like Heller, O'Connor seeks out all the intricacies of enlisted life, and the rawness of the book's content, coupled with the theme of drug abuse in the army make for an, at times, unsettling read. However, despite their obvious failings, one cannot help but like the characters in the book, nor fail to understand their obvious dissatisfaction with their lot in life. Elwood is the classic anti-hero, and you find yourself laughing out loud at some of his thoughts, remarks and deeds particularly at times when it seems inappropriate to do so. Indeed, that's where the beauty of this book lies. Ordinarily, the themes dealt with (drug abuse, disability, prostitution, racial tension) would be depressing enough to allow the reader to digest it only in small doses, but the scintillating dialogue, coupled with excellent scene-setting make for an exciting, rollercoaster ride that is nigh-on impossible to put down once begun. Much was made of the book's style, setting it in second-person perspective. The highest compliment I can pay it is that the only other novel I can recall that is written in this manner (Bright lights, big city by Jay McInerney) is totally outshone.

In short, buy this book, read it and love it. Then ask yourself why this guy hasn't written more!

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: I have read this book five or so times over the last ten years. It is brilliant. Each time I read it, I appreciate Professor O'Connor's observations about the world and the wildly original way the story is told (military speak is used to describe all aspects of life.) The events are atypical enough to thoroughly entertain. However, the issues Elwood grapples with--institutional betrayal, a dog-eat-dog world, meanness, loneliness, etc--are issues that all readers should be able to identify with.

Hopefully, the many excellent reviews combined with the book being made into a film will encourage Professor O'Connor to write additional novels. I have been anxiously waiting for a second novel but none has been forthcoming. In conclusion, this is the finest book I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Books aren't comfort food
Review: Judging by some of the reviews I've read of some of the books I've read lately, a chunk of readers don't want to be disturbed, offended or otherwise challenged by anything they read. Then why read? And if you fit this category, don't bother with "Buffalo Soldiers." If you don't, keep reading ...
I didn't read "Buffalo Soldiers" for an accurate depiction of the Army, & I didn't get one. The Army is merely the novel's setting, as it was for "Catch-22," which portrayed it no more accurately. These books are FICTION. That said, I read this in one sitting. Indeed, it cost me sleep on a recent transatlantic flight, because I didn't put it down, it moves with such a wonderful frenetic pace, which I was loath to interrupt.
I was initially disheartened to realize the book is in the second person. It's a credit to Robert O'Connor that he pulls this off beautifully. I'm certain this device can't often be used & work: O'Connor uses it masterfully. If I heard he had written a second book using the same technique, I would buy it sight unseen.
The book is profane. It's not for the squeamish or easily offended. It doesn't paint a positive picture of its setting or, more or less, any of its characters (though I was pulling mightily for SPC Elwood by the end). And it's a helluva read. I wish O'Connor would get some more published.

Rating:
Summary: This was not my army
Review: Just for the record, the US Army of 1989 was nothing like what was depicted in this book and the movie of the same title. For the reviewer who wrote "Many will find this depiction of peacetime Army life to be deeply offensive and unpatriotic, but it's hard to know just how far from reality it is.", take it from someone who was there, it's very, very far from reality. The army of the 80s was an all-volunteer highly professional, highly trained force that gave us the spectacular 100-hour victory in Desert Storm. The army depicted in this book may have existed in some alternate universe somewhere, but not on this planet.

Rating:
Summary: Funny but wildly out of touch with reality
Review: Others have reviewed the comedic style of the author and compared it to Catch-22, et alia. That's fine: It's an okay style, sometimes amusing, sometimes distracting.

But the book couldn't decide what it wanted to be. O'Connor seems to have waffled on whether he was writing a realistic book about the military's dark underbelly, or writing a Douglas Adams-esque preposterous farce. Ultimately, it's a book written set in amongst the military by someone with zero apparent military experience, who skimped on research.

Still, even if those who know the military will be distracted by the implausibility of important plot elements...if you ACCEPT the fantasy in the same way that one might accept the premise of a swords-and-sorcery novel, THEN it becomes a funny read. It's all a matter of suspension of disbelief.

Rating:
Summary: Who is Robert O'Connor?
Review: You are given this book by a friend who tells you it is the best thing they've read in years. You regard them as a good judge of the sort of things you like, so you take their copy and resolve to make an effort to like it. But you don't have to make an effort. From the first paragraph it has you hooked. You are on a steep learning curve, finding out more than you will ever need to know about the US army in Germany, heroin dealing, beautiful one-armed jailbait, Moments of Perfect Clarity, and cold sweat in the back of black Mercedes. You also find yourself laughing out loud, re-reading paragraphs in horror, and, eventually, lending your copy of Buffalo Soldiers to your best friend. It has the realistic ring of Michael Herr's 'Dispatches', and the pace and cold stare of a Sam Fuller movie; in fact, you will wonder why it hasn't been filmed yet. After you have given two or three copies away, you will buy one more, and keep it to yourself. And then you will ask yourself, who is Robert O'Connor, and what else has he written? And then you will understand the joy of addiction, and the pain of withdrawal.