Rating: 
Summary: Educating the Ignorant
Review: Wow! What can I say about this book except that it was awesome. I read it in 3 days. It was very hard for me to put it down. I was born in 1971 so the Vietnam War to me is only what I have seen on T.V. or in the Movies (Rambo, Missing in Action, ect...). I had paid my respects at the Vietnam Wall before I read this book. I have a greater understanding about the geography and events that happened over there now that I have read this book. I feel that I was entertained and educated at the same time. I work with some Vietnam Vet's, and I don't feel like a dope when they talk about the war and the placed they have been. I can carry on an intelligent conversation with them. Thank You Nelson Demille!Kevin Brace
Rating:
Summary: Great beach read!
Review: I have read every book by DeMille and have been on the edge of my seat for everyone except The Gold Coast. That was a departure from his other books. UPCOUNTRY was wonderful all though a little long and wordy when it came to Brenner and Susan. I am old enough to remember the Vietnam War but like most people never knew the horrors that our young fellows must have seen. No wonder some of them came home screwed up. I hope the present day regime from Hanoi is better than portrayed in the book although I don't believe it. DeMille has a way of immersing us in the characters so well. I was ambivalent about the ending but maybe we will get something to follow in time. When I saw 700 pages I thought it would take me days to read only took 2. I just finished another interesting thriller set in the jungles of Mexico, "Tourist in the Yucatan" you might check it out.
Rating: 
Summary: Is it a book or a screenplay?
Review: Don't think by my review title that I did not enjoy this book. I had a hard time putting it down. Having read everything DeMille has written made it an easy choice in the bookstore, and I didn't even realize it was a follow-up (NOT sequel) to General's Daughter.
The background story that is fed to Paul Brenner to convince him to take this mission to Vietnam is a little sketchy, and in real life, I would expect someone in his position to have stopped this book at The Wall. But once he arrives and we are allowed the privilege of seeing the new Vietnam through a veteran's eyes I'm glad this is fiction. While not as tightly woven as General's Daughter, and certainly not as suspensful, it has intrigue in its own right. I would expect most Americans to bristle at the nerve of the officials in this country that would search your hotel room while you're at dinner, or be able to get away with the kind of interrogation without question they were able to. But most Americans have never left US shores, and have no idea what it's like where you are not guaranteed absolute liberty.
I agree with another reviewer, that I would have enjoyed a little more tension, with Colonel Mang playing a bigger role. But I enjoyed the contrast between what Paul and Susan were experiencing vs what he experienced during the war. Very nicely written, and he has the credentials and experience to back it up. Very believable.
HOWEVER, as I said, I didn't realize until I started reading that this was a follow up to Paul Brenner's life. I read the book jacket after the first few pages when all I could picture was John Travolta speaking the lines of Paul Brenner. I was disappointed that a writer I like and respect as much as DeMille would turn to writing a novel with the ultimate aim of hitting Hollywood yet again. This was a complaint I used to have about John Grisham until he returned to earth with A Painted House.
The narrative, the place descriptions, the action (although somewhat limited), were all wonderful, yet the dialogue in many ways detracted from what was otherwise another excellent read.
Rating: 
Summary: You had to be there...
Review: Protagonist Paul Brenner, revisiting Vietnam, says these words several times to Susan Weber, his annoying female appendage/companion. And my own final conclusion, after sleeping upon some initial ones, was that this is correct. After all, DeMille dedicates the work "to those who answered the call". He did not dedicate it to those of his age cohort (& from Long Island) who answered a different call, e.g. followed the drinkin' gourd. It is a lot cheaper to revisit Toronto than Hue. Call me crazy but I make something out of the frequent use of motorcycles to transport the characters - across cities and across country - often through cold, pouring rain. I wanted to yell at Brenner to pick up a damn piece of flat wood to carry along for placing under the kickstand whilst dismounting that Beemer on the side of the "unimproved" roads. Does DeMille really ride? Does his bike fall over all the time? Okay, I find this work an incremental improvment over "Word of Honor" DeMille's first Vietnam veteran's tour de force. Perhaps hindsight and maturity reflect improved insight. I was briefly hopeful when DeMille touched upon the role played by religion in the Vietnam Conflict, but it was only the momentary lighting of a butterfly, and that story remains largely untold. Do I recommend it? Yes, if you are of the Vietnam generation. For others, read Spencerville again.
Rating:
Summary: I JUST LIKE THE WAY HE WRITES...
Review: OK, it's overlong, overdescriptive, overdriven by memories, overcome by flashbacks...but it's wholly enjoyable---just stay for the ride. Paul Brenner is funny, sarcastic,emotive and...humane. I can see the author reliving his experiences through the main character, and perhaps getting rid cathartically of some nightmares.
I love the way DeMille writes, anyway: his Paul Brenner and John Corey novels are tense, sharp-witted, with good sense of humour and easily digested. He writes for the pleasure of his readers, not for their boredom---I think he succeeds, even though the plot at times slackens: yet, I don't want him to be another crime/thriller writer joining the mediocre crowd of pseudo-Chandlers. I just want DeMille to keep writing the way he does, so that I can have some real fun. Keep up the good work, Nelson!
Rating:
Summary: Whoops not Nhuts!
Review: I am upgrading my review from one star to four stars because I have just learned from one of my buddies in the Vietnam Security Police Association that when he went back to Tan Son Nhut in 1999 the commies were calling it Tan Son Nhat. I served at Tan Son Nhut as a Security Police Officer in 1969 and was upset about the spelling in the book. If Paul Brenner (my name is Paul Nenner!)went back to Saigon circa 1999 then his spelling is correct for this day and age. That makes all the difference in the world to my enjoyment of the book because everything else described in the book was right on. Especially the Brinks, Hotel Continental, Tu Do St., etc. XIN LOI, BRO!
Rating:
Summary: Deja Vu
Review: On the second day of my vacation at Ormond Beach, I started reading Up Country and was stunned to learn that the murder at the center of the plot occured in the Citadel in Quang Tri on February 8, 1968. On that actual day, during the first of my Vietnam tours, I was assigned to MACV in Quang Tri and worked in the Citadel as an intelligence advisor to the Vietnamese. Up Country is well written and fast moving. I was quickly drawn into the mystery and the protagonist's journey through contemporary Vietnam. He travelled much of the same territory that I covered in those days, from Hue, to Khe Sahn, then east along Route 9 to the Old French Fort, the Rock Pile, Dong Ha, and south on Route 1 to Quang Tri City. Reading Up Country, I returned to the places and events of that period for the first time in years. Prior to reading the book, I had no interest in returning to Vietnam. I changed my mind. When I retire next year, I will go back just as I finally found the resolve two years ago to visit the Wall which has the names of so many of the men who served with me in those days. Demille commits some historical errors. Quang Tri City, the Citadel, and the MACV compound did not fall (as he implies) during Tet offensive; however, here was a hell of a fight in and around the city. The VC breeched the East wall of the Citadel for a short period and there was house to house fighting in some parts of town.
Minor quibbles aside, however, Up Country is a great read. Those who served in Vietnam will find a good story and an opportunity to revisit the places and events that had so much influence on so many those of our generation.
Rating: 
Summary: Overhyped
Review: This book appears to have been written for size and weight as if the author were, like Walter Scott, being paid by the word. For at least the first 250 pages vitually nothing happens as the reader has to fight boredom in the vain hope that something is going to happen on the next page. But it doesn't. However my review is badly biased by having read Martin Cruz Smith's books which make this look sophomoric (as well as soporific)
Rating:
Summary: Demille's disappointment
Review: My favorite author evidently had to get it out of his system! A true catharsis is the only reason for him to write this book. To those of you who have loved Nelson Demille's past books(except Mayday!), you will have to wait for his next one...at least I hope so! Over and over he tells war tale after war tale to the point that not only I but everyone I know who read the book was bored to tears. War is brutal, and if I wanted to read a book about Viet Nam there are virtually 100's of other good books out there. That is NOT why I read Nelson Demille. Very little of the sarcastic good humor we have come to enjoy is in this book. In fact, if he had shortened the war stories the book could have been tightened up to about 100 pages for a short story, that might have been much better. So, for those of us who have waited so long for the next Nelson Demille book, we will just have to hope he will get back on track with the formula he has been so successful with in the past. The fact that this book was dropped off the best seller list so fast is evidence that I am not alone in my views. Sad, but we all make mistakes and I pray this will be Nelson Demille's last for a while!
Rating:
Summary: Demille's witty catharsis.
Review: Nelson Demille is one of my favorite authors. Not in the same manner as Clancy, Parker, Ludlum, and Silva strike me but more as an intellectual mystery. A challenge, if you will. My introduction to Demille was none other than GOLD COAST and from there, I was hooked. One of the reasons Demille is incredibly successful is his uncanny ability to visually establish the venue for the reader and develop his characters to the point that you've made decisions about whether to like or despise them. After you read a Demille novel, you feel as though you know the main characters, personally. UP COUNTRY is no exception to this rule. Symbolically, if you desire depth (a/k/a Mitchner/Clancy-esque), this tome, at 702 pages, fits the bill in spades! We're reintroduced to Paul Brenner, the military policeman from the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Division, who appeared in THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER, the wildly successful book and movie. We now find Brenner retired and struggling to find his way without his investigative passion. Additionally, he has way too much time on his hands and too much time apart from Cynthia Sunhill, his main squeeze and former CID partner. The main plot is introduced as Brenner receives a somewhat cryptic email from his former Army boss, Karl Hellman, "ordering" him to a meeting at the Vietnam War Memorial in D.C. Hellman makes a strong and convincing case for Brenner to make his way back to Vietnam to determine the truth to a thirty year old murder. The Vietnam connection comes from a recently recovered letter from one Vietnamese soldier to another, kept as a battle souvenir by the American who killed its recipient. The letter seems to reveal details of the murder of an American army lieutenant by an American army captain. After a delightfully witty exchange, Brenner decides to take the assignment though he knows full well that there is more to this investigation than he (or the reader) has been told. Hellmann wants him to find the Vietnamese witness, if he's still alive. The kicker is that the U.S. government will deny his presence if caught in the midst of the investigation. His "retired" status provides him with a small amount of plausible deniability if anything should go wrong however, Brenner smells a rat and seriously considers turning down Hellman's order. As you can image, he goes anyway. As Brenner arrives in Saigon, he quickly encounters his chief adversary, security chief Colonel Mang, as well as a beautiful American expatriot named Susan Weber. Strangely to Brenner, Susan winds up being his contact in Saigon and begins to make herself indespensible to Brenner, in a variety of ways. As the story continues to develop, Susan becomes somewhat of a mystery to Brenner AND the reader. Ultimately, she accompanies Brenner on his travels "up country." In the end, the path on which Demille leads us empties out into a suspenseful and masterfully completed novel that provides the reader with indepth insight into the cruel atrocities of the Vietnam War. I suspect this truly was a cathartic project for Demille, a former Vietnam veteran. To this end, he vividly describes the issues and battles faced by both countries in trying to deal with a war not so long past. As is typical of DeMille and soundly refreshing in today's literary circles, he delivers his story in a descriptive and witty manner. While the detail in this book dragged at times, that is the only aspect with which I could find fault. The storyline, character development and climax plot are outstanding and exciting. Although a brick of a book, this is a great read. Additionally, I found UP COUNTRY very educational relative to my ignorance of Vietnam, its people and the war. Highly recommended.
|
