Up Country

Rating:
Summary: Long-winded DeMille
Review: Usually a huge fan of Demille's, I slogged through this missive on the beaches of Mexico.It seems that Demille wrote this novel more for himself than for us. The book starts off in the usual Demille style, but drags for the middle 400 pages. If I want to travel to Vietnam and need a guide book, I'll buy a Frodor. The last 200 pages redeem the story, but not enough to justify the rambling. If you buy this book, skip pages 100-500 and you will not only spare yourself some drudgery, you will also create a tighter, more interesting page turner!

Rating:
Summary: The Long Goodbye
Review: I'm a huge fan of DeMille's, and this book is right up there with "Word of Honor", "Gold Coast" and "Plum Island". It's interesting, relevant, harrowing and funny as hell. After two tours, Paul Brenner is finally saying goodbye to his personal nightmare called Vietnam. There is a murder to be solved, but the real story is Paul's journey through space and time. As Paul travels from Saigon, through Hue, Diem Bien Phu and ultimately Hanoi with a beautiful and reckless girl at his side, you can hardly wait to see what new adventure DeMille has planned for them each step of the way. The book is long, but what is long when the journey is so much fun?

Rating:
Summary: Great travelogue for Vietnam!
Review: UPCOUNTRY offers a fantastic picture of Vietnam today, with intriguing side glimpses of the war years. It's superbly done, and you finish the book with a much clearer understanding of just what happened in those dreadful years. However, the story line seems to get lost at times. There's actually not much to the book other than Paul and Susan running around the country. Susan at times seems an utter ditz. Not much background on what happened to the young lieutenant back during the war, how it happened and why it happened. At times you can completely forget about the murder under investigation and fall under the "travelogue" spell. Even now, having finished the book, I'm not completely clear on why the murder happened. The ending is hurried, incomplete and unbelievable. DeMille's first offering featuring Paul Brenner, THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER, was much more concise with a clear storyline. It didn't take the reader on a long travelogue around the American South.

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't finish it
Review: I'm a huge fan of Demille, ordinarily, but this novel just dragged on so long, I finally quit caring about the characters or even the point of the story. If Demille needed to do some personal work on his experience during the Vietnam War, maybe a novel that actually *happened* during the War would have worked better.

Rating:
Summary: Numba one
Review: Another sucess for Mr. DeMille. Yes, it was quite long and to follow if not familiar with Viet Nam would be somewhat hard, also the feelings of a combatant from any war were all discribed with great feeling, could be unknown by someone not exposed to combat. Saying that, the story line and characters were magnificent. The understanding of the human mind and reaction to the same is greatly appreciated by Mr. DeMille. The ending was tremendous and I will look forward to his next book as always.

Rating:
Summary: History, Fiction and DeMille
Review: A scary true to life account of what happened in the jungles of Vietnam. My only complaint is that this book reads like a trip through time rather than a murder investigation. True to DeMille form however, I have an interest in reading more about the conflict since reading Up Country. Paul Brenner's role is more of a John Corey (Plum Island, Lion's Game), which made the trip through time not only interesting but also humorous as only DeMille can do. Up Country reads very well and quick, taking your time through the history of Vietnam and the detailed illustrations of the hell and the carnage will give you a great appreciation for what went through the millions that were fighting there. The ending is un-expected and startling, but does leave some questions hanging. I am a huge fan of DeMille and was not dissapointed, it is long, it is informative, it is humorous, it is saucy and it is worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: Interminable
Review: This book goes on forever! Why, Oh why must the author describe ever article of clothing, color, fabric, etc. Why do we have to hear every cigarette lighted? There's a good story in there somewhere, I think it needs to be boiled down by about 15 tapes.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Read
Review: I was 8 years old when the US withdrew from Vietnam in 1975. My knowledge of the Vietnam War has been shaped by movies like Apocolypse Now, Platoon, Hamburger Hill and Full Metal Jacket. No longer. Demille has given me a full education of the Vietnam War from many standpoints - geographical, political, philosophical, emotional, etc. Most importantly, I have received this education in the prose of my favorite author through characters who are likable, intelligent and believable. I have read the complaints about the length of this book. Frankly, this was one of those stories that I didn't want to end and I would have been happy to go another 200 pages. I have read every Demille novel and this easily ranks at the top of the list with Word of Honor and Charm School and puts his weaker novels like Lions Game and Spencerville to shame. My only complaint - the book needs an epilogue. After spending 700 pages with Paul Brenner and Susan Weber, I need to know what happens to them.

Rating:
Summary: Not as advertised
Review: This book was supposed to be a thirty year old mystery that Paul Brenner is sent to Vietnam to solve. What it turned out to be was a long, confusing travelogue through Vietnam. The actual solving of the mystery was very late in the book and very anticlimactic. The book was about 300 pages too long and not worth the effort. I have read and enjoyed all of Nelson DeMille's other books and hope that this one was just an exception to his usually excellent storytelling.

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Author
Review: I've read all of DeMille's books. This is one of his best. Expect lots of history and personal perspective of the Viet Nam war in the midst of this excellent and readable novel.
At least 4 stars, more like 4 1/2.