Rating: 
Summary: Making fig-fig
Review: OLD MAN IN A BASEBALL CAP is a quick and easy read due, no doubt, to the late Fred Rochlin's monologue style which he developed after attending a workshop with the incomparable Spalding Grey. After performing a number of his wartime monologues live, they were collected and published in this rather short book.
Rochlin was a B-24 navigator during WWII and his tale of his war experiences is raw, rather course, not pretty at times, and yet darkly humorous. Rochlin is remarkably frank about his experiences, more than one of which may shock the sensitive reader. This is unlike any other narrative I have ever read about the Second World War: more personal and in many ways far more human.
Whether the events of this monologue are true or not does not really matter; I am sure that Rochlin (like David Sedaris) would say that they are "true enough." They form a story in Rochlin's mind, a narrative that he feels compelled to tell. I for one am more than willing to listen.
Jeremy W. Forstadt
Rating: 
Summary: Be preparted to suspend disbelief.
Review: Rochlin had a heck of a war experience. The section about histrek back to the allied lines after being shot down reminded me ofJerzy Kosinki's "Painted Bird". The last chapter or section reveals a great deal if you're curious about how much of this really happened. Also, Rochlin left the back door open with his admission to having mistaken the details about a flight across north Africa. If you read the book, note the part where he encountered an old respected flying mate, O'Donnell. This old comrade's reaction to him in quite interesting. However, I do recommend it as a read. It is worthwhile especially describing the terror that he must have experienced.
Rating: 
Summary: Fiction sprinkled with a few facts
Review: Rochlin's "Old Man and a Baseball Cap" is just too outrageous to be taken as a work of non-fiction. The author says as much in an ambiguous last chapter that states(in a round-about way) that some of the information in the book may have never actually happened. While I don't challenge his record as an aviator in the war, I found the stories of detailed homosexual trysts between his Air Corps Colonel and another prominent pilot as well as his fantasy of a sexual encounter with his Uncle's wife to be questionable at the very least! Moreover, I profoundly disagree with the published reviews that found something profound in his decription of imaginary sexual escapades during the war. The guy wrote a lively and ribald piece of historical fiction - don't be confused.
Rating:
Summary: Better on Tape
Review: The audio version is the only way to go. Do not listen if you are easily offended by frank talk of the things young men do when they have resigned themselves to unpleasant circumstances. Rochlin is NOT an exemplar of Brokaw's "Greatest Generation." He and his comrades at arms were decidedly human.
Rochlin acknowledges that men of his generation were discouraged from talking about traumatic experiences. He also acknowledges that his memories are factually suspect. While current opinion seems to hold listening in higher esteem than talking, Rochlin maintains that sharing one's stories is a gift to others. It's too bad they didn't give WWII combat veterans a "transition debrief" before they sent them home. Many of them suffered from post traumatic stress for decades and their loved ones never knew exactly what had happened to them. A chance to talk to someone about their experiences might have helped many combat veterans and there might be a better understanding of what that war was really like.
Rating:
Summary: Rewrite this book and tell us the *real* story!
Review: The author is a funny guy and tells a riotous story. However, this book is a bit brash and irreverant for my taste. There are some things in life, such as friendship and death, that I find somewhat offensive to belittle with humor. There's a much more powerful story underneath the author's amusing anecdotes of his life during World War II. I'd love to hear the more serious side of his story. It's good of the author, even in the humorous way that he does, to share his war experiences with others who were not yet born at that time in history .
Rating:
Summary: Old Man Gets It Right
Review: The magic of Old Man in a Baseball Cap is not the marvelous people you meet or the enduring glimpse of humanity Rochlin provides. The magic is the images that you unknowingly absorb while reading this book, images that come back to you and provoke thought, laughter and reflection. Rochlin writes with incredible ease and grace about what he saw as a young man in Italy during World War II. Most of us, I fear, would lock those images away in the darkest closet we could find. But Rochlin shares them with us in such an accessable manner that when reading this marvelous book we're able to touch the highs and lows we're all capable of. And isn't that what good writing is all about? I had only one regret in reading Old Man in a Baseball Cap. It ended much too quickly. Which is why I'm going back to page one and starting again.
Rating:
Summary: Echos Of Past Ring True
Review: There are basically two kinds of people that read books about WWII: veterans of military service and non veterans. What is unique and refreshing about "Old Man in a Baseball Cap" is that it can and does appeal to both. With a plain talk monolouge style, Fred Rochlin revisits the highlights of his days as a young American overseas in a world trying to surive itself. On a epic scale where armadas of bombers fly back and forth on their daily commute to deadly encounters with the enemy, and in a personal level on the ground between missions where the skills needed to servive take on new and amazing dementions, Rochlin gets it right. Most appealing throughout is the often overlooked shophistication of the generation that fought and won World War II. With a sense of humor that comes with age and wisdom, Rochlin simply just sits down with reader and talks. He tells it short and sweet, with many areas of military life rarely talked about but very believable to anyone who has served there country in time of war. Easy to read, Old Man in a Baseball Cap sinks into the reader's mind as just another momoir. But after days or even weeks, the poignet truths about universal human nature and ambitions pop up and make us realize how similar our life experiences are. This is a good book to read for anyone who has been in the military or wants to gain more understaning of someone who has.
Rating:
Summary: Echos Of Past Ring True
Review: There are basically two kinds of people that read books about WWII: veterans of military service and non veterans. What is unique and refreshing about "Old Man in a Baseball Cap" is that it can and does appeal to both. With a plain talk monolouge style, Fred Rochlin revisits the highlights of his days as a young American overseas in a world trying to surive itself. On a epic scale where armadas of bombers fly back and forth on their daily commute to deadly encounters with the enemy, and in a personal level on the ground between missions where the skills needed to servive take on new and amazing dementions, Rochlin gets it right. Most appealing throughout is the often overlooked shophistication of the generation that fought and won World War II. With a sense of humor that comes with age and wisdom, Rochlin simply just sits down with reader and talks. He tells it short and sweet, with many areas of military life rarely talked about but very believable to anyone who has served there country in time of war. Easy to read, Old Man in a Baseball Cap sinks into the reader's mind as just another momoir. But after days or even weeks, the poignet truths about universal human nature and ambitions pop up and make us realize how similar our life experiences are. This is a good book to read for anyone who has been in the military or wants to gain more understaning of someone who has.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary: funny, tragic, thoughtful, entertaining
Review: This books SEEMS slim at first: justa collection of war stories. But within a page or two I was hooked. Rochlin is a spare, vivid story-teller, the WWII stories he tells based on his experiences as a pilot are jaw-dropping. This book scares you, makes you cry, arouses you (yes, it's true) and in the end sears itself in your mind. I idly thumbed through it in my car outside the bookstore and stayed in the parking lot reading it for two hours. What a gift he's given us!
Rating:
Summary: what a great book (i know that's corny, but so what)
Review: This is a book about my favorite time period, WWII, and the men who flew and fought in it, told by a regular guy, who happened to be a navigator on a B-24. Fred is a good writer, and you get the impression that he had a lot of fun, along with the tough, scary things that he and his fellow crew men had to endure. As an ex-flier, I can understand why Fred wanted to tell his story. I burst out laughing at some of the language, but none of what he wrote is offensive. He is obviously proud of his exploits, and he should be. This is a great book. Thanks, Fred.
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