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Edwardjd3's Reviews > Fives and Twenty-Fives
Fives and Twenty-Fives
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Disclosure - Served in Marines with Author.
Fives and Twenty-Fives is a conscientious modern war novel that accurately portrays the sacrifices young people give for their country and their struggle to cope. Pitre’s writing style is crafty and empathetic. His story-telling keeps you turning pages to learn more about the characters experiences during and after “The Long War.”
The characters in the novel express love of country and duty, but there is bitterness over giving everything for a cause that may or may not be justified. Deploying again and again and again wears you down to the bone. The Marines are not blind or bloodthirsty as in “Jarhead.” Like those who served with me, they are intelligent and aware, though flawed.
The strength of this war novel is Pitre’s depiction of the real fight for veterans, assimilating back into normal life - developing careers and relationships while living with the experiences of war. There's a disconnect between their peers who did not serve, as awkward as a high school “new kid in town movie.” As a veteran of OIF/OEF, this novel is a voice for many of us who slowly had to piece our lives back together, back to normal.
You’re looking at the future of 21st Century warfare in this novel where all sides are human, all sides have a voice. Most regional and tribal conflicts of the future will be a complex mix of cultures filled with shades of grey. As current events suggest, in many ways, American Marines and Soldiers were just another tribe in a never-ending Middle East tribal war, one that could never be "won or lost" in a traditional sense. Those back home who still think foreign policy is black and white don’t understand the complexity of the new world quite like the veteran who has experienced it in sweat and blood and time.
Fives and Twenty-Fives is a conscientious modern war novel that accurately portrays the sacrifices young people give for their country and their struggle to cope. Pitre’s writing style is crafty and empathetic. His story-telling keeps you turning pages to learn more about the characters experiences during and after “The Long War.”
The characters in the novel express love of country and duty, but there is bitterness over giving everything for a cause that may or may not be justified. Deploying again and again and again wears you down to the bone. The Marines are not blind or bloodthirsty as in “Jarhead.” Like those who served with me, they are intelligent and aware, though flawed.
The strength of this war novel is Pitre’s depiction of the real fight for veterans, assimilating back into normal life - developing careers and relationships while living with the experiences of war. There's a disconnect between their peers who did not serve, as awkward as a high school “new kid in town movie.” As a veteran of OIF/OEF, this novel is a voice for many of us who slowly had to piece our lives back together, back to normal.
You’re looking at the future of 21st Century warfare in this novel where all sides are human, all sides have a voice. Most regional and tribal conflicts of the future will be a complex mix of cultures filled with shades of grey. As current events suggest, in many ways, American Marines and Soldiers were just another tribe in a never-ending Middle East tribal war, one that could never be "won or lost" in a traditional sense. Those back home who still think foreign policy is black and white don’t understand the complexity of the new world quite like the veteran who has experienced it in sweat and blood and time.
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Reading Progress
July 4, 2014
– Shelved
Started Reading
July 5, 2014
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Finished Reading
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Dianne
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rated it 5 stars
Dec 04, 2014 12:56PM
Edwardjd3, your last paragraph is brilliantly stated. It's a doctoral thesis in and of itself...I hope you'll consider writing at length, in some setting, about those points.
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Thank you for your service.
Thank you for this nuanced review. The public's glorification of combat seems, in many ways, to alter the reality of combat situations experienced by those who've served. Looks as if this book will give the reader a deeper idea of what happens to the men and women in actual conflict. I'm eager to read it, though I expect it will break my heart.
