[QHH]≫ Download The Naked and the Dead 50th Anniversary Edition Norman Mailer 9780312265052 Books

The Naked and the Dead 50th Anniversary Edition Norman Mailer 9780312265052 Books

Download As PDF : The Naked and the Dead 50th Anniversary Edition Norman Mailer 9780312265052 Books

The Naked and the Dead 50th Anniversary Edition Norman Mailer 9780312265052 Books

1) Plot (4 stars) – An Army platoon lands on the jungle island of Anopopei during the Second World War, and confronts confusion, physical misery, and internal squabbles as they stumble toward an invisible and unknowable enemy. For those looking for a linear plot with a hero steadily gaining wisdom that he will ultimately use to defeat the enemy in a dramatic climax, you will be disappointed. For Mailer instead focuses on the nuances of war to drive his narrative, the micro-tensions. And those little personal battles were enough to keep me reading, although I have to admit that at times I was begging for someone to do something big, or accomplish something notable.

2) Characters (4 stars) – Mailer takes great care in detailing his characters, devoting whole chapters to each of their backstories. But, with the exception of three – the General, Hearn, and Croft – I didn’t find any particularly interesting. They all seemed so ignorant, so repressed, such 1940s caricatures of tough guys. And on top of that, they never grew, never did anything to feel proud about. But maybe this was how people really acted back then, maybe this was how shallow and puerile the men were, and if so, then bravo for how far we’ve advanced. The only thing that kept me from giving this component a lower score was the aforementioned three characters, who were fascinating for the 33% of the story they were on stage. Which just goes to show that Mailer had the ability to draw unusual and compelling characters, but didn’t for some reason. Perhaps to make the experience more authentic? War: a never-ending nightmare of being trapped in a middle school locker room with all the idiots you hate.

3) Theme (3 stars) – There is a bit in here about the class chasm between poor enlisted folks and the rich educated officers. There’s also something about how cruel people can be both to their own as well as the enemy. And there’s certainly something about man vs. nature, about how in the end man’s war is puny against the storms and jungles and mountains. But … I’m not sure what new I was supposed to learn from any of these themes. Except, perhaps, that it’s all pointless, which is a valid but not especially useful message.

4) Voice (5 stars) – For me, this (and the setting) were the gems of the book. Mailer can write. He’s so good at pacing, so perfect at detailing, that at times I had to blink a few times and look around my room to break the spell of anxiety and nausea the men (and I) were experiencing.

5) Setting (5 stars) – If you want to feel—not intellectually understand but feel—the misery, the solitude, the tension, the mud, the heat, the exhaustion of war, then crack open this book.

6) Overall (4 stars) – This was a tough one. There is so much in this book that’s great—the writing, the setting—but in the end I just wish there was a deeper message, a little more culmination of macro plot, a little more depth of intelligence or morality in the characters, that I can’t give it a 5. But I can certainly give it a 4 and recommend it, which I will.


Tags : The Naked and the Dead: 50th Anniversary Edition [Norman Mailer] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Hailed as one of the finest novels to come out of the Second World War, The Naked</i> and the Dead</i> received unprecedented critical acclaim upon its publication and has since become part of the American canon. This fiftieth anniversary edition features a new introduction created especially for the occasion by Norman Mailer. Written in gritty,Norman Mailer,The Naked and the Dead: 50th Anniversary Edition,Picador,0312265050,FIC032000,Literary,Historical fiction,War stories,World War, 1939-1945,World War, 1939-1945;Pacific Area;Fiction.,138004 Holt Picador Paper-Pic TPR,FICTION Literary,FICTION War & Military,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction-Literary,GENERAL,General Adult,Pacific Area,War & Military,War & combat fiction,literary fiction; literary novels; American literature; American authors; classics; historical fiction; historical novels; war stories; war novels; WWII historical fiction; WWII historical fiction novels; journalistic fiction; journalism; pacific theater; japan; war fiction; contemporary fiction; contemporary novels; contemporary literature; death and destruction; world war two historical novels; classic war novels; classic war fiction; best war novels

The Naked and the Dead 50th Anniversary Edition Norman Mailer 9780312265052 Books Reviews

Norman Mailer’s first masterpiece depicts the nitty gritty of war in the Pacific. The novel is cleverly arranged as each member on the patrol back story is told via ‘The Time Machine.’ Many surprises are revealed which makes the book well worth the effort sometimes needed to keep on reading.
If your mind is an automobile then make it a four-wheel drive and buckle up for a long road trip up dangerous crevasses and into the lives of an Army unit invading an island in the Pacific that details the event from beach landing to mopping up months later. Every character is developed in such detail that you wonder how one man could pull off so many individual psychologies so well. Just like the tortuous slog up the mountain by the recon squad, at times the book feels like a mountain whose peak seems unattainable; it's a long book.

There are times when I wished the pace would quicken, but reading page after page of the utter exhaustion felt by the squad members as they haul an injured fellow soldier down a mountain and though a jungle has the effect of you being there with them;, salt streaks on the stiff utilities, jungle sun beating down on your neck, iron and bile in your throat. So yes, sometimes it's tortuous, but by the time the final attack starts and the recon patrol is clinging to the edge of a mountain for their lives, it's definitely worth it.

I think my military background influenced my awarding five stars; if you've never been in a platoon and dealt with the personalities, hatred, love, squad dynamics, etc., you might not identify as well.
What can I say that hasn't been said before? It's a must read. I went through this book faster then I thought I would. That's because I could put it down. There were times when I thought a point was labored to much, but also it take a lot to express an idea or feeling someone else is experiencing. I don't believe I'll ever forget this story and how it expressed pain and duty. I know a little about those subjects. Read this!
Reading Norman Mailer's first published novel is a lesson on how language and word usage has deteriorated in the last half century. Maybe I read too much alternative fiction (collectively the worst genre ever for skilled, good writing) or multiple volume sci-fi (second worst). Think kindergartener vs college student. My first Mailer. Fantastically intelligent writing. And a first novel at a relatively young age.
It reminds us, even in our insulated digitalized lives, of the horror and futility of war. Imagine if all that money were used to deal with issues like cancer, hunger, illiteracy......I could go on. Read it and have your children read it before they become of age to join the military.
I worked with a man who was an infantry officer in the South Pacific during WWII. Sometimes when we were together on business we would swap stories about our service days. My service was as a Navy Officer during the Cold War and completely safe compared to his. Mine tended to be funny. His were sometimes hair-raising. His descriptions of his experiences of combat on Pacific islands were similar to Mailer's. This is, of course, fact-based fiction. A story well-told by a good story-teller.
Mailer is a talented writer, but this novel if far more about exhaustive character studies and redundant dialoge than it is about combat. Still, "The Naked and Dead" was quite a feat for a writer in his early 20s, and Mailers cynicism toward authority and the miltary in general is clear. But I had to skim entire passages to keep the action moving. If one wants a war novel with more action, there are far better choices such as "All Quiet on the Western Front".
1) Plot (4 stars) – An Army platoon lands on the jungle island of Anopopei during the Second World War, and confronts confusion, physical misery, and internal squabbles as they stumble toward an invisible and unknowable enemy. For those looking for a linear plot with a hero steadily gaining wisdom that he will ultimately use to defeat the enemy in a dramatic climax, you will be disappointed. For Mailer instead focuses on the nuances of war to drive his narrative, the micro-tensions. And those little personal battles were enough to keep me reading, although I have to admit that at times I was begging for someone to do something big, or accomplish something notable.

2) Characters (4 stars) – Mailer takes great care in detailing his characters, devoting whole chapters to each of their backstories. But, with the exception of three – the General, Hearn, and Croft – I didn’t find any particularly interesting. They all seemed so ignorant, so repressed, such 1940s caricatures of tough guys. And on top of that, they never grew, never did anything to feel proud about. But maybe this was how people really acted back then, maybe this was how shallow and puerile the men were, and if so, then bravo for how far we’ve advanced. The only thing that kept me from giving this component a lower score was the aforementioned three characters, who were fascinating for the 33% of the story they were on stage. Which just goes to show that Mailer had the ability to draw unusual and compelling characters, but didn’t for some reason. Perhaps to make the experience more authentic? War a never-ending nightmare of being trapped in a middle school locker room with all the idiots you hate.

3) Theme (3 stars) – There is a bit in here about the class chasm between poor enlisted folks and the rich educated officers. There’s also something about how cruel people can be both to their own as well as the enemy. And there’s certainly something about man vs. nature, about how in the end man’s war is puny against the storms and jungles and mountains. But … I’m not sure what new I was supposed to learn from any of these themes. Except, perhaps, that it’s all pointless, which is a valid but not especially useful message.

4) Voice (5 stars) – For me, this (and the setting) were the gems of the book. Mailer can write. He’s so good at pacing, so perfect at detailing, that at times I had to blink a few times and look around my room to break the spell of anxiety and nausea the men (and I) were experiencing.

5) Setting (5 stars) – If you want to feel—not intellectually understand but feel—the misery, the solitude, the tension, the mud, the heat, the exhaustion of war, then crack open this book.

6) Overall (4 stars) – This was a tough one. There is so much in this book that’s great—the writing, the setting—but in the end I just wish there was a deeper message, a little more culmination of macro plot, a little more depth of intelligence or morality in the characters, that I can’t give it a 5. But I can certainly give it a 4 and recommend it, which I will.