Early in this book the author informs the reader something along the lines of ‘the writing of this book is more about my needing to tell it.’ In fairness, that is a very perceptive and thoughtful comment and it goes some way to explaining my own feelings having read this book. The experiences of one American as he navigates the world falling apart that was Vietnam in the late 1960s are always going to amount to mere glimpses - however horrific - of the wider tapestry of the Vietnam war, to use the author’s own word. As such, this book inevitably suffers from the difficulty of offering more than it can deliver, since one man’s experiences are so necessarily limited. Nonetheless this is a brave effort to add to the immense amount of analysis, description and critique of the American War in Vietnam.

An interesting new perspective on a tragic period in history, the author offers an unusual point of view as an American civilian in Vietnam.

An authentic enough voice from history to get the story across, but ultimately the "civilian" part is really emphasized in the story. Of course, it's better to stick to the facts of what really happened, but that's the point about reality sometimes: it can be dull. Not to say that interesting things don't happen, but I think I was expecting more violence in its realism, kind of like when I first read The Sorrow of War by Bảo Ninh.