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gabmc's review against another edition
3.0
The language in this book was beautiful - even the horrific descriptions of the Korean war, which I know very little about. Henry Childs is only 17 when he falls in love with Mercy, who is only 18. He is still at high school and has a promising baseball career ahead of him. However, first love is strong and Henry and Mercy run away to New Orleans to be together. Mercy comes from a prominent family and her brother and father come and drag her back home. Henry is devastated and so joins the Marines where he is soon sent to Korea. He makes a great friend and barely survives, with horrible napalm burns. His experiences in Korea are brutal and the war forces him to grew up way too quickly.
sonia_reppe's review against another edition
4.0
This is the third book by Olmstead I've read; I still like his memoir the best.
As the book jacket says, it is "a novel of love & war." Incidentally, my favorite novel of love and war is E.M.Remarch's "A Time To Love And A Time To Die."
Olmstead's writing is smooth and artful. The story is about young Henry, at seventeen he has a love affair and is despised by the girl's family. After the girl's brother almost kills him, he follows in the footsteps of his male relatives by enlisting in the Marines, and he is sent to fight in the Korean war. Yeah, war is gross, but a good writer can take a moment and make it about more than just that moment. So, don't shy away from this book just because of the war scenes.
I knew the writing would be beautifully descriptive because Olmstead is a master, and I like his stark style. He knows when to put in details and he knows when to leave them out. One minor complaint: Olmstead seems to be against using contractions under any circumstance which makes the dialogue a little stiff at times.
As the book jacket says, it is "a novel of love & war." Incidentally, my favorite novel of love and war is E.M.Remarch's "A Time To Love And A Time To Die."
Olmstead's writing is smooth and artful. The story is about young Henry, at seventeen he has a love affair and is despised by the girl's family. After the girl's brother almost kills him, he follows in the footsteps of his male relatives by enlisting in the Marines, and he is sent to fight in the Korean war. Yeah, war is gross, but a good writer can take a moment and make it about more than just that moment. So, don't shy away from this book just because of the war scenes.
I knew the writing would be beautifully descriptive because Olmstead is a master, and I like his stark style. He knows when to put in details and he knows when to leave them out. One minor complaint: Olmstead seems to be against using contractions under any circumstance which makes the dialogue a little stiff at times.
jeremyanderberg's review against another edition
4.0
I've read two other Robert Olmstead novels, both during my Westerns project last year. The Savage Country was about a buffalo hunt, and Far Bright Star was about a small military outfit on the hunt for Pancho Villa. Both were good, but also desolate and violent. While Olmstead tends to write in the Western genre, this one is half love story and half Korean War story.
Henry Childs is just 17 when he falls in love with well-to-do Mercy. The intensity and emotion that Olmstead puts into that young relationship is very moving and remarkably believable. You feel for the characters and root for their story. But then Mercy's dad intervenes, and Henry ends up enlisting with the Marines and is shipped off to the Korean War on the cusp of its most intense battle — the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. (If that sounds familiar, it's because I read On Desperate Ground — the remarkable Korean War history — at the start of the year.)
The battle scenes are intense to say the least. Yes, there's the brutal violence, but also numbing cold, an unforgiving landscape, and relentless exhaustion. One of the most poignant parts of the book for me was actually at the end in an author's note. He related a story about being at an event and a woman asking why his battle scenes were so gruesome. It was a military vet who actually answered, saying something along the lines of "Mam, this was our experience. We need to be able to talk about the reality of what happened, otherwise you're just getting a glossed over version. This is what war is." A powerful point, to say the least.
Though at times hard to read, as books about war often are, The Coldest Night was really good. Olmstead's writing is sometimes poetic, but also Hemingway-esque in its sparseness and short, declarative sentence structure. It's a really interesting mix. His books are undeniably grim, but what I wrote about Far Bright Star remains true here too: There's an odd beauty to be found within the desolation of the story.
Henry Childs is just 17 when he falls in love with well-to-do Mercy. The intensity and emotion that Olmstead puts into that young relationship is very moving and remarkably believable. You feel for the characters and root for their story. But then Mercy's dad intervenes, and Henry ends up enlisting with the Marines and is shipped off to the Korean War on the cusp of its most intense battle — the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. (If that sounds familiar, it's because I read On Desperate Ground — the remarkable Korean War history — at the start of the year.)
The battle scenes are intense to say the least. Yes, there's the brutal violence, but also numbing cold, an unforgiving landscape, and relentless exhaustion. One of the most poignant parts of the book for me was actually at the end in an author's note. He related a story about being at an event and a woman asking why his battle scenes were so gruesome. It was a military vet who actually answered, saying something along the lines of "Mam, this was our experience. We need to be able to talk about the reality of what happened, otherwise you're just getting a glossed over version. This is what war is." A powerful point, to say the least.
Though at times hard to read, as books about war often are, The Coldest Night was really good. Olmstead's writing is sometimes poetic, but also Hemingway-esque in its sparseness and short, declarative sentence structure. It's a really interesting mix. His books are undeniably grim, but what I wrote about Far Bright Star remains true here too: There's an odd beauty to be found within the desolation of the story.
firerosearien's review against another edition
3.0
Part II, dealing with the Korean war, was really well done and an example of the most harrowing war lit, reminiscent of For Whom the Bell Tolls.
The other parts - the whole love affair with Mercy - I found myself racing through. Perhaps this is a failure of me as a reader, perhaps it's the book, but you'll have to make that call for yourself.
The other parts - the whole love affair with Mercy - I found myself racing through. Perhaps this is a failure of me as a reader, perhaps it's the book, but you'll have to make that call for yourself.
jwmcoaching's review against another edition
2.0
125 pages was more than enough for me; I didn't really feel the need to finish. The first part has dialogue that is laughably written; as one GRer put it, it has the subtlety of an anvil.
Olmstead is certainly a student of the Cormac McCarthy school of writing and his descriptions can be beautiful, but the dialogue is more along the lines of "You sure are purty...". Gag me...
The second section is better written, but at that point, I just didn't care enough to continue.
Olmstead is certainly a student of the Cormac McCarthy school of writing and his descriptions can be beautiful, but the dialogue is more along the lines of "You sure are purty...". Gag me...
The second section is better written, but at that point, I just didn't care enough to continue.
peabodyjen's review against another edition
I gave up on this one. I just didn't care about the characters!
djrmelvin's review
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this book, probably because I couldn't get past that the author seemed to be deliberately writing in the very clipped and brusque style of Cormac McCarthy. I'm willing to admit that could be entirely my impression and not at all what the author set out to do, but when a reader is thinking more about the style of the writing rather than the actual story telling, that's not a good thing. On the plus side, the characters are unique and the setting is intriguing (there really aren't a lot of stories set in the Korean War, are there?). The story sticks to it's dark beginning, never promising a happy ending and never delivering one either.
madtraveler's review against another edition
3.0
Good book. First love and war about sums it up. One third is a brutal account of the Korean War, the love story is OK, the ending a bit unsatisfying.
oldrunningmom's review
5.0
I could not put this one down. Beautiful, sparse, tragic, poignant...a love story, a war tale...it is about letting go yet embracing the past. Loved it.
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