I read The
Forever War over the weekend, and enjoyed it, even though I am not at
all a science fiction fan. This line in particular struck me:
... the enemy was a curious organism only vaguely
understood, more often the subject of cartoons than nightmares. The main effect
of the war on the homefront was economic, unemotional…" (131)
Of course, in the book the enemy turns out to be not quite
what the earthlings thought. By contrast, I think we have a pretty good idea of
what
al Qaeda
is about.
We are getting so accustomed to it that the bombing in Istanbul and the church massacre
in Baghdad didn't particularly seem to make big news here.
Weird fiction note: I was also surprised to see that the
love interest in Haldeman's book has the same given name and family name
as the author's real wife. I
think that is the first time I've seen that.
The novel also interested me in
its representation of the passage of time. When I wrote a novel, I found
handling time unexpectedly difficult. It also reminded me of Iraq in 2003-05,
where I remember watching our bureau chief age before our eyes. We used to joke
that an Iraq year was a like a dog year -- between the fear and stress, the
horrendous climate, the hours worked, and the alcohol, you aged seven years for
every one you spent there. I remember one night watching a Danish reporter have
two glasses of wine before dinner, and then kill a whole bottle of vodka with
her meal.
Read More
(6)
HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE