Gene I. Basel
Författare till Pak Six: A True Story
Om författaren
Verk av Gene I. Basel
Taggad
Allmänna fakta
- Vedertaget namn
- Basel, Gene I.
- Namn enligt folkbokföringen
- Basel, Gene I.
- Kön
- male
Medlemmar
Recensioner
Statistik
- Verk
- 1
- Medlemmar
- 32
- Popularitet
- #430,838
- Betyg
- 3.6
- Recensioner
- 1
- ISBN
- 2
If there is any redeeming aspect of this memoir, it is the fact that Basel's simple, quick, declarative prose style can occasionally achieve a jarring, pulpy edginess, especially in the few scenes where missions are particularly 'hairy.' In these instances, the lingo-heavy patter, the short sentences, and the lack of depth can give the book a sharp power and immediacy that ably evokes the speed and disorientation of aerial combat. A number of the missions, from the confusion of the bombing runs on heavily-defended points in North Vietnam (the route 'package' of the title) to the almost accidental felicity of the author's "MIG kill," do give the reader a good sense of author's experience. And, on occasion, his peculiar melange of scattershot scenes, jargon mash-up, random passages of italicized inner monologue, and heavy use of cliched metaphor and simile can blur into a sort of narrative haze that is punctured by the quick adrenaline jolt of the missions -- no doubt a similar feeling to those experienced by the pilots. But far too often, the brevity and laconic triteness make the book feel distant, rote, and inconsequential
In the end, Pak Six is burdened by the availability of so many better memoirs (books like Thud Ridge or When Thunder Rolled or 100 Missions North, which cover the same experiences of F-105 pilots so much more poetically and movingly), that it disappoints by what it isn't. The standards of the genre, given other offerings, are just too high to pull Pak Six out of the category of better-than-average mass-market paperback. It is simply too anecdotal and picayune to recommend to anyone other than the completist.… (mer)