James Brady (1) (1928–2009)

This is an odd book. I read this biography of Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone in order to gain more insight into the Guadalcanal battle in the Pacific. I did gain some insight. What Brady discovered in researching this book is that the story of John Basilone has a great many discrepancies. Seems like some other readers of the book got annoyed with the author for pointing out time and again all the things that aren't right (as well as what seems OK). The middle part of the book was pretty much a bore for me, redeemed by the short but informative section of Iwo Jima. After finishing this we get an idea of who John Basilone was but not really a good picture, and I don't think some of the "truth" will be known. I'm not trying to be mysterious with that statement. Overall the book could have been written a little better.… (mer)

Brady's work has a ringing of truth to it, from start to finish. Very nearly reading as if it's a piece of nonfiction, but for its strict focus on the story and the characters at hand, the work brings to life moments of humor, love, and misery, and does so with such attention to setting and attitude that the reader becomes something of a fly on the wall of Captain Verity's journey... and is just so horrified by it as they are thankful for Brady's crafting of such a narrative.

It took me some time to discover Brady, though I'd heard his name. When I thought of war literature, I thought of Norman Mailer and Tim O'Brien, and of All Quiet on the Western Front and a handful of others. Yet, there's something about The Marines of Autumn--a sort of authenticity that comes through in Brady's style--that I'm not sure I've quite seen elsewhere. There were moments here where I was reminded I was reading fiction, but more often than not, that wasn't how I felt at all.

Absolutely recommended.… (mer)