John Mort’s compelling first novel embodies both the Vietnam combat experience and the sad aftermath for those who underwent it. Alternating between “stateside” chapters after the war and the Vietnam chapters dramatizing it, the novel creates a tension back and forth in time as well as geography. We participate in the trauma of combat in crisp and authentic detail, and we witness the effect of that experience on “Irish” Donnelly, a bookish, reluctant soldier, and his fellow infantrymen in the jungles and mountains of Vietnam. Transcending any “political” focus, Soldier in Paradise dramatically renders the alienation of Vietnam veterans, ordinary men who’ve had an extra burden to bear because of the protracted, brutish character of an unpopular war that never came to a satisfactory end.
Download and start listening now!
Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
John Mort served in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970 as a radio operator with the 1st Cavalry Division. He received his MFA in writing from the University of Iowa in 1974 and his MLS in 1976. The recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in 1992, he is a librarian, columnist, and reviewer whose previous books are the story collections Tanks and The Walnut King. He lives in Missouri.
Jerry Sciarrio is a voice talent and audiobook narrator.