Nicholas Proffitt (1943–2006)

I just finished reading the book Gardens of Stone by Nicholas Proffitt, a book that my father has recommended I read at least three times a year since I learned the alpabet. For some reason, I put it off. My father reads quite a bit, and I've read several authors he's recommended and I get a thrill when I see one of mine on his pile, so I had no particular reasoning for not reading that book. I even bought a copy about seven years ago, and it sat on the bookshelf. In that time both my sister and my father reread it, and the recommendations increased. So I finally broke down at the beginning of the month and began to read it. One would think, given the hype, it couldn't possibly have lived up to expectations.

One would be wrong. The book made me cry at the end and laugh at parts throughout. The author was a war correspondent and he shows he has the chops to create very realistic dialogue and darkly funny situations the characters encounter. The book is the story of the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetary, led by Sergeant Clell Hazard during the Vietnam War. As an Army lifer, he disagrees with the Vietnam War and the way it is run, but feels it is his duty to try to help the kids going over to survive it. He falls in love with a reporter for the Washington Post that lives in his building named Sam Huff, who opposses the war and the military in general. We also follow Jack Willow, who starts his military career with the Old Guard, and we get flash forwards of his desired tour in Vietnam.

The characters were all very well realized, and the women came off as their own people, not attachments to the male characters. (In the few instances where I've read military fiction, the woman are typically useless, two dimensional puppets. This may not be the case always.) There are a few cases where the author gives you a lot of historical information right at the beginning, and there are a number of minor characters who I had trouble following, and at times the military lingo caused me to pause. But it stays with the three mentioned characters exclusively, so if you just ride the wave with them, you're alright. The book had a dark sense of humor that I really enjoyed. Proffitt also didn't shy away from any part of the story, whether it be the brutal reality of war or the awkward joys of sex. He manages to paint these scenes with the right combination of imagery and poetry, but doesn't shy away from just calling the action when necessary. (What I'm trying to say is that the sex scenes are good. I know, I'm a perv. But can't you admit that if you're halfway through a good book and you see something like "engourged salami" or "angry sausage" you don't throw the book in the toilet?)

I just wish my dad would have warned me not to read it in public, so i wouldn't have been blubbering in the breakroom at Wal-Mart when I finished it.… (mehr)

This is a frist rate novel; page turning. A novel about honor and caring. This novel we see a unique side to the army and Vietnam. We see the inner workings of the 3rd US Inf, the Army's Old Guard, which is the unit responsible for Arlington Cemetary and Burial Details. The Nations Premier Honor Guard and the Presidents Own.

This book is for everyone. We will see the enthusiam and innocence of youth in the '60s. Those young men who wanted to go and fight for their country. Worried the war would end before they could get there and help the US win. To the reality the soldier's who had allready been there wake up to, knowing we could not win the war the way it was being waged.… (mehr)