Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides: April Book of the Month

[Beestie]

Couple maps and a pic to add some dimension to the story.

[wolf]

Mine still hasn't arrived from amazon used. hopefully will before the end of the week ... if not, I'll contact the vendor. And cry.

[Torrere]

Before I post my review of the book (I bought it at a local used bookstore a week ago and started it this morning), what were the rules for making posts about the book?



I do have a question for the readers, however:

The Rangers want to rescue 500 prisoners who are physically ruined and drag them 30 miles to Guimba. Is the way that they do it something that can be figured out by page 112?

[Clodfobble]

It's not like it's a twist that was impossible to think of, although I don't recall it being hinted at in any way before they figure out what they're going to do. (I haven't finished the book, but I'm most of the way through--got to start reading almost immediately because I'm a big fan of the public library.)

If you pm me what you guess, I'll tell you if you're right.

[Griff]

Another question... I know its not the main focus of the book but is the author giving MacArthur a pass in this book? It seems like I read that he didn't implement the standing plan to retreat into Bataan properly, using the prepositioned supplies etc.. and there's the whole thing about getting caught with his planes down after Pearl Harbor... There are reasons why the prisoners were hung out to dry, you'd think it'd be a big part of the story.

[wolf]

Arrived the other day, and I'm rapidly making my way through.

It's not a subject I'd read much on before (of course I'd heard of the Death March, but didn't know much about it).

I am interested in the way that the book is constructed, as in the way the story is presented ... I found it a bit disorienting at first, though.

[Beestie]

Originally posted by wolf

... I found it a bit disorienting at first, though.

It's very disorienting to me so I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one. Seems the author keeps bouncing around between 1942 and 1945 and from one thread to another without much warning. Miss one sentence and your lost for 20 pages.

Things seem to be settling down, tho.

I have a huge question about the story but I'm going to wait to see if the book answers it first.

I found the mother lode of pictures about this event including pictures of General King, Homma and the Commandant of Camp O'Donnel (name slipped my mind). The link is here

[wolf]

It gets a bit better as you approach the point of "impact." Keep going.

I would have appreciated time references at the beginning of each chapter a LOT.

[Torrere]

Clodfobble: It's definitely not a twist, but I didn't like the way that the author presented the plan. I thought that I could have come up with it if I'd been trying to anticipate how it would all be done, and, since I found references to it, I wondered if someone else would be able to.

[Clodfobble]

I thought that I could have come up with it if I'd been trying to anticipate how it would all be done,

You mean, if you were there at the time, or if you'd been trying to figure it out as you began reading the book?

[Torrere]

If I'd been trying to figure it out as I was reading the book.

And, hopefully, if I'd been there, too.

It might be biased because I had been reading about the Korean and Vietnam wars immediately previous to reading this book.

[Clodfobble]

Just finished it today.

My favorite chapter by far was the one where they discussed the rare wacktacular diseases the prisoners would occasionally suffer from. Stuff like that fascinates me.

[wolf]

Originally posted by Beestie
I found the mother lode of pictures about this event including pictures of General King, Homma and the Commandant of Camp O'Donnel (name slipped my mind). The link is here

In looking at the pictures, I noticed that Sides, in his book, does not have a lot to say about non-American prisoners ... he does mention some European prisoners, but there was absolutely nothing about Filipinos captured by the Japanese.

[wolf]

hey, stevedallas, you read this before the rest of us did. Are you going to get in on the commentating?

[mrnoodle]

Originally posted by Griff
Another question... I know its not the main focus of the book but is the author giving MacArthur a pass in this book? It seems like I read that he didn't implement the standing plan to retreat into Bataan properly, using the prepositioned supplies etc.. and there's the whole thing about getting caught with his planes down after Pearl Harbor... There are reasons why the prisoners were hung out to dry, you'd think it'd be a big part of the story.

I think there's a reluctance to pin blame on any one person. MacArthur was no more to blame than Roosevelt, who was no more to blame than the persisting notion among soldiers that the Phillipines as some kind of tropical safe haven. Pg. 38 --

Life in the Orient is easygoing with emphasis on the manana and siesta ethic. With the tremendous military buildup here, a Jap attack seems unlikely...There's nothing going to happen here.

When Homma sent the whole friggin army in after them, they were totally unprepared, from the foot soldier up to the commander in chief. MacArthur was a blowhard, but he felt terrible about what had happened on Bataan. (Pg. 327 has him visiting the survivors and weeping. Hibbs is quoted as saying, "I wondered whether the general's visit was a guilt trip, but his grief could not have been more genuine."
I don't think anyone really has a good cubbyhole to place MacArthur in yet. He's the central heroic figure of the Pacific War, but he was deficient in many respects.