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Fiction. Literature. HTML: A novel of army life in the calm before Pearl Harbor: A New York Times bestseller, a National Book Award winner, and "one of the great books of our time" (Newsday). At the Pearl Harbor army base in 1941, Robert E. Lee Prewitt is Uncle Sam's finest bugler. A career soldier with no patience for army politics, Prewitt becomes incensed when a commander's favorite wins the title of First Bugler. His indignation results in a transfer to an infantry unit whose commander is less interested in preparing for war than he is in boxing. But when Prewitt refuses to join the company team, the commander and his sergeant decide to make the bugler's life hell. An American classic now available with scenes and dialogue considered unfit for publication in the 1950s, From Here to Eternity is a stirring picture of army life in the months leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. This ebook features an illustrated biography of James Jones including rare photos from the author's estate..… (more)
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About three quarters of the way through the novel Private Robert E Lee Prewitt is court-martialled for assaulting a senior offices. He is a man who you would be wise to ask first before using his nickname Prew. His pride and his obstinacy have set him up against the system that he knows and loves. He has been overlooked for a promotion and transferred to another unit who take him because of his boxing skills (before hostilities, commissioned officers lived or died by the athletic successes of the men they commanded), but Prewitt for personal reasons will not join the boxing team. He is given the "treatment" by his commanding officers who want to break his spirit and make him change his mind. When an irresistible force meets an immovable object then Prewitts path to a court martial and time in prison (the Stockade) seems inevitable
In room no 2 in the stockade Prew thinks that he is amongst men just like himself - he thinks “that he did not have to explain", because each one of them had the same hard unbroachable sense of ridiculous personal honour that he had never been able to free himself from either.
Hard labour in the stockade comes with cruel beatings as the breaking of a man's spirit is the only way of getting him in the right frame of mind to take his place back in the army.
Private Prewitts story runs in parallel to that of Milt Warden a staff sergeant who takes pride in his ability to play the system for his own ends. Like Prewitt he has the same pride in his abilities; pouring scorn on those around him who he can harass and bully. The Warden as he is called finds himself in deep water when he falls in love with his commanding officers wife. His playing of the system does not stretch quite far enough to allow him to indulge in a long term affair with Karen Holmes and like Prewitt who falls in love with Alma the most beautiful girl in the services-men's brothel he struggles to contain his feelings within the context of the harsh army life that he leads.
Towards the end of the novel the attack on Pearl Harbour which results in the infantry seeing action for the first time albeit far enough back from the centre of the attack so as not to endanger life: leads to the army being put on a war footing with the inevitable tightening of security measures. Both Prewitt and Warden are forced to make choices in a new lockdown situation.
Author James Jones knew how the army works and his own experiences would have enabled him to draw and refine the male characters that people his novel and while he may have too rosey a picture of the women who work in the brothels, he is more convincing with the restrictions that army wives must undergo and the life that they are forced to lead. His book bristles with machismo and sexism as the cultural norm, but there is room for finer feelings and briefly Warden and to a lesser extent Prewitt attempt to find a more enlightened viewpoint. They indulge themselves in cod psychology and Prewitt is searching for someone to provide him with some answers that he can accept. Jones is careful not to take this too far and the level of discussion is probably fitting to that of young army recruits, however these young recruits do not lack experience of the culture of a disciplined service that needs to be ready for war.
Jones attempts to re-create the dialogue that he would have heard during his time in the army and so there is some slang; phrases are shortened and words are made up or misspelt. This gives his story some authenticity, but is not overdone to the extent of making parts of his book unreadable. I found the whole novel very readable indeed. This was Jones first novel and he went onto write [Some Came Running] and [The Thin Red Line] among others in which his military experience and knowledge also played a major part. I am pleased to have been taken into the world that Jones inhabited, but probably won't feel the need to read another. However 4 stars for this mammoth undertaking.
I hope to catch a showing of the 1953 film soon if only to see Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr rolling about in the surf on the beach.
As far as describing a lost generation of comparatively uneducated (by present day standards) men given few options as a result of the Depression, Jones has written a perfect military counterpoint to "The Grapes of Wrath." There is a thematic love-hate relationship in the novel: love for Hawaii, hate for the Army experienced by the main characters and strongest in Karen Holmes. Overarching all is the feeling of alienation within all the characters -- major and minor, a theme widely explored by writers in the mid-century. Jones interestingly lards his novel with the motif of fertility and Nature's strong drive for life set against the looming threat and actuality of mindless slaughter, whether of the individual (Prewitt) or in the mass of humanity (Pearl Harbor). Underlying the entire novel is the menace of violence -- boxing, physical abuse and the threat of abuse of women by men, fist fights and knifings, culminating in the aerial attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor.
Sadly, because it's seldom the case and because imagination ranges more deeply in books, the movie version of the novel is more powerful and tightly delivered, which illustrates how Jones' would have benefitted from better editing, which isn't to say censoring, that the book underwent. To the reader's ear, it's hard to distinguish the "voices" of the male characters, certain scenes go on too long (such as the card game in the latrine), and Jones uses repetition of phrases in dialogue too often for it to be effective, thus it's reduced to being annoying.
All that aside, the portraits of Prewitt, Warden, Maggio, and Karen Holmes are strong, human, realistic, and memorable. Yet, one wonders if that isn't so because of one's knowledge of the movie characters rather than from one's experience of them in the novel.
As part of the naturalistic tradition in American literature, including Twain, Hemingway, and Steinbeck, Jones' compellingly drawn characterizations and scenes are not formally tight, but, are, instead raw and human and often confusing/confused, which, here, is a very good thing.
I’ve read many “war” novels, a good number of which deal with World War II, but there were aspects of army life from this period that I was completely unaware of prior to reading this book. For example, the interaction between the Hawaiian servicemen and the local homosexual population (was this limited to Hawaii?) was completely unknown to me, as were many of the issues relating to military discipline. Much of the jargon and regimental culture was also new. While there were some aspects of the military which were somewhat confusing (a lot of different classes of sergeant), by and large the book was extremely educational as it relates to the period and the military culture on the island at the time.
This novel is “real” and in your face, with very little symbolism or subtlety. Having read it, I will immediately pursue the author’s other work, especially the Thin Red Line, though I saw the movie and thought it was awful. I have a feeling the book will be a major improvement.
I’ve read many “war” novels, a good number of which deal with World War II, but there were aspects of army life from this period that I was completely unaware of prior to reading this book. For example, the interaction between the Hawaiian servicemen and the local homosexual population (was this limited to Hawaii?) was completely unknown to me, as were many of the issues relating to military discipline. Much of the jargon and regimental culture was also new. While there were some aspects of the military which were somewhat confusing (a lot of different classes of sergeant), by and large the book was extremely educational as it relates to the period and the military culture on the island at the time.
This novel is “real” and in your face, with very little symbolism or subtlety. Having read it, I will immediately pursue the author’s other work, especially the Thin Red Line, though I saw the movie and thought it was awful. I have a feeling the book will be a major improvement.
I read it at least twice.