Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 11, 1993 TAG: 9304090441
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by KENNETH LOCKE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
WAR TALE OF VIETNAM HAS IT ALL
US. By Wayne Karlin. Henry Holt. $22.50War stories usually fall into one of three main categories: true stories which are told in a flat, take-it-or-leave-it style; Rambo-type adventures meant to appeal to frustrated adolescents; and fantasy stories that speak more to the psyche than to the war they describe.
"Us" fits this last category with a vengeance.
The protagonist is Loman, a self-described "good and fair pimp," who runs a Bangkok bar frequented by sex-seeking tourists and washed-out Vietnam vets. Against his better judgment he agrees to help a draft-dodging, opportunistic young congressman look for MIAs in the Golden Triangle.
What follows is a tale of increasing darkness, violence, betrayals, drug wars, hallucination and self-realization. By the end, the reader knows that it is not the MIAs who are missing but rather some moral framework in our society. Struck by the emptiness of our own lives we seek to exorcise the emptiness by tracking down the nonmissing.
This book reads like a collaboration between Tim O'Brien and John LeCarre. Ordinary anti-heroes, who in lesser hands would become stereotypes or even caricatures, are raised to the level of archetypes. One is constantly aware of a deeper, metaphysical level of meaning which helps raise this book to the level of a really good psychological war novel. Fortunately, the reader does not need to be a philosopher to enjoy this work. The characters and descriptions ring true at every level. From any angle you may wish to read it, "Us" is an excellent tale of war, emptiness and the price of self-deception.
Kenneth Locke is a Radford writer.