The war in Vietnam is, in many ways, a scar in American history. A bad war; to some extent a meaningless war; a war that was lost even thought every day, for years, 
It is quite likely that it wasn’t at all coincidental that the great American satires of war, Catch-22
Matterhorn is truly a marvelous novel – it is the debut novel of Karl Marlantes (see picture), yet very likely the definite Vietnam War novel. It reminds me a lot of Erich Maria Remarque’s excellent World War I novel All Quiet on the Western Front.
In Matterhorn we meet Lieutenant Waino Mellas and the men of Bravo Company. We meet the absurdity of war – both this war and others; the bravery and camaraderie; the honor and glory; as well as the racism and stupidity. We feel the dampness of the jungle, the sharp edges of the elephant grass, the leeches and the mud. We recognize the fear, the horror and the many ways in which the men hide, disguise and pretend away those emotions; their dark humor that camouflages so much. Marlantes brings us into the jungle, into the Marine Corps, into the war itself with vivid, sharp descriptions and with a story that is completely alive.
It is a brilliant Vietnam War epic where we are unceremoniously dropped into the jungle, disoriented and dripping with leeches, with only a newbie lieutenant as our guide. Lieutenant Mellas is a college kid who entered the Marines as a means to an education, never dreaming that he would have to fight a war, and certainly not of fighting a “war that none of his friends thought was worth fighting.” And he meets it all down there in Vietnam: jungle rot, malnourishment, drenching monsoons, mudslides, exposure to Agent Orange, and wild animals that wreak havoc; along with punishing combat, bitterness, rage, disease, alcoholism, racial tensions, and hubris; an environment where kids are pushed constantly beyond the limits of human endurance. And, of course, he also meets the utter stupidity and arrogance of superior officers hunting for glory with a total disregard for their men, and the systematic manufacturing of lies up the chain of command.
Matterhorn is a glorious, utterly fascinating book. It is also, at many levels a completely sickening book to read; not because it lacks realism, but rather because it describes pain, hurt, suffering, meaninglessness, and stupidity in a completely authentic manner.
A highly decorated Vietnam veteran, Marlantes brings the horrors and heroism of war to life with the finesse of a seasoned writer. Matterhorn is as much about the development of Mellas from boy to man in three months, from the kind of man you fight beside to the man you fight for, as it is about the war itself. And through the untrained eyes of this young man, Marlantes lets us gain a new perspective on the ravages of this war, the politics and bureaucracy of the military, and the peculiar beauty of brotherhood. It is a very, very powerful book, a grand, distinctive accomplishment! I doubt there will ever be a better novel about the Vietnam War than Matterhorn.
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