Jarhead Review

“Jarhead”

“Jarhead” is a very special book, because it is different from everything else written recently. Most of the books are written by professional writers. This book is different. It is written by a Marine who wants to tell his story but has a hard time doing it.

After reading the first sixty pages, one is left with strange feelings. First of all, it is important to praise the author for his strange but appealing ability to combine different aspects of his life in one paragraph or page. Reading the beginning of the book was very unusual, because the author was travelling easily through time and space, and the readers had to do the same. The beauty of such “travels” was in the fact that the author’s experience is a very recent one. He speaks about events which triggered the entire nation. These events were widely talked about; they were the primary interest of the media. Nevertheless, very little was known about their “human” side. People knew about it thanks to television, but they did not hear about it from a person who experienced it oneself. Thanks to Swofford, they were able to learn about it from an active participant.

First sixty pages revealed not only what the book would be about, but also difficult and sometimes challenging state of mind of the author. His experience is combined with personal revelations where he speaks about his loneliness, spirit and expresses doubts concerning his life. The beginning of the book is a strange combination of the author’s background, thoughts, and reminiscences about the facts, information about his Marine Scout Sniper experience during Persian Gulf War as well as reflections of his later self. The author is able to look back at his life during the wartime and evaluate it. Nevertheless, from the very beginning of the book, one can feel how challenging and difficult it is for the author to be unbiased and objective despite everything he writes. He was not a mere eyewitness, but a participant who had a certain position; and the beginning of the book shows the struggle in his soul concerning that experience.