Matterhorn
A Novel of the Vietnam War
by Karl Marlantes · first published 2010
71% recommend29% neutral
Intense, powerful, and compelling, Matterhorn is an epic war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and James Jones's The Thin Red Line. It is the timeless story of a young Marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: ra
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…alongside enlisted were less at fault for the needless deaths than the incompetent general staff or the political actors who got us and kept us over there in the first place. You might enj the novel “Matterhorn” by Karl Marlantes, a Marine infantry officer who served with distinction in Vietnam. Or you might prefer “Dereliction of Duty” by Lt General H.R. McMaster, a renowned commander of the GWOT era who wrote…
on “U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)” ↗I was going to put this in reply to the article, but I'll say it here instead. Karl Marlantes' Matterhorn is one of the greatest American novels written in the last decade. Read it and you'll see that both of you are pretty much of the same opinion. (FWIW: I'm also an OEF/OIF vet, but not a combat vet.)
on “The Born Soldier” ↗For anyone reading this: Matterhorn is really good. It's a novel that takes place during the Vietnam war written by a former vet. I feel like it was good insight into what war is like. Also some good lessons to take away on nature of…
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. Probably the best expose about the vileness of politicians and command ladder climbers within the service as they related to Vietnam.
on “Ask HN: What were the best books you read this year?” ↗Matterhorn was a great book. I'll have to check out the other.
on “No Combat Without Movement: Enders Game as Maneuver Warfare Primer” ↗…Tchaikovsky. It took me a bit to get into this book, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. If you're into long timelines and human existential crisis this is your book. As far as July goes, I'm digging into "Matterhorn" by Karl Marlantes and "The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" by Julian Jaynes.
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes I'm also: 1) slowly working through F. Copleston's History of Philosophy Volume 1: Greece and Rome while reading selections of the philosophers he discusses…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading right now?” ↗