In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War

I've read many books on the subject and this is in the top three. What distinguishes this book from the others is its universality in that this could, with scene changes, be about any war experience in the same vein as All Quiet on the Western Front and Red Badge of Courage. I served during this era, but it makes no difference (with one exception) if you have been in conflict or not because the author is a master of metaphors that reach well beyond battle and delve into the questions and mysteries of life in general. Wolff's style is clear, concise and economical, leaning towards "Hemmingwayesque,"i.e., few if any wasted words. The exception (above) is in the last chapter. Although it will be appreciated by all as a great ending, I don't know if the reader will connect as much if he/she hasn't served...I've re-read it at least five times as Wolff has put into words some of the issues that have plagued me over the years, more so now as I age out...but in a good way because of the clarity with which he expresses those thoughts. (One of those "YES! THAT"S what I've been thinking!" moments.) A teacher or professor of history would do well to teach this book along with the other two (mentioned) for comparison sake, then throw in Matterhorn, Loon: A Marine's Story and We Were Soldiers Once and Young ( three other greats) as contrast in message and style.

I enjoyed reading In Pharaoh’s Army by Tobias Wolff. The reason why I picked it was because I wanted to see how his life progressed and how he matured. Also, the plot was very intriguing, as I love learning about the Vietnam War. One of the things that I really liked about the book was the fact that he jumps around from scene to scene, instead of going chronologically. There are many examples of this, but, as I mentioned in my quick talk, the passage I chose takes place when he is getting ready to go to Vietnam, and earlier in the book he has a chapter about close calls when he almost died in the war. Jumping around and not going chronologically causes the reader to focus more on the overarching themes and his reflection on events, which I really liked. It was also really interesting to see some of the main themes from This Boy’s Life continued in this book. Wolff’s feeling of abandonment is something I noticed in both books. Another thing I loved about this book was the fact that Tobias Wolff makes the book very interesting by using writing techniques like final images, short syntax, and descriptive language to make the book more enjoyable to the reader. Wolff uses these techniques throughout the book, as evident on page 107. “He smiled and shook his finger at me and moved down the aisle, trailed by a fussing retinue or Vietnamese doctors and nurses. He was in his glory”(107). In just a few lines Wolff is able to use very descriptive language in a long sentence followed by a short punchy sentence which leaves a distinct final image. All of these things combined create a very interesting and entertaining passage for the reader. This book was littered with writing techniques like the ones I listed above, which made it a great read. I noticed multiple good memoir techniques used in In Pharaoh’s Army. I know I mentioned it already, but one of the techniques I really liked was how Tobias Wolff jumped around from scene to scene instead of just going chronologically. He does this throughout the book, and it is a great technique to use in this kind of book because it forces the readers to look at the underlying message and themes. The plot is obviously important, but by jumping from scene to scene the reader focuses more on the development of Tobias Wolff, which is great because memoirs are supposed to be more about the development of characters. This technique worked perfectly in this memoir because it allowed us to see Tobias Wolff progress as a character. Imagery is something that can be powerful in all types of writing, especially in memoirs. Tobias Wolff does a great job using imagery to show and not tell, which makes the book a lot more interesting and enjoyable to read. This book is littered with imagery, but I selected one passage that shows the imagery. “I had fed him, now he fed me, and fed me. I have to say, right tastily. There was only one way left to do him justice. I bent to my plate and polished him off” (189). This is a scene where Tobias Wolff is being fed a dog stew which was made from the dog that he had saved and had been taking care of. When I am reading this I feel like I am actually there because of the great imagery provided. He is able to create great imagery by using very specific details, which is evident in this passage. Organization of the plot and imagery are two of the many great memoir techniques utilized by Tobias Wolff in this book. I am really excited to write my memoir because I feel like this book gave me great insight into how to write an intriguing memoir.

From the 1980s to the present, dozens of Vietnam War veterans have written memoirs about their experiences. From the point of view of composition, these fall into three groups. (1) Some of them were composed with the aid of ghost-writers or heavy-handed editors; usually they suffer from the professional touch of a third-party author who assimilates the terrors of the Vietnam War to an adventure-novel. What could have been an authentic witness to war is turned into inauthentic fiction. (2) Some were composed by inexperienced authors who struggled on their own. These books are more authentic than adventure-memoirs, but at times they are difficult to read because they are driven by chronology, and present as a string of episodes ungoverned by thematic purpose. (3) In a third group, some memoirs have both the authenticity of veteran, and the professional touch of an experienced writer. Tobias Wolff's "In Pharaoh's Army" is one of these. Another, much earlier, is Tim O'Brien's "If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Send Me Home." Wolff's memoir follows chronology, but events are grouped in chapters that develop provocative themes. For me, two features of "In Pharaoh's Army" distinguish it from other Vietnam War memoirs. First, it presents as a argument that "free will" is an illusion, as he and others get caught up on the machinery of the state and the juggernaut of war, beginning with the influence of draft boards and public opinion, and ending with the let-down that almost every returning veteran experiences, once the ordeal is over. This theme--no free will--is implied in most war memoirs, for example in the protagonist's thoughts about migration to Canada, which almost never is a real possibility. A young man who enlisted or let himself get drafted, instead of going to Canada, was not practicing free will, but "Canada" is a sign of free will as an illusion. The conclusion to be drawn is that young men who fought in Vietnam cannot be held responsible for whatever happened when they got there, because they were swept up in a course of events that did not include "free will" choices on their part. If you don't like the result, don't send your sons to war. "In Pharaoh's Army" offers more explicit demonstrations of "no free will," although the theme is implied in many other memoirs. A second unique feature of "In Pharaoh's Army" is Wolff's use of "parrhesia" as a rhetorical device that governs the narrative. I mean "parrhesia" not in the classical Greek sense of "artless speaking," "bold speaking," or "speaking truth to power," but in the more specialized sense developed by Michel Foucault, as "disarming public confession of some weakness or fault or transgression." In most Vietnam War memoirs, a military disaster or a friendly-fire episode is someone else's fault. Wolff confesses his own role at times when things went wrong. This is parrhesia. For Foucault, parrhesia is essential to "the care of the self." This is its role when Wolff relates his progress from one tomfoolery blunder to another-- a sequence of semi-comical negatives that add up to a positive: the care of the self.

There are those of us males who were on the leading edge of the baby-boomers - born in the late 1940s - for whom Viet Nam was an experience that forged our futures. After almost 40 years it is good to look back and try to make sense about what happen to ourselves - individually and collectively. Along with Michael Herr's "Dispatches", Tobias Wolff's "In Pharaoh's Army" captures the feeling of those of us who served. on the ground, in Southeast Asia and came home with no physical - and I must admit - very few psychological effects. Wolff captures the phenomenal sangfroid that Americans exhibited during that 95% of the time they were not being attacked - the other 5% was stark terror! Our inability to understand the Vietnamese culture or the war as it was being prosecuted by the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong is starkly portrayed. No better scene has been written that the "sighting" of taller than normal, Vietnamese strangers in the village bar drinking beer before January 31, 1968. The Americans recognized these men as not villagers but did nothing about it. They were North Vietnamese regular soldiers in civilian clothes infiltrating the American "secure hamlets" in order to kick off the 1968 Tet offensive. Our technology superiority was only exceeded by our baseless arrogance. This book is a great read! Pick it up for one of your summer books. If your are of the boomer age or just interested in your parents' generation, you'll enjoy "In Pharaoh's Army" and get a feel for how hundreds of thousands of us lived a part of it.

It’s my third time through, and it gets me every time. It’s a memoir of a soldier who fought in Vietnam. It’s not just about war, and there is not even a mention of him firing his gun. It’s about a being alive during that time, his reacquaintance with his father, his relationships, basic training, losing friends, putting his life in danger trying to find a color TV to watch the Bonanza Thanksgiving special. It’s beautifully written, it’s a story told with love. I laugh out loud, I cry, I travel back in time with him to Vietnam in the 1960’s, and I literally weep through the last three pages every time I read this book. I treasure this book and I am thankful that it found me.

In Pharaoh’s Army was incredibly interesting to read because it is a good book but also because of the comparison to This Boy’s Life memoir. Both use interesting techniques but more specifically in this book Wolff grows up in his writing style and reflects a lot more inwardly. Throughout the book he gives hints as to why he decided to grow up, “I didn’t want to be like him (his father). I wanted to be a man of honor” (Wolff 46). This idea of not becoming his father and wanting to have honor in his life becomes a theme that is consistent with his writing. In parts of his memoir Wolff reflects on his regrettable decisions he made, this kind of consideration and admitting is new compared to This Boy’s Life. An example is when a letter comes from his friend’s hook-up explaining she was pregnant and trying to find the friend. Wolff didn’t respond and a year later his friend was killed in Vietnam, “I would have said I was sorry for sitting on her letter, because I was sorry, I am still sorry, God knows I am sorry” (71). The emotional toll of “sitting” on this letter and not telling his friend about his child is enormous and Wolff does not pass that over lightly. He admitted that this decision was wrong and writing that down for others to view is hard for anyone and Wolff does that in such a noble way. His apologetic tone indicates he still struggles with this in present day. This is unique because of course parts of his life has stayed with him but he has not so put that in such obvious terms as he does here. In Pharaoh’s Army is a case of reflecting on one’s life and the decisions made. This is not the typical Vietnam Veterans book but rather encompasses themes that many had to deal with not only in ‘Nam but here at home.

Wolff's memoir of his year in Vietnam fascinates me for a number of reasons: 1. He spoke Vietnamese and was embedded (in a limited way, as he explains) with South Vietnamese troops, so he saw, heard, and understood quite clearly how the Vietnamese perceived Americans and the American war. 2. He had a front-row seat during the Tet offensive, which he felt was partly a lesson from the Viet Cong to their countrymen: when threatened, the Americans will kill Vietnamese indiscriminately to save themselves. Wolff's artillery battalion levels the nearby town of My Tho to stave off Viet Cong attacks, killing dozens of civilians. 3. Right before he leaves for Vietnam, Wolff has dinner with a fellow young Army officer and the officer's father, and the father manages to prevent his son from going overseas. Wolff imagines all the fathers of his fellow soldiers climbing on the bus taking them to the airfield and yanking their sons off the bus, saving them from the war. A key quote stands out for me: ". . . I had consented to be made use of, and in spite of my fears it never occurred to me, nor I'm sure to Hugh, that we would be used stupidly or carelessly or for unworthy ends." I saw a review in a magazine that said that Wolff's tone is detached. I don't think so. I think it's just right for someone looking back on a dangerous time with sadness and regret.

Read <i>This Boys Life</i> and fell in love with Tobias Wolff's writing so I decided to read </i>In Pharaoh's Army </i> next. It's hard to put my finger on exactly why, but it didn't hold my attention as much. I kept falling out of the book. In theory, Pharaoh's Army has more plot and interest. Yet, I think the way Wolff writes about being a boy and a child is somehow more compelling and universal. This book left me feeling lonely, sad and ready to move on. Not to say parts of it weren't beautifully written. Wolff is such an observant writer. He sees the smallest details that reveal large truths and writes them in simple but poetic ways. If you're looking to learn a lot about Vietnam this is not a book for you. If you're looking to fall in love with characters this ain't the place. If you want to read a well constructed piece of writing from a great memoirist read this. One thing I admire about Wolff is his restraint. So much memoir is about shock-value; about exposing the reader to extreme feelings and situations. But life is lived mostly in the mundane and Wolff writes masterfully about these moments. He doesn't need to exaggerate or sensationalize things to keep you reading, because he is an excellent writer. This just wasn't my favorite of his. Hence the three stars.

Wow. What a writer. He pulls me in as he describes his time in Vietnam. He paints the absurdity of the war and his somewhat but not completely reluctant part in it with a dry kindness, not shirking or dwelling on the brutal. Most of the story is told against the writer, he has a humility and a voice which makes me want to read him more.

A Gripping Account of An American in Vietnam: From the most mundane moment to intense encounters, Tobias Wolff shares his days and nights in Vietnam with those of us who will never otherwise be there at that time. His journey illuminates the murky progression from patriotic enlistment to disenchanted honorable discharge--he's not the same young man by the end of his service. Highly personal and yet it has the ring of genuinely shared experience. No slogans, no preaching, no soap-boxing... He tells us what it was like for him and invites us to draw our own conclusions. Having read both This Boy's Life and In Pharaoh's Army, I'm ready to agree that this writer is one of the best we have. --Curious side-note: The book I got (used paperback, early edition) has "Memories of a Lost War," but later editions are phrased "Memories of the Lost War."

Great book

Tobias Wolff may have lived a lie when was growing up, faking transcripts to get into schools and what not, but in his writing there is no lie. To read it is to feel almost cleansed.

Tobias Wolff writes well and has an eye for detail that illuminates the past. This memoir covers his early adult years, the relationship with his father and his part in the American incursion in Vietnam. With delicacy and humor Wolff describes the perplexity of a young man in a war in a very foreign country and his confusion on returning home. His errant father appears once again; a lovable, irascible, charming liar, but still a father. A good book, easy to read, well written with depth.