The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer

Add to Goodreads

Title: The Naked and the Dead

Author: Norman Mailer

Genre: War Fiction

Length: 721 pages

Published: (version I read) 2000

Publisher: Picador

Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Hailed as one of the finest novels to come out of the Second World War,The Naked and the Dead received unprecedented critical acclaim upon its publication and has since become part of the American canon. This fiftieth anniversary edition features a new introduction created especially for the occasion by Norman Mailer.

Written in gritty, journalistic detail, the story follows an army platoon of foot soldiers who are fighting for the possession of the Japanese-held island of Anopopei. Composed in 1948, The Naked and the Dead is representative of the best in twentieth-century American writing.

My Review:

I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

I wasn't sure that I was going to care for this book. While I often read fantasy novels that usually include epic battles, this was a little different for me since it included more modern warfare (well modern to the World War II era that is). I found myself having to look up what "wound tablets" were and found it pretty interesting (Everything you want to know about wound tablets and use of sulfa in WWII for wound treatment can be found here.) In school, history classes always focused more on what happened in Europe during World War II and not much was said about the battles in the Pacific beyond "the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, eventually the U.S. dropped the bomb on Japan". So I really enjoyed that the war campaign happened in the Pacific instead of in Europe. 

As I don't know much about the military, it took some getting used to the terminology used, and even the ranks, because I can never remember the hierarchy with Lieutenants, Sergeants, Corporals, and Majors correctly. However, the author did a phenomenal job in explaining some of the tactics used, and some of the other terminology.

The book centers around the members of an intelligence and reconnaissance division. You get little tidbits of each major character's life before the war randomly throughout the story in what Mailer calls the "Time Machine". It's definitely nice to learn a little more about the soldiers as the story progresses, so you can learn why they are in the Army, and why they have become the men they are.

Eventually the I&R platoon gets sent on a recon mission to find a back way into the Japanese front. This comprises the final half of the book, as you watch them struggle through the jungle, deal with the losses of some members of the platoon, and deal with a tyrannical sergeant who does some rather shady things.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It was long, but the characters were decent, and the ever-present threat of a Japanese attack was always right there. If you're looking for a good war novel centering around World War II, I would definitely give this one a shot.

You can purchase The Naked and the Dead through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Naked and the Dead? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.