This book was a little hard to get into, but once I got to the meat of the story, it was a little more interesting and pretty amazing. It's an autobiographical account about the survival of one man and the brave deaths of four his fellow navy seals after a mission in Afghanistan goes really bad. It was an alright read if you like military books. A couple people in my book club thought Marcus Luttrell, the survivor, extremely arrogant in his writing. We had a pretty good discussion about what we we would have done in his position and what choices we would have made. Definitely a different book than I used to.
8 comments:
One of the good things about a book club is being challenged to read some books outside our comfort zone. That said, I hope my book group doesn't choose this one.
I agree with Booklogged. I don't ususally care for military books. Besides I have too many other books to read.
I don't normally read military books, but this one doesn't fall in that category, really. It is an unbelievably moving story. Every single American should read this book, so that they can truly understand the sacrifices that our military makes for us, for our freedom.
And to the person that said "Lutrell was arrogant in his writing" - I believe he has earned the right to a little arrogance. It's shocking to me that anyone would even make that remark after actually reading the book.
And as an aside, it's riviting and a page-turner.
Arrogant? As you sit in the comfort of your own home reading your latest assigment from your BOOK CLUB, youhave the gall to criticize this American hero? It's "arrogant" people like him that sacrafice their lives to give you the very freedoms you enjoy and all you can do is " spit" in his face with a comment like that? Are you kidding me. Asking yourself what you would do if you were in that situation? I guess we're all lucky you never will be. I'd bet a pay check you're a tree hugging liberal. It makes me sick....
Wow! Strong reactions. I didn't say he was arrogant, people in book club said it and I like to give their points of view as well. Most of us in that book club are pretty conservative actually. It's just an opinion. Geez, why does everything have to come down to politics? We were just discussing a book. I don't think anyone in my book club thought that what he went through wasn't amazing and brave. And we said we are damn glad we have people like him to do that stuff so we don't have to.
It wasn't necessarily riveting to me because in every situation he was in I knew he would survive, how he survived was impressive, yes, but since he wrote the book I wasn't on the edge of seat wondering if he would live through it. Anyway just more opinions. Nothing to get worked up over, seriously.
I don't usually read these books because they are so full of themselves. But a friend of mine, a retired navy masterchief gave it to me and said I should read it. I did and I usually wouldn't comment but he wrote the book and they are fixing to do a movie so I will comment. First a Lt. is always a Lt. or Sir, he's not Mike or Murph, he is Lt. or Sir. 2nd when does the Lt. say, What should we do? Yes he takes input, but he decides, He is the Lt. he makes decisions, whether they are right or wrong, he makes a decision.
3rd, don't they have Warning orders anymore? Don't you plan for situation before you ever go on an op. Our mission gets compromised, We kill them, We take them Prisoner, we detain so we can E&E.
I can't comment about him but his three dead team mates do the Navy SEALS proud.
Just finished reading this book and came across this forum in a search. I too, usually don't read military books, but i am SOOO glad i gave this one a chance, because it is about so much more. What the human spirit and extreme motivation to succeed is capable of. It is an absolutely moving story, and frankly i'm shocked if anyone says anything less than that.
On another note, i can't stand arrogant people. Marcus Lattrell admits in the book that all SEALs kind of have their own brand of arrogance which i didn't care for, but after reading what they go thru, you know what? They damn well deserve to be a little arrogant. Really the only thing i didn't care for was the Author praising President Bush and trash talking Liberals so much. People in the military only seem to care for presidents that are good for themseves, as for me main thing i want in a president is someone good for the economy, and Bush was absolutely horrendous in that regards. But i could overlook this slight irritation about the book and still completely enjoy it. I consider this book a must read.
I loved the book and can't help loving all those brave guys as well. It is a bit of a slow start as he takes you through training but it does provide necessary context. I didn't care for all his political comments as well. They struck me as a bit naive. He is obviously smarter and more talented than that. He certainly has a right to his feelings but they detracted from this otherwise
incredibly powerful account. I can't bear to see guys like these, so rare and precious, be put in harms way for anything but an absolutely necessary cause. And then let them do what they have to, to survive and accomplish their mission. Afghanistan, yes but Iraq was absolutely unnecessary and we all know who we can thank for that.
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