Heroes, Now and Then
Halfway done!
24. Rainbow Six Tom Clancy
25. Ordinary Heroes, Scott Turow
This is a novelization of the concept of the Rainbow Six videogame series, and it focuses on CIA washer and former Navy SEAL John Clark and his protoge Domingo Chavez as the two create an international antiterrorist organization, then immediately put into action as an insidious organization comes on the global stage, armed with a plan that could spell the end of everything.
While I've read Tom Clancy's books before, this one is one of my favorites, as it reminds me of a lot of the places I've been and seen (though not, of course, the same way his characters have). You can get a real feel for the Rainbows in this book, as it humanizes them and gives them dimensions that are never seen in the game series (especially some of the minor game characters such as Sgt. Loiselle and MCPO Chin). From what I've been told, though, this is Clancy's apex; the events of September 11 and the end of the Cold War have wiped his muse, and he has become a writer in decline, not quite towards hackdom (though reputedly his new book approaches that line even further) but in a tragic way of seeing a great mind of writing whose skills are subsiding along with the images which once brought us shock and awe.
Scott's book, on the other hand, I've read twice already. I admit it, I'm a sucker for well-crafted WWII stories, and this was one that caught me time and time again. Based (very loosely, Turow says) on the WWII adventures of his father, the story tells the tale of David Dubin (the father of one of Turow's major characters, Stewart Dubinsky) and his experiences, trauma and reactions to the war, one so striking that he spent the rest of his life completely silent of his accomplishments and actions in those times, something his son is shocked to discover.
I imagine we've all got a few things like this, wanting to know more about the adventures your forebearers went on. As I child, I always remember wanting to hear about some of the adventures that my grandfather went on in WWII (like David Dubin, he never really talked about his wartime experiences), but it was always a hoot to hear about my grandmother's brother, and how "Tio Joe" fought the good fight for the OSS (and later helped found the CIA). When I have kids, I won't have much to tell them in the way of war other than six months of fun in Bosnia and sitting stateside during Gulf War II; I suspect I'll have to do what my grandfather did and refer them to my own wife's brother, who did two rounds of action in the Sandbox itself. But that's the way things are, and it's those very feelings - and the way that Turow writes them - which is probably what makes this book so poignant for me.
24. Rainbow Six Tom Clancy
25. Ordinary Heroes, Scott Turow
This is a novelization of the concept of the Rainbow Six videogame series, and it focuses on CIA washer and former Navy SEAL John Clark and his protoge Domingo Chavez as the two create an international antiterrorist organization, then immediately put into action as an insidious organization comes on the global stage, armed with a plan that could spell the end of everything.
While I've read Tom Clancy's books before, this one is one of my favorites, as it reminds me of a lot of the places I've been and seen (though not, of course, the same way his characters have). You can get a real feel for the Rainbows in this book, as it humanizes them and gives them dimensions that are never seen in the game series (especially some of the minor game characters such as Sgt. Loiselle and MCPO Chin). From what I've been told, though, this is Clancy's apex; the events of September 11 and the end of the Cold War have wiped his muse, and he has become a writer in decline, not quite towards hackdom (though reputedly his new book approaches that line even further) but in a tragic way of seeing a great mind of writing whose skills are subsiding along with the images which once brought us shock and awe.
Scott's book, on the other hand, I've read twice already. I admit it, I'm a sucker for well-crafted WWII stories, and this was one that caught me time and time again. Based (very loosely, Turow says) on the WWII adventures of his father, the story tells the tale of David Dubin (the father of one of Turow's major characters, Stewart Dubinsky) and his experiences, trauma and reactions to the war, one so striking that he spent the rest of his life completely silent of his accomplishments and actions in those times, something his son is shocked to discover.
I imagine we've all got a few things like this, wanting to know more about the adventures your forebearers went on. As I child, I always remember wanting to hear about some of the adventures that my grandfather went on in WWII (like David Dubin, he never really talked about his wartime experiences), but it was always a hoot to hear about my grandmother's brother, and how "Tio Joe" fought the good fight for the OSS (and later helped found the CIA). When I have kids, I won't have much to tell them in the way of war other than six months of fun in Bosnia and sitting stateside during Gulf War II; I suspect I'll have to do what my grandfather did and refer them to my own wife's brother, who did two rounds of action in the Sandbox itself. But that's the way things are, and it's those very feelings - and the way that Turow writes them - which is probably what makes this book so poignant for me.