Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... The First Stoneby Carsten Jensen
None Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. no reviews | add a review
Awards
From the award-winning author of We, the Drowned comes a brutal, unflinching, and bestselling epic novel of a platoon of soldiers descending into the insanity of the war in Afghanistan. Dispatched to fight the Taliban as part of the NATO forces, the soldiers of the Third Platoon arrive in a desert hell intent on testing their courage and endurance. Among them are the charismatic platoon leader Schrøder, a former games designer fascinated by the imaginative potential of war; Colonel Steffensen, whose negotiating tactics will have deadly consequences; Sidekick, the LifeLogger whose online "war memorial" will blur into horror; and the hardened but vulnerable Hannah, who must bury her womanhood--or sacrifice her soul. Confronted by a betrayal that no military training could prepare them for, the soldiers must embark on a desperate mission to track down an enemy whose methods are as murderous as they are unfathomable. As the hunters become the hunted, the mission turns into a depraved, hallucinatory voyage into an Afghanistan they never knew existed. With the Third Platoon's most fundamental notions of good and evil called into question, survival becomes their only mission. An explicitly brutal portrait of battle told with the propulsion of a harrowing psychological thriller, The First Stone is a stunning and epic depiction of comradeship, humanity, and the bestial realities of a conflict without end. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)839.8138Literature German literature and literatures of related languages Other Germanic literatures Danish and Norwegian literatures Danish Danish fiction 2000–LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
The First Stone by Carsten Jensen (translated by Mark Mussari) is a novel which follows a Danish platoon fighting in Afghanistan, who find themselves as not only hunters, but as prey as well. Mr. Jensen is an award winning author and journalist.
A platoon of Danish soldiers, part of NATO forces, are hampered down in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban. Third platoon has a charismatic and brave leader, Schrøder, who answers to Colonel Steffensen. The two man are polar opposites.
The soldiers embark on a revenge mission, without realizing they are being set up by a traitor from within. Third platoon realizes that in war you have to make inconvenient allies, and embrace strange bedfellows just to survive the day.
If you’re lucky.
One of my favorite books is We, the Drowned and I have been looking forward to read more of the author’s books ever since. I have been, for years, checking to see if he came out with a new book and was very excited when The First Stone by Carsten Jensen (translated by Mark Mussari) popped on my screen.
This book is an excellent read, fast paced, unpredictable, and quite bloody. Mr. Jensen has an understanding about Afghanistan that I wish some of the world leaders had, or at least admit to having instead of spewing that day’s talking point.
I felt that Mr. Jensen tried to push his ideas a bit too hard, to the point where it was obvious instead of letting the readers figure it out. That being said, I think readers will have a much better understanding of this unforgiving country, its culture, factions and the hell the troops have to go through while stationed there.
The book is divvied into three parts, one of the common themes to them all is a Shakespearean power struggle, among different people, which would make Macbeth proud. Any Afghan or foreigner that ties himself to the “common people” eventually gets removed or killed, only to be replaced by a more placating figure. The struggle to “win hearts and minds” takes a backseat to fighting a war disregarding the plight of the population the Danes came to help.
The book is very violent, with some graphic descriptions of the horrors and savagery the soldiers witness. There are many subplots involved and the book could have easily been twice as big, but it certainly kept my interest throughout ( )