Ron Kovic

It's a bit hard for me to believe that I hadn't read this book already. There was a time in the 1980s that I devoured everything I could read about the Vietnam War. It was fascinating to me in its horror, grotesqueness and absurdity. I guess the fact that I turned 18 in 1973, thus missing the draft by only a single year, somehow added to that. (A draft lottery was held that year just in case the U.S. government/military changed their minds -- I got a high number, a good thing.) Anti-war show more activist or pro-war flag waver, I think one of the big dividing lines between American generations is whether or not you grew up with the Vietnam War draft hanging over your head (or the heads of one's children).

At any rate, I came upon my paperback copy of this book on my memoir shelf and realized that I'd never actually read the thing. It only took me three or four sittings to finish this. Kovic is a very effective writer. This work is extremely powerful. There's nothing dated about it now, and it's easy to see why it gained such attention then. The memoir begins with the moment Kovic is wounded during a firefight and immediately loses all feeling from the middle of his chest downward. The horrors of life in a VA hospital and the darkness that descends on Kovic as he grapples with the realization that his condition is permanent are graphically and powerfully rendered. Kovic also flashes back to his (in the telling) idyllic Long Island middle-class upbringing that led him to the patriotic "God and Country" perspective that drew him to the Marines and to enthusiasm for the war in the first place. He details his life for the first decade after his wound, including his evolution into a strong anti-Vietnam War activist, in often compelling fashion as well. As an anti-war statement and a chronicle of personal darkness and perseverance, this memoir stands up very well, indeed. show less

Akashic’s new edition of Born on the Fourth of July is a timely indictment of why societies use soldiers and how they use them. Like the powerful works of Jack Kerouac, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, and Henry Miller, Ron Kovic’s story comes across as an explosive, lucid revelation about a life made low and miserable by war, mistreatment, and substance abuse.

A fast-paced and enlightening history, Born on the Fourth of July is a quick, personal study into the people’s history, á la Noam show more Chomsky or Howard Zinn. In a fairly experimental, even hallucinogenic style, Kovic varies the tempo and shifts the point of view of his autobiography to place the reader by his side in the dungeon-like atmosphere of a VA hospital and in the dizzying liberation of mass protests. The only drawback to this updated history is that none of the many relevant photographs which must surely exist are included in the book. show less

An amazing rendition of one man's journey from teenage marine in Viet Nam to adult dealing with the physical and mental results if his experiences in-country. I couldn't put this down, and ended up reading it in one sitting. 'Riveting' hardly begins to describe the story.
Ron Kovic went back to Viet Nam for a second tour as an idealistic young marine. He was paralyzed and returned home to deal with the physical and emotional fall out of his experiences. As he struggled through adapting to show more life as a paraplegic, he also had to deal with the social and emotional issues facing many returning Viet Nam vets. The story of his struggle and slow transition to an opponent of the war and veterans advocate is a personal and heart rending view of what many of our Viet Nam veterans faced. Outstanding. show less

Perhaps coming to Kovic's book so late in the game leaves it to suffer against others. He doesn't shy away from the horrors he suffered upon returning with a life-altering injury. There's nothing dressed up about his narrative - it reads and feels deeply personal, conflicted. Is it possible to have read too many of these stories, to become somewhat immune to the telling of them? And, then, doesn't that sound like a new betrayal all over again. I don't know - I just wasn't particularly moved show more by Kovic's book, whatever that means.

3 bones!!! show less