The Names of the Dead

There are two stories in Stewart O'Nan's THE NAMES OF THE DEAD. The first, and perhaps the most important, is the story of what happened to army medic Larry Markham and his buddies in the Vietnam War in 1968-69. And this story is told in what is perhaps some of the most graphically horrific language seen in all the literature that has emerged from that conflict. And there's been a lot, believe me.

I was held in the grip of that narrative for most of the nearly 400 pages, although I found the first half of the story just a little slow. It was like O'Nan was rolling the massive boulder of his story up a steep grade as he introduced all the characters and carefully and methodically set the scene. But once he reached the top, which was show more right about two hundred pages in, the story rolled downhill at a breakneck pace that kept you turning the pages and hanging on every word and phrase.

The second story is the postwar one, of what has happened to Larry Markham in the dozen-plus years since he came home from the war, the only survivor of his original squad, missing a foot and plagued by terrors and self-doubt as his dead friends visit him nightly in dreams. He drives a Twinkie truck by day and leads a weekly discussion group of, damaged Vietnam vets at the local VA hospital in his hometown of Ithaca, New York, trying along with the others to sort it all out and make some sense of it. Together these vets make plans for Larry to visit the then-new memorial Wall in D.C., where "the names of the dead" in all their thousands are inscribed.

His wife, Vicki, understands none of this and has left him, taking their eight year-old son who has physical and mental disabilities (perhaps resulting from Larry's exposure to napalm and Agent Orange). Learning she's been having an affair, Larry begins a relationship with his mentally unstable next-door neighbor, Donna, whose husband has left with their children. The strange thing about this aspect of the story is that there is no one to blame. Everyone is hurting - Larry, Vicki, Donna. I mean it's a mess, but you end up feeling for all of these people. If there's a villain, then it's the war, which has poisoned everything for the returning vets like Larry and his group members.

Add to all of this another disfigured and very mentally ill special forces (Phoenix) vet who is stalking both Larry and his physician father (a WWII vet and former POW whose story is a minor but fascinating subplot all its own) and you have all the makings of a macabre and gripping thriller, perhaps in the manner of Stephen King. (Ironically, both Vicki and Larry's father are both reading the same King novel, which is not named.)

Maybe you've figured out by now that this is not a simple novel. It's complicated, and - more to the point - it's damn GOOD! The one thing I can't figure out here is how O'Nan, who was only fourteen years old when the U.S. got out of Vietnam, managed to tell the story of the war so absolutely dead-on perfectly - the feel of the jungle warfare, the casually obscene GI language, the horror of the disfiguring wounds and violent deaths. I mean ALL of this is so real, so pitch perfect. How did he DO this? I don't know. But he carried it off magnificently. This guy writes like he was there. I was reminded of several other Vietnam books I've read, from William Pelfrey's THE BIG V (the first novel to come out of the war in the early 70s) to Karl Marlantes recent bestseller, MATTERHORN. Or - from the memoir side - John Ketwig's ... AND A HARD RAIN FELL, Frederick Downs's THE KILLING ZONE or Robert Mason's CHICKENHAWK. There are plenty of books I could cite here, but the important thing is Stewart O'Nan's book can stand with the best of them. A tremendous literary achievement. show less

A very dark novel from Stewart O'Nan exploring the after-effects on veterans of the Vietnam War. Told from the narrator's perspective, the focus shifts back and forth between his experiences as a medic with a combat platoon and his later life. The later life plot includes serious domestic difficulties, leading a hospital-based group of war veterans, and working with a police detective to hunt down what appears to be a psychotic veteran with a deadly agenda.

This is the first book I ever read that made me think that Vietnam War lit would have anything to add to my life. This is the story of a man in search of himself, a man struggling to be a good man and a whole man and a good father and so forth, and also struggling to assimilate or work through his experiences in Vietnam. It also has aspects of thriller/mystery, which keeps the plot moving along.

The Names of the Dead by Stewart O'Nan was originally published in 1996. This is O'Nan's second novel. In it, Larry Markham's life is in turmoil. His wife has left him, again, with their young, disabled son. He has constant dreams of his time as a medic in Vietnam and the men who died, but is unable to talk about his experiences, even to the support group he leads. His relationship with his father is filled with tension and unanswered questions. And now a trained killer from his support group has apparently targeted him for death. While this is an excellent novel, readers should be forewarned that there is a lot of material covering Larry's time in combat in Vietnam. This is very essential to the story itself, but if you would generally show more avoid combat novels, Names of the Dead might not be a good choice for you. On the other hand, if you are a real connoisseur of combat novels or stories from Vietnam, this is also not a good choice for you. Fellow members of the Stewart O'Nan fan club will like it. Rating: 4; http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/ show less

My First Stewart O'Nan novel and I have his autograph on it. He's a Pittsburgher from way back, yanno!