Customer Reviews
Truly Amazing - By: OneWish, 31 Aug 2007 
Many people believe the film version of this book isn't worth waching but I believe that by both watching the film & the book, everything become perfect sense.
The book talks about a person's extraodinary experience during the first gulf warin operation desert storm & shield.
Reading this book deeply decribes how your mind mentality dramatically changes when you enter a war zone.
The book is not what you would call action packed but you still understand the experiences of what a war does to a soldier.
I love this book & so deeply reccomend this to any war book reader.
A miniature masterpiece - By: lochvalereads, 22 Jul 2007 Lauded by both the book-reading public & reviewers worldwide, & described by the UK Daily Telegraph as a "miniature masterpiece", this internationally critically acclaimed book - now a motion picture - has deservedly been recognised as a classic contemporary memoir of military life, told from the seldom reported perspective of an ordinary work-a-day soldierin the US Marines.
Very good, very poignant - By: Andrew Tague, 09 Jul 2007 
An extroidinary piece of work highliting the mental battles that a US marine went through during the Gulf War. Very graphic, but necessarirly so. A fantastic read for anyone looking for an insight into a soldiers mind during war
Great modern day solider's memoirs - By: Reenie Roo, 04 Sep 2006 I really loved this book as it's a fascinating insight into the life of the modern day US soldier. Reading all about the drills Swofford's unit do & the excercises they HAVE to do, to keep themselves from being bored - you can understand their desire to get stuck into the war & actually fire their gun, or DO SOMETHING - which, of course, they never do. Swofford appears to be a down to earth guy as this is a really straight-talking account of his timein the Gulf War & might not be the easiest of read's for the American military. It's nowhere near as haunting or as vivid as Albert French's account of the Vietnam war -called 'Patches of Fire' - (a simply unforgettable book) but Jarhead will keep you engrossed to the end.
Excellent and thought provoking - By: M. Rawson, 19 Jul 2006 Firstly, I'd agree wholeheartedly with everything "caffreysisgoodforyou" said - I could have written that review myself.
My own little twist on the review is this. If I were a parent of a teenager who said he was intending to join the armed forces, I would hand him a copy of this book & tell him to read it before making his mind up. And possibly The Forgotten Soldier too. If that didn't change his mind then at least I would feel comfortable that I had done my bit. It's that good.
Anthony Swofford is clearly far more than a "jarhead" (as he keeps referring to himself). A very intelligent man with a real talent for writing.
I only gave this 4 stars because I was expecting something different to what I got, as I suspect many other buyers have. If I could have given it 4.5 then I would have! However, this is an excellent account of what war can do to you as an individual & thereby deserves to be read by all & sundry.
