I simply can't say enough good things about Matterhorn. It's an intricate story with a lot of characters to keep track of, but it's worth it. I found myself so invested in the book 100 pages in that I had to put it down several times just to calm down before I could go on reading.The book mainly follows 2d Lt. Waino Mellas, a Princeton grad who after signing up for the Marine reserves before going to college gets shipped off to Vietnam after graduation. 600 pages later, you have only been in the bush with Mellas for two months, but it feels like you've known him forever. Marlantes has written Mellas wonderfully ambiguous. He has some likeable and unlikeable qualities, but above all else he feels real.
It's probably not a spoiler to say some of the characters die, but I was surprised at just how many did. The book packs politics, racial equality, and battle descriptions all into its pages. The book should be required reading at any officer basic training school. While there is commentary about the political nightmare that was Vietnam, it also gives a great look at the men who bravely fought a war everyone back home would blame them for.
This is a book that is going to stay with me for a long time. While people with no military background might not be drawn to it, I think it is something everyone should read to understand what that lifestyle is like. This one is so moving and so powerful on a human level. It is also long, but hang in there reader, it's totally worth it.
5/5 Stars.
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