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One of the Guys
This novel starts off with a bang and does not let up until the last page is turned. Miles Derry, a down-on-his-luck man who, in his sole pursuit to make his monthly child support payment, has taken on a string of dead-end and often seedy jobs. One night, while working at the Little Pink Bookstore, he comes across a stiff (in every sense of the word) who turns out to be a chaplain in the U.S. Navy. Deciding to take the chaplain's identity as a way out of his own miserable life, Miles burns the body--and his bridges--and reports for duty on the USS Warren Harding as it embarks for the Far East. The drama of his double-life at sea not only transforms him from a recovering alcoholic to a military man of the cloth, but he discovers he's married and a closet homosexual to boot. As the ship travels from Okinawa to the Philippines to Thailand he finds himself in murky waters, but it's certainly our pleasure as the author skillfully draws out the tension and humor inherent in the situation. Thanks to his own varied experiences, including a stint aboard a Navy ship, Young captures perfectly the tone and feel of life on a military tanker. The characters in the novel are at once real and colorful. As a chaplain, he deals with men at their most vulnerable. His inherent gentleness and empathy wins him respect, and the affection of the widow of the real chaplain.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
29 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 1, 2007
This book is absolutely brilliant for about 250 pages, but adds a slapped-on ending. It feels a little bit like "A Confederacy of Dunces" joins the Navy; appropriately over-the-top.
May 8, 2017
A book about a guy who pretends to be a navy chaplain to get money to support his daughter. From the start I could tell this wasn't for me. The premise had so many holes that I almost hoped it wasn't supposed to be taken seriously. The writing was stale and predictable, and the humour felt forced. I only got about half way through but feel that was more than enough.
May 13, 2025
Wow. This book was a f*cking trainwreck and a must read because it is so bad.
January 25, 2017
EVERYDAY SATANIC PERVERSION
Robert Young has just published his first novel, One of the Guys. An amazing book. He tackles two American institutions and shows that they both are Satan incarnate. The first one is pornography. It has its adult bookstores, with cubicles and glory holes. It has its prostitution circuits and routes, where a woman, or a man, is nothing but either a piece of meat, or a cannibalistic customer.
The tone of the author is there harsh, brutal, ruthless, and he shows how the money of the customers creates the customized goods those customers want and consume. Our sexual consumer's society reduces myriads of women and men, boys and girls to slavery, a degrading, alienating and neurotic slavery. A slavery of the body and of the mind to the most twisted phantasms of money-loaded customers, the form of the prostitution depending only on the amount of money the customer has and on the amount of money the prostitute of hustler can ambition to get.
The second institution is essentially the US Navy, but also the US Armed Forces. There the book becomes a satire and is full of humor and irony, even if the subject is serious. He shows how these Armed Forces are divided in hostile and jealous corps. He shows how these Armed Forces are unfit for battle. He shows how these Armed Forces are totally based on alienating the free will of the soldiers or sailors in order for the officers to dominate them and manipulate them into doing what they are expected to do and do not need to understand.
To boost up the morale of the troops, those officers use methods that are un-human, and that represent some kind of cattle herding policy, reducing soldiers and sailors to nothing but animals that are sent to the slaughterhouse of a battle, filled with hatred, alcohol, cheap sex and a little bit of fake religion. What's more he shows how the whole network of US military bases in the world are nothing but a cobweb where young girls and boys are trapped by the dollar spiders for the only benefit of the soldiers, the sailors, and their officers.
It is by providing these with that big perambulating brothel that US Armed Forces are able to perform their supposedly patriotic and humanistic duties. The hero is the constant proof of that absurdity of a system that creates evil in the name of good, though that good is nothing but the interests of a few powerful people who pull the strings, be they politicians or anyone who has some interest in providing those Armed Forces with goods, including the rotten dictators here and there who accept a village to be destroyed by a lost shell in maneuvers, provided a fair number of millions of dollars can fatten their bank accounts here and there in some paradise that is not lost at all, even if it is prospering on the hell in which millions of people are forced to live.
So, in front of such a powerful book, we can forget about the fact that Miles, the hero, has officially died in a fire at the beginning of the book and reappears - resuscitates - at the end of the book, with no question asked.
Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU
Robert Young has just published his first novel, One of the Guys. An amazing book. He tackles two American institutions and shows that they both are Satan incarnate. The first one is pornography. It has its adult bookstores, with cubicles and glory holes. It has its prostitution circuits and routes, where a woman, or a man, is nothing but either a piece of meat, or a cannibalistic customer.
The tone of the author is there harsh, brutal, ruthless, and he shows how the money of the customers creates the customized goods those customers want and consume. Our sexual consumer's society reduces myriads of women and men, boys and girls to slavery, a degrading, alienating and neurotic slavery. A slavery of the body and of the mind to the most twisted phantasms of money-loaded customers, the form of the prostitution depending only on the amount of money the customer has and on the amount of money the prostitute of hustler can ambition to get.
The second institution is essentially the US Navy, but also the US Armed Forces. There the book becomes a satire and is full of humor and irony, even if the subject is serious. He shows how these Armed Forces are divided in hostile and jealous corps. He shows how these Armed Forces are unfit for battle. He shows how these Armed Forces are totally based on alienating the free will of the soldiers or sailors in order for the officers to dominate them and manipulate them into doing what they are expected to do and do not need to understand.
To boost up the morale of the troops, those officers use methods that are un-human, and that represent some kind of cattle herding policy, reducing soldiers and sailors to nothing but animals that are sent to the slaughterhouse of a battle, filled with hatred, alcohol, cheap sex and a little bit of fake religion. What's more he shows how the whole network of US military bases in the world are nothing but a cobweb where young girls and boys are trapped by the dollar spiders for the only benefit of the soldiers, the sailors, and their officers.
It is by providing these with that big perambulating brothel that US Armed Forces are able to perform their supposedly patriotic and humanistic duties. The hero is the constant proof of that absurdity of a system that creates evil in the name of good, though that good is nothing but the interests of a few powerful people who pull the strings, be they politicians or anyone who has some interest in providing those Armed Forces with goods, including the rotten dictators here and there who accept a village to be destroyed by a lost shell in maneuvers, provided a fair number of millions of dollars can fatten their bank accounts here and there in some paradise that is not lost at all, even if it is prospering on the hell in which millions of people are forced to live.
So, in front of such a powerful book, we can forget about the fact that Miles, the hero, has officially died in a fire at the beginning of the book and reappears - resuscitates - at the end of the book, with no question asked.
Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU
February 6, 2012
This novel is a darkly comic and satiric look at life in the navy. It reminded me of House of God because of its cynicism and obscenity. The premise is entertaining and the main character is satisfyingly deep, even if the rest of the characters aren't. I suspect this book would be better known if it had a stronger ending and didn't stray so close to the pinnacle of satiric military novels: Heller's Catch-22.
August 27, 2014
"One of the Guys" was a fast read - a seedy and quirky story that reminded me of Chuck Palahniuk's works. The story moves quickly and is an intriguing setup. I also appreciated the view of life on a ship for a Navy chaplain (or someone faking it). While the work will not be on my top ten - or even 100 - list, it's an insightful, comfortable read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews