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The War Lover
THE WAR LOVER is about Buzz Morrow, a pilot who glorifies war and his military duties. Hersey makes the point that wars exist precisely because there are men like Buzz who revel in them. At the same time, he gives us a detailed account of a Flying Fortress crew based in England during WW II. The language is rough and expressive, revealing the loyalties, humor, and camaraderie existing in this wartime atmosphere
383 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1959
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About the author
John Hersey
115 books866 followersJohn Richard Hersey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer, earliest practiced the "new journalism," which fuses storytelling devices of the novel with nonfiction reportage. A 36-member panel under the aegis of journalism department of New York University adjudged account of Hersey of the aftermath of the atomic bomb, dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, as the finest piece of journalism of the 20th century.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 11, 2012
The trouble with John Hersey is that he always has an agenda in his novels. Plenty of authors who write fiction have an agenda, in fact many of my favorite ones do, but the trick is to embed it so the reader figures it out herself, not to bludgeon us over the head with it.
So The War Lover is clearly anti-war and also carries a large dose of Freudian thinking. Buzz Marrow is an ace pilot, an American flying out of a base in England during WWII. He is a jerk in his personal life who brags about his female conquests every chance he gets. Except when he is flying a bombing mission, he is chronically in a bad mood, drinks heavily, and generally belittles both his superiors and his crew.
Bowman, his co-pilot, tells the story of his initial hero worship for Buzz and its gradual disillusionment as his flying team approaches their final mission. The missions in those months prior to D-Day were so dangerous and nerve wracking that once 25 missions had been accomplished, the pilots and crew were reassigned to something less intense.
Finally there is Boman's English girlfriend Daphne, a combination of English wartime resignation and perfect, understanding, sexy goddess. When Boman isn't stressing out about the next mission, he is driving himself batty over whether or not Daphne is also sleeping with Buzz.
The story has tension by the bucket load. Hersey is actually quite a good writer. But due to the chapters that alternate between a countdown of the final mission and the back story, I was never really sure what time it was. By the end, I didn't care.
The point of all this? Men like Buzz, who love war get off on annihilation more than they do on sex, are in fact impotent, and have a death wish. I guess if the human race were rid of such types, we wouldn't have war? Sorry, Mr Hersey, I don't think it is quite that simple.
So The War Lover is clearly anti-war and also carries a large dose of Freudian thinking. Buzz Marrow is an ace pilot, an American flying out of a base in England during WWII. He is a jerk in his personal life who brags about his female conquests every chance he gets. Except when he is flying a bombing mission, he is chronically in a bad mood, drinks heavily, and generally belittles both his superiors and his crew.
Bowman, his co-pilot, tells the story of his initial hero worship for Buzz and its gradual disillusionment as his flying team approaches their final mission. The missions in those months prior to D-Day were so dangerous and nerve wracking that once 25 missions had been accomplished, the pilots and crew were reassigned to something less intense.
Finally there is Boman's English girlfriend Daphne, a combination of English wartime resignation and perfect, understanding, sexy goddess. When Boman isn't stressing out about the next mission, he is driving himself batty over whether or not Daphne is also sleeping with Buzz.
The story has tension by the bucket load. Hersey is actually quite a good writer. But due to the chapters that alternate between a countdown of the final mission and the back story, I was never really sure what time it was. By the end, I didn't care.
The point of all this? Men like Buzz, who love war get off on annihilation more than they do on sex, are in fact impotent, and have a death wish. I guess if the human race were rid of such types, we wouldn't have war? Sorry, Mr Hersey, I don't think it is quite that simple.
May 3, 2022
Astonishing. My friend bought it for me as a surprise after we'd laughed about the lurid and ridiculous blurb on the back cover, expecting it to be absurd.
Instead, it might actually be one of the most extraordinarily powerful and authentic WWII novels I've ever read, strikingly insightful - like a straight-faced, no laughs Catch-22. Well written (a good third to a half of it describes a single raid and that never drags for a moment), the characters feel utterly real, masterfully crafted. A genuine overlooked classic.
Instead, it might actually be one of the most extraordinarily powerful and authentic WWII novels I've ever read, strikingly insightful - like a straight-faced, no laughs Catch-22. Well written (a good third to a half of it describes a single raid and that never drags for a moment), the characters feel utterly real, masterfully crafted. A genuine overlooked classic.
July 13, 2023
I didn't hold out high hopes for this, given the bombastic cover image and text, and the photo on the back of Steve McQueen in the movie version, but it turned out to be just as powerful as promised, as well as intelligent and humane. It's narrated by Boman, co-pilot of the Flying Fortress 'The Body', and although it's centred around his gradually souring relationship with his pilot, it's also about how boring war is much of the time, getting to grips with life and love as an American in Cambridgeshire, and being so very, very young to be dealing with it all. I don't know why it isn't better known.
October 10, 2008
I first read this long ago and far away, and I marveled over Hersey's technique of alternating chapters as scenes. It's a remarkable study on manhood -- or, more precisely -- the romance of war lurking in some men's hearts, and it is as anti-war as Catch-22.
April 27, 2014
This is Catch-22 without the humour. It is the real war. It is the story of the crews of B-17 "Flying Fortresses" bombing German installations and getting killed doing it. It is the story of Charles Boman and Daphne Poole and of falling in love, or is it love, in wartime. It is the story of Buzz Marrow who is the war lover, the one who cannot live without a good fight, who loves war and destruction. It is the story of what really happened to crews stationed near Cambridge, England in those awful, awful days that we can hardly imagine now. The book alternates chapters between "The Raid" and "The Tour." It is over 400 pages and draws the reader in slowly but surely. One frustrating thing is Boman's alternating naiveté about the woman he loves (??) and his feelings about war, his comrades, the Germans, the English. And there is the loutishness of his comrades to deal with. John Hersey is one of the most gifted writes of the 20th century. This is not his best book but it is a much better book than 99% of what is published. Not easy to read. And men and women will probably get something different from the book. I would be interested to hear of women who have read the book.
January 17, 2016
Great tale told really well about an American flier in World War II. Loaded with detail for reality but not heavy or sluggish. The soul of the book reminded me of Stephen Spender. Super I recommend it highly.
July 4, 2009
Story of a B-17 co-pilot during his tour of duty during World War II. Lots of action, lots of drama.
August 24, 2020
Time to time this was an excellent novel and time to time artistically boring if I may say so. And in my own review I may.
The authenticity and expertise were imminent when Hersey described the B-17 and it's bombing missions over nazi occupied Europe. I was sure that the writer had been a part of the bomber crew. But actually he was a war correspondent on different frontiers. Thus the background work had been very well done.
For me (a model plane builder as a child) the mission and the aircraft descriptions were interesting; just like the flying fortress was - and is - an interesting plane as such with it's crew of ten and multiple machine guns making it a flying porcupine. And nevertheless vulnerable under the attacks of well trained German fighter pilots and the deadly flak of 88 cannons.
The structure of the novel was a bit confusing when the happenings on one bombing mission was scattered between the chronological events of the whole summer of the crew in England. But I suppose there wasn't any other way to do it as that story was like totally another novel.
Not a novel for War Lovers - on the contrary.
Sotasankari
Karisto 1987
The authenticity and expertise were imminent when Hersey described the B-17 and it's bombing missions over nazi occupied Europe. I was sure that the writer had been a part of the bomber crew. But actually he was a war correspondent on different frontiers. Thus the background work had been very well done.
For me (a model plane builder as a child) the mission and the aircraft descriptions were interesting; just like the flying fortress was - and is - an interesting plane as such with it's crew of ten and multiple machine guns making it a flying porcupine. And nevertheless vulnerable under the attacks of well trained German fighter pilots and the deadly flak of 88 cannons.
The structure of the novel was a bit confusing when the happenings on one bombing mission was scattered between the chronological events of the whole summer of the crew in England. But I suppose there wasn't any other way to do it as that story was like totally another novel.
Not a novel for War Lovers - on the contrary.
Sotasankari
Karisto 1987
February 22, 2024
Thanks to the recent debut of “Masters of the Air”, my desire to read the novel War Lover only intensified.
I was first introduced to Marrow, Boman and Co by Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner’s cinema portrayal in the movie of the same name in my early teens.
The way Hersey split up the tale between the entire tour and the final mission to Schweinfurt really put me off until the final 100 pages of the novel. By then, the brilliance of this approach really pulled me in. When I was finished, the story could not have been set up in any other appropriate way.
The War Lover is about life and death. It’s about courage and fear. It’s about self-preservation and self sacrifice. It’s about our very public and individual need for meaning, companionship and most importantly, meaningful relationships.
I was first introduced to Marrow, Boman and Co by Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner’s cinema portrayal in the movie of the same name in my early teens.
The way Hersey split up the tale between the entire tour and the final mission to Schweinfurt really put me off until the final 100 pages of the novel. By then, the brilliance of this approach really pulled me in. When I was finished, the story could not have been set up in any other appropriate way.
The War Lover is about life and death. It’s about courage and fear. It’s about self-preservation and self sacrifice. It’s about our very public and individual need for meaning, companionship and most importantly, meaningful relationships.
July 29, 2022
Mixed feelings about this one. There were definitely times I felt it dragged but overall the descriptions of WWII experience of US airmen conducting bombing raids from England was fascinating. Exploring the various was people approached their experiences. Some reveling in their skill, some torn by having to kill, some continuously fearful, some both hating and committed to their crewmates. In addition, this covered the pickle barrel bombing approach used by US vs the saturation bombing used by the rest of Europe. I recently read a Gladwell book on the topic so it was interesting to see it represented in a book written in the 1950s.
June 22, 2025
The parallel stories worked well, and I enjoyed the timing of them.
I thought the authors treatment of the battles, flying, soldiers behaviour and the war was more convincing than his description of Bo and Daphnes relationship. There was something incoherent and illogical. I often found myself scratching my head and thinking it made no sense. Maybe just me?
I thought the authors treatment of the battles, flying, soldiers behaviour and the war was more convincing than his description of Bo and Daphnes relationship. There was something incoherent and illogical. I often found myself scratching my head and thinking it made no sense. Maybe just me?
August 2, 2025
On the three to four star range, I’ll go with four – it has its faults but the good outweighs the bad and a great ending clinches it. Does a nice job at letting us know what being on a bombing raid in WWII felt like.
July 30, 2017
Kind of a "Great American War Novel," the kind they used to make war movies out of. Good tension.
July 2, 2011
I don't read novels much so maybe it is not a big surprise this one does not get much love from me. I wanted to see about its reputation as a good one, which is sort of deserver, I suppose. The angst the character has between killing Germans and loving Daphne seems overwrought, especially when the time and subject vacillation (via alternating chapters) of the war inside the bomber and the war inside his heart proves to really interrupt each other in the forced jump shots of the final three or four chapters
December 18, 2014
Wonderful book. I read it also in my youth and forgot it.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews