Fragments

by Jack Fuller

Fragments is a story about how war can make everything explosive—even love—and how two friends try to put the pieces of their lives together again.

"[ Fragments ] makes the usual semi-autobiographical account [of the Vietnam War] . . . seem flimsy and discursive in comparison. . . . The shapeliness and sense of larger design [is] so elegantly executed in Fragments ."—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

"The plot is believable, the characters sharply drawn, the prose clean and distinctive. . . . Stand[s] with Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato, James Webb's Fields of Fire, Josiah Bunting's The Lionheads and John Del Vecchio's The 13th Valley . . . . A strong, compelling novel."—Marc Leepson, Washington Post

"There have been many books on Vietnam, and there will be many others. This is more a novel than the rest. . . . Fuller has reassembled the exploded grenade."—Bob MacDonald, Boston Sunday Globe

"Should our children ask about Vietnam, we would not go wrong to place this book in their hands. . . . [ Fragments ] purveys more than information—it gives the war a literary form."—David Myers, New York Times

"The best novel yet about the Vietnam War. . . . It ranks with Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and James Jones's From Here to Eternity. "—Daniel Kornstein, Wall Street Journal

Genres: Historical Fiction

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Jack Fuller published six critically acclaimed novels and one book of non-fiction about journalism. He was a legal affairs writer, a war correspondent in Vietnam, a Washington correspondent, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer.

Three of his novels have been included in the University of Chicago Press’s distinguished Phoenix Fiction series. In 2005, he retired from a career in newspapers to concentrate on book writing.

He began working in journalism at the age of 16 as a copyboy for the Chicago Tribune. Along the way he has worked for the Washington Post, Chicago Daily News, City News Bureau of Chicago, and Pacific Stars and Stripes. He left journalism for law briefly when U.S. Attorney General Edward Levi asked him to serve as his special assistant in the Department of Justice. At the Chicago Tribune he served as editor of the editorial page, editor, and publisher. When he retired, he was president of Tribune Publishing Co.

A graduate of Northwestern University and Yale Law School, he lived in Chicago with his wife, Debra Moskovits. He had two children, Tim and Kate.

Reviews

[Daniel Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best Vietnam War book that I've ever read. It seemed so believable that I had to look up the author and found that he (Jack Fuller) had been a war correspondent over there. He did a great job of getting inside of Morgan's head and letting the reader see what he was experiencing and feeling from boot camp through the war and then returning home. I highly recommend it.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the latest of a number of books I've read about the experiences of American soldiers sent to Vietnam. All of these books have a powerful message concerning the futility of war and the arbitrary nature of combat and death. "Fragments" tells Morgan's story and stresses the bonds between comrades in arms during and after the conflict. His charismatic best friend, Neumann, has decided to improve a derelict village and thereby improve the lives of the village's inhabitants, and he sets about rebuilding a ruined building, thinking of turning it into a local clinic, commissary, and all-around useful place. He is part of a unit that is tasked with rushing to the sites of helicopter crashes and other disasters, extracting injured and wounded people and making the area secure. Members of the unit work alongside the Vietnamese villagers to repair the walls, and wary friendships develop. Unfortunately, things take an unexpected turn, with no one knowing exactly how it happened that the Vietnamese woman Neumann had planned to marry and settle with in the US ends up dead alongside her family. It is Morgan's search for answers that make sense in the context of the war and his knowledge of his friend's character that forms the heart of the book. Once again, we learn that war is hell.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best war novels I have ever read. The best on the Viet Nam war. Very solid characters, very real situations. I want to check out what else this author has done.

[Jim Huinink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, under-appreciated war novel. Fuller is on par with Mailer and Hemingway here. The title is a resonant metaphor.