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Articles of War
George Tilson is an eighteen-year-old farm boy from Iowa. Enlisted in the Army during World War II and arriving in Normandy just after D-day, he is nicknamed Heck for his reluctance to swear. From summers of farm labor Heck is already strong. He knows how to accept orders and how to work uncomplainingly. But in combat Heck witnesses a kind of brutality unlike anything he could have imagined. Fear consumes his every thought and Heck soon realizes a terrible thing about himself: He is a coward. Possessed of this dark knowledge, Heck is then faced with an impossible task.
193 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
December 11, 2014
Nick Arvin’s debut novel, Articles of War, is the powerful story of an 18-year-old from Iowa who is drafted during World War II and is sent to Europe. He is an unremarkable young man who is given the nickname “Heck” because he refuses to curse. He is thrust into battle in the Huertgen Forest and is caught up in the events surrounding the Battle of the Bulge. Because he is terrified, Heck believes himself to be a coward. But does his terror make him a coward or is it the response of a rational human being?
Articles of War is not a book about tactics or grand strategy, but concentrates on how war affects the men who fight it and deals with questions of valor and cowardice. It is a slim book, written in a spare, minimalist style, that has been compared to that of Hemingway (It is a great compliment, but it may have set such a high standard that Arvin will never live it down.).
It is an extraordinary book that I will not soon forget. What makes it even more remarkable is that it is a debut novel and, even more than that, it was written by someone who has never experienced combat.
Tom Bissell in his insightful review of the book on the Salon website has this to say about Arvin’s lack of combat experience: “Experience does not necessarily make one an expert, and empathy can take writers to higher places than expertise.” And this does seems to be true in the case of Arvin.
I look forward to reading his second novel, The Reconstructionist.
Articles of War is not a book about tactics or grand strategy, but concentrates on how war affects the men who fight it and deals with questions of valor and cowardice. It is a slim book, written in a spare, minimalist style, that has been compared to that of Hemingway (It is a great compliment, but it may have set such a high standard that Arvin will never live it down.).
It is an extraordinary book that I will not soon forget. What makes it even more remarkable is that it is a debut novel and, even more than that, it was written by someone who has never experienced combat.
Tom Bissell in his insightful review of the book on the Salon website has this to say about Arvin’s lack of combat experience: “Experience does not necessarily make one an expert, and empathy can take writers to higher places than expertise.” And this does seems to be true in the case of Arvin.
I look forward to reading his second novel, The Reconstructionist.
July 28, 2011
The term "MFA fiction", or fiction written by graduates of masters degrees in writing, often draws flack from readers as "dull" and "overwritten", not always rightly so, but I think in this case Articles of War deserves the label it plasters over itself--you can't even get to the first page of this story without the having the author's credentials as a graduate of that sacred Iowa Writer's Workshop flashed repeatedly in your face. Not that you probably wouldn't have figured it out anyway within the first three pages.
For me, there are two main characteristics that define that stereotype of MFA fiction (full disclosure: I'm an MFAer myself, and striving to avoid this in my own writing. And what a struggle it is not to sound like one). The first is an unrelenting dour, hopeless tone that saturates many works of MFA fiction like a sour bank of fog. It's gray and cold and miserable inside; there's no humor, no patch of light, no hope. Ok, so maybe the fact that this novel strives to evoke the horrors of war excuses it from offering any lightness and hope. Or does it? Even war, paradoxically, has its weirdly touching, funny, unusual moments that seem out of place, yet provide texture and contrast with the horror. There's no texture or contrast here, just a blob of dull, dour gray.
The second MFA-giveaway is the language and narrative voice. Although close-3rd-person narrator Heck is a young, non-swearing Iowa farm boy, his observations of the world around him are as verbose, philosophical, and overcooked as--you guessed it--those of an educated writer with a graduate degree who wants to show the world how clever and astute he is. And he can be clever and astute, but never for a moment did I think Heck himself was the clever, astute one. I could only ever hear the author as the author, never taking up the character's own, unique, naive farmboy voice (and he must have had one). For example, on page 106: "From then on, the minutes and hours seemed to pass in clotted, desultory spasms, as if time were shambling forward with a great weight on its back and could advance only in effortful paroxysms." There are lots of sentences such as this that seem to shamble forward in effortful paroxysms, long and convoluted serpents that tangle over themselves and slow the pace to a crawl. Isn't this war? Can you even think in complete sentences while under fire? Where are the short sentences? And no, I didn't mean the repetition of the F-word four times in a row. That sort of forced saltiness isn't particularly clever or evocative. Realistic, sure. Literary? But I digress (see, my own mfa voice has reared up. I'll try to beat it back).
However, despite the unflagging dire tone, unconvincing narrative voice and a romantic subplot that goes nowhere (the less said about it the better), the final quarter of this book shines. Heck, after milling about as a passive non-soldier for most of the book (purposely evoking the youth in Red Badge of Courage), he is suddenly plucked up for a mysterious "mission" that turns out to be neither what Heck nor the reader expected, and turns Heck's misgivings about war upside-down and inside-out. It's a great twist, but took far too long to get there. I think the final part of the novel would have made an excellent short story and could have stood alone as a brief, evocative moment. Well conceived, but barely worth the slog.
For me, there are two main characteristics that define that stereotype of MFA fiction (full disclosure: I'm an MFAer myself, and striving to avoid this in my own writing. And what a struggle it is not to sound like one). The first is an unrelenting dour, hopeless tone that saturates many works of MFA fiction like a sour bank of fog. It's gray and cold and miserable inside; there's no humor, no patch of light, no hope. Ok, so maybe the fact that this novel strives to evoke the horrors of war excuses it from offering any lightness and hope. Or does it? Even war, paradoxically, has its weirdly touching, funny, unusual moments that seem out of place, yet provide texture and contrast with the horror. There's no texture or contrast here, just a blob of dull, dour gray.
The second MFA-giveaway is the language and narrative voice. Although close-3rd-person narrator Heck is a young, non-swearing Iowa farm boy, his observations of the world around him are as verbose, philosophical, and overcooked as--you guessed it--those of an educated writer with a graduate degree who wants to show the world how clever and astute he is. And he can be clever and astute, but never for a moment did I think Heck himself was the clever, astute one. I could only ever hear the author as the author, never taking up the character's own, unique, naive farmboy voice (and he must have had one). For example, on page 106: "From then on, the minutes and hours seemed to pass in clotted, desultory spasms, as if time were shambling forward with a great weight on its back and could advance only in effortful paroxysms." There are lots of sentences such as this that seem to shamble forward in effortful paroxysms, long and convoluted serpents that tangle over themselves and slow the pace to a crawl. Isn't this war? Can you even think in complete sentences while under fire? Where are the short sentences? And no, I didn't mean the repetition of the F-word four times in a row. That sort of forced saltiness isn't particularly clever or evocative. Realistic, sure. Literary? But I digress (see, my own mfa voice has reared up. I'll try to beat it back).
However, despite the unflagging dire tone, unconvincing narrative voice and a romantic subplot that goes nowhere (the less said about it the better), the final quarter of this book shines. Heck, after milling about as a passive non-soldier for most of the book (purposely evoking the youth in Red Badge of Courage), he is suddenly plucked up for a mysterious "mission" that turns out to be neither what Heck nor the reader expected, and turns Heck's misgivings about war upside-down and inside-out. It's a great twist, but took far too long to get there. I think the final part of the novel would have made an excellent short story and could have stood alone as a brief, evocative moment. Well conceived, but barely worth the slog.
February 17, 2014
George Tilson leaves his Iowa home for Normandy as an eighteen-year-old recruit in World War II. Shy and unassuming, he keeps to himself and earns the nickname “Heck” because he doesn’t swear. He is muscled from summers of farm labor, and knows how to work long and hard without complaint. But combat is far more brutal than he imagined and fear consumes him.
This novella packs a big punch. The writing is at once reserved and intimately emotional. The reader witnesses the horrors of war along with Heck, who frequently seems removed from the battles due to his cautious nature. But his fear, terror, and horror are intensely felt, as is his shame at his perceived cowardice. The combat scenes capture perfectly the chaos and confusion of a major battle. The scenes at base camp capture the boredom and uncertainty of “waiting to be called,” and give the reader (and the combatants) a much-needed respite.
When I finished I was not sure I agreed with Heck’s self-assessment that he is a coward. I recognize that he is frightened to inaction at times, but that seems reasonable to me given the circumstances he finds himself in. I asked my husband (a combat infantry platoon leader in Vietnam) about this. His response is that it’s normal to be scared, but you have to face it. I think there are times when Heck definitely faces his fears and conducts himself well. But there are other incidents when he takes “the coward’s way out,” and those tend to be when he is alone and without someone to witness his cowardice. Internally, however, he is always looking to escape.
And that is what gives the ending such impact. Without giving anything away, I don’t see how he can escape that final scenario … and I’m not so sure he even wants to.
This novella packs a big punch. The writing is at once reserved and intimately emotional. The reader witnesses the horrors of war along with Heck, who frequently seems removed from the battles due to his cautious nature. But his fear, terror, and horror are intensely felt, as is his shame at his perceived cowardice. The combat scenes capture perfectly the chaos and confusion of a major battle. The scenes at base camp capture the boredom and uncertainty of “waiting to be called,” and give the reader (and the combatants) a much-needed respite.
When I finished I was not sure I agreed with Heck’s self-assessment that he is a coward. I recognize that he is frightened to inaction at times, but that seems reasonable to me given the circumstances he finds himself in. I asked my husband (a combat infantry platoon leader in Vietnam) about this. His response is that it’s normal to be scared, but you have to face it. I think there are times when Heck definitely faces his fears and conducts himself well. But there are other incidents when he takes “the coward’s way out,” and those tend to be when he is alone and without someone to witness his cowardice. Internally, however, he is always looking to escape.
And that is what gives the ending such impact. Without giving anything away, I don’t see how he can escape that final scenario … and I’m not so sure he even wants to.
December 16, 2013
The war in Iraq has already inspired a catalog of books, but so far the best are nonfiction. (Seymour Hersh's detractors may disagree.) Fictional treatments of the battles in Baghdad and Fallujah will eventually inform attitudes about the Iraq war even more powerfully than today's news reports and histories, but those tales may not appear soon. In the meantime, we're already seeing a season of stirring novels about life as a soldier.
The protagonist of Nick Arvin's "Articles of War" is an 18-year-old farm boy from Iowa who "could not wait to be sent forward and he dreaded being sent forward." He's awkwardly aware of his own naiveté and inexperience in the world, but determined to be practical about this duty.
In Normandy, waiting and waiting to be deployed, he wanders into the woods one day and finds a little boy playing in a mine field. Prodded by the boy's frantic older sister, Heck runs to him and carries him out. It's a heroic, selfless act, to be sure, but it's the last brave thing Heck can get himself to do through years of service in the Army.
On the way to the front, he passes earlier battles. "The destruction was vast," Arvin writes, "the things and homes of many lives reduced to a great acreage of rubble, none of it reaching higher than eye level. And soon the same firepower that had done this would be aimed at himself."
He discovers that his whole body trembles uncontrollably. His thoughts are jumpy, constantly drawn to paths of flight. "It began to seem to him that he might be without bravery in any category."
Arvin follows this young man through surreal scenes of carnage and pasture, moments of mayhem followed by passages of peacefulness. His style is restrained and minimalist, but one eerily striking scene follows another.
Through the destruction wreaked by both Germans and Americans, Heck wants only somehow to stay alive, but "he was often overwhelmed by a sense of shame at his cowardice." In battle, he looks for ways to escape rather than fight. "He did not want to be dead or crazy or maimed. Yet these seemed his only options." He repeatedly uses the Army's administrative distraction to drift away from the front or prolong needless sick leaves. He's desperate to shoot someone - anything - to prove to himself that he's not a coward, but he's terrified of combat. Considering the sacrifices of his fellow soldiers, his behavior is shameful, of course, but there's something so endearing and earnest about him.
Ultimately, Heck's path crosses the real-life story of Private Eddie Slovik, who was executed for desertion in 1945. Their meeting provokes a haunting, unsettling examination of fear in the face of destruction that would terrify any sane person.
Especially in a time of war, this novel reminds us how profoundly complex the soldier's life is.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0201/p1...
The protagonist of Nick Arvin's "Articles of War" is an 18-year-old farm boy from Iowa who "could not wait to be sent forward and he dreaded being sent forward." He's awkwardly aware of his own naiveté and inexperience in the world, but determined to be practical about this duty.
In Normandy, waiting and waiting to be deployed, he wanders into the woods one day and finds a little boy playing in a mine field. Prodded by the boy's frantic older sister, Heck runs to him and carries him out. It's a heroic, selfless act, to be sure, but it's the last brave thing Heck can get himself to do through years of service in the Army.
On the way to the front, he passes earlier battles. "The destruction was vast," Arvin writes, "the things and homes of many lives reduced to a great acreage of rubble, none of it reaching higher than eye level. And soon the same firepower that had done this would be aimed at himself."
He discovers that his whole body trembles uncontrollably. His thoughts are jumpy, constantly drawn to paths of flight. "It began to seem to him that he might be without bravery in any category."
Arvin follows this young man through surreal scenes of carnage and pasture, moments of mayhem followed by passages of peacefulness. His style is restrained and minimalist, but one eerily striking scene follows another.
Through the destruction wreaked by both Germans and Americans, Heck wants only somehow to stay alive, but "he was often overwhelmed by a sense of shame at his cowardice." In battle, he looks for ways to escape rather than fight. "He did not want to be dead or crazy or maimed. Yet these seemed his only options." He repeatedly uses the Army's administrative distraction to drift away from the front or prolong needless sick leaves. He's desperate to shoot someone - anything - to prove to himself that he's not a coward, but he's terrified of combat. Considering the sacrifices of his fellow soldiers, his behavior is shameful, of course, but there's something so endearing and earnest about him.
Ultimately, Heck's path crosses the real-life story of Private Eddie Slovik, who was executed for desertion in 1945. Their meeting provokes a haunting, unsettling examination of fear in the face of destruction that would terrify any sane person.
Especially in a time of war, this novel reminds us how profoundly complex the soldier's life is.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0201/p1...
August 5, 2008
An excellent and taught novel that follows “Heck”, an 18 year old Iowan farm boy with a reluctance to curse, as he serves in post-D-Day Normandy. Arvin paints a vivid picture of war, and made me think more than ever about the peculiarity of the battlefield, especially the moment-to-moment struggle of warring in an environment made for living. This isn’t naval ships blasting at one another in the ocean, or army brigades firing across open fields, but sheer battle where people live, in farms, on the countryside, and in small towns. Arvin’s book doesn’t necessarily focus on this aspect of war, but its tight description of place, the few battles that do take place in the story, and Heck’s encounters with French civilians, brought home this point for me. The novel’s greatest strength, however, is its sober examination of cowardice. Aside from his reluctance to curse, Heck is fearful in the face of battle, a sentiment acceptable in nearly any situation but war. While this emotion is the centerpiece of the novel – and as a reader I expected this theme to develop in a traditional battlefield context – Arvin inserts a harrowing and factually inspired twist that takes the book to another level. I finished the novel impressed with the story and slightly shell-shocked from it.
December 11, 2012
I'd seen Nick Arvin's ARTICLES OF WAR on a list of distinguished war novels, so when I came across it in a used book store, I snapped it up.
It wasn't long before I wondered how it had earned the praise.
Another Goodreads reviewer labeled it as MFA fiction, and about 50 pages in, I had to agree. It's heavy on description, long on emotional detachment and short of characters for whom it is possible to care (I wanted to write here "give a rat's ass about.")
Heck, the Iowa farm boy whose perspective we follow, has little Iowa about him that isn't also Writers' Workshop.
As an article of war—World War II in the waning days—it seems credible, but imagined rather than lived and documented. Once Heck got near battle, the action and the interest picked up (when both he and the reader are fleeing a not very convincing romantic interest). I decided to stick with it, and the book flowed much better.
By the end, the thematic reason for Heck's cowardice becomes clear and so does the purpose of that early dalliance with the French maiden. But I found myself still not caring about anyone I'd spent time with even as we shared the horrors of war.
It wasn't long before I wondered how it had earned the praise.
Another Goodreads reviewer labeled it as MFA fiction, and about 50 pages in, I had to agree. It's heavy on description, long on emotional detachment and short of characters for whom it is possible to care (I wanted to write here "give a rat's ass about.")
Heck, the Iowa farm boy whose perspective we follow, has little Iowa about him that isn't also Writers' Workshop.
As an article of war—World War II in the waning days—it seems credible, but imagined rather than lived and documented. Once Heck got near battle, the action and the interest picked up (when both he and the reader are fleeing a not very convincing romantic interest). I decided to stick with it, and the book flowed much better.
By the end, the thematic reason for Heck's cowardice becomes clear and so does the purpose of that early dalliance with the French maiden. But I found myself still not caring about anyone I'd spent time with even as we shared the horrors of war.
March 15, 2010
Articles of War is a very good read, especially if you are interested in WWII stories. This book proves that we are not all heroes, especially when we are into self-examination, yet, maybe we are in spite of ourselves. The strength and depth of one man's experience in battle is very griping and will hold your attention as a reader. My only negative comment is the ending. It fell short for me.
November 20, 2022
I’m prone to read those books about World War II that portray it in as positive a light as possible. That probably means even the nonfiction is fiction to a great degree. With this book, I ventured into World War II’s gritty underbelly—its dark and seamy underside, if you’ll forgive the cliché.
The GIs George Tilson met when he signed up in 1944 to go to Normandy just called him Heck. He was a burly Iowa farm boy who promised his now-dead mom he wouldn’t swear, and he kept that promise. Hence the nickname.
Heck isn’t long associated with the war effort before he realizes it’s no place for him. On one of his first days there, he watches as a little French boy’s foot is damaged by a landmine. Heck takes part in the rescue, and that’s where he meets the boy’s older teenage sister, Claire. She lures Heck away into a cave, where the two briefly touch and kiss and go no farther. All the while, Heck becomes sure he’s a coward of the first order. He gets wounded twice—once on purpose—so he can step away from the war theater with some honor. In neither case are the wounds serious enough to get him sent home. So, after a few days of respite, he’s back at it. Meanwhile, his conviction of cowardice grows stronger. Ah, but is he really as cowardly as he believes himself to be? The author’s writing style will grip you as you come to terms with Heck. I felt mostly ambivalent, but I also wondered how many millions of young Americans constantly tasted fear and wondered in horror at the sometimes-capriciousness of death. At one point in the book, an icicle falls from a house and strikes a GI at just the right place to kill him. The senselessness of death all around him horrifies Heck. And then, he gets the assignment nobody wants. He and 11 other men must make up a firing squad that will kill an American who has twice deserted his post.
This won’t get as high a rating as it might. The end left me frustrated and unfulfilled. This is in the tradition of The Red Badge of Courage and similar books that look at the side of war that is anything but cheerleading and gung-h
The GIs George Tilson met when he signed up in 1944 to go to Normandy just called him Heck. He was a burly Iowa farm boy who promised his now-dead mom he wouldn’t swear, and he kept that promise. Hence the nickname.
Heck isn’t long associated with the war effort before he realizes it’s no place for him. On one of his first days there, he watches as a little French boy’s foot is damaged by a landmine. Heck takes part in the rescue, and that’s where he meets the boy’s older teenage sister, Claire. She lures Heck away into a cave, where the two briefly touch and kiss and go no farther. All the while, Heck becomes sure he’s a coward of the first order. He gets wounded twice—once on purpose—so he can step away from the war theater with some honor. In neither case are the wounds serious enough to get him sent home. So, after a few days of respite, he’s back at it. Meanwhile, his conviction of cowardice grows stronger. Ah, but is he really as cowardly as he believes himself to be? The author’s writing style will grip you as you come to terms with Heck. I felt mostly ambivalent, but I also wondered how many millions of young Americans constantly tasted fear and wondered in horror at the sometimes-capriciousness of death. At one point in the book, an icicle falls from a house and strikes a GI at just the right place to kill him. The senselessness of death all around him horrifies Heck. And then, he gets the assignment nobody wants. He and 11 other men must make up a firing squad that will kill an American who has twice deserted his post.
This won’t get as high a rating as it might. The end left me frustrated and unfulfilled. This is in the tradition of The Red Badge of Courage and similar books that look at the side of war that is anything but cheerleading and gung-h
February 21, 2017
I didn't get too far into this book. There was (as far as I read) one instance of the F-word, and then a bit later it got a little too sexual for me. I don't know if anything actually happened, but the description of his arousal was not something I wanted to read.
As for the book itself... In some ways it was a little boring to read, as Heck kind of just goes with the flow and doesn't seem to have much of a personality, and there's not a ton that happens in the first thirty pages. However, once I got used to the narrative, I started to enjoy it a little more--not a ton, but a little. This book presents a very realistic view of what war is like. Not that I have any personal experience with that, but this book doesn't try to idolize it at all. It presents it for what it is.
So, the beginning of this book has a rather slow pace, and Heck is a boring character, but it presents war in a realistic way. That last bit is what would have kept me reading, but the content in this book was too much for me.
As for the book itself... In some ways it was a little boring to read, as Heck kind of just goes with the flow and doesn't seem to have much of a personality, and there's not a ton that happens in the first thirty pages. However, once I got used to the narrative, I started to enjoy it a little more--not a ton, but a little. This book presents a very realistic view of what war is like. Not that I have any personal experience with that, but this book doesn't try to idolize it at all. It presents it for what it is.
So, the beginning of this book has a rather slow pace, and Heck is a boring character, but it presents war in a realistic way. That last bit is what would have kept me reading, but the content in this book was too much for me.
December 14, 2021
Unique story of Heck, a WWII American soldier who fearfully roams the French landscape, keeping his distance from his fellow soldiers and trying as best he can to stay out of harm's way. His story is simultaneously teffifying and pitiful and at times, a touch surreal. While we know that war is chaos, this short, but effictive, novel shows us that chaos on an individual level. While it is difficult to look at Heck as a hero-- actively avoiding heroism at every turn-- we still find ourselves actively rooting for him through each unique experience he encounters.
September 2, 2020
"Articles of War" by Nick Arvin is a fictional account of a young soldier's experience in war. It is post D-Day WW2, and Heck struggles internally and externally with his farm boy ignorance. He longs for meaning in his life, finds a curious sense of love, and is at once a coward and a hero.
This is a coming of age novel that shows the precarious nature of a young mind on the edge. At times deep and methodical, other times poetic, it is immersible and un-put-downable.
This is a coming of age novel that shows the precarious nature of a young mind on the edge. At times deep and methodical, other times poetic, it is immersible and un-put-downable.
January 15, 2024
Just not enough to rate it four stars.
Other reviews have highlighted the romantic side plot and the less written about this, the better. The book ends with him being left a baby on his door step?
The book trudges along, slow and monotonous until Heck returns to his unit after recovering from his leg wound. I felt the book shined in the second half and especially when he is volunteered on a “special mission”, but the side plot and the ending destroys any positives.
Other reviews have highlighted the romantic side plot and the less written about this, the better. The book ends with him being left a baby on his door step?
The book trudges along, slow and monotonous until Heck returns to his unit after recovering from his leg wound. I felt the book shined in the second half and especially when he is volunteered on a “special mission”, but the side plot and the ending destroys any positives.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 1, 2019
Read this one not long after "Fly away Peter", by David Malouf. Both follow similar storylines that being love, war and a journey to discover ones self.
Having said that, I enjoyed this light read and hope Nick gets back with another novel with the World Wars in mind.
Having said that, I enjoyed this light read and hope Nick gets back with another novel with the World Wars in mind.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 5, 2017
Good war book
July 13, 2021
I really wanted to like this book but DNF. I gave it 40 pages which is about 25% but I didn’t like the writing style at all. Some foul language which added to the 1 star.
December 21, 2022
Very poignant, very human look at a young boy’s being thrown into World War II, it could be a little slow moving at times, but the ending made it worth it for me
November 23, 2025
good, short, I've read better WWII books
March 2, 2012
Articles of War reminds me of a rare gem that has been finely and professionally cut and polished. It is a precise and narrow vision of one man's experience in the combat hell that was World War II. Although the protagonist's nickname is Heck, because he refused to use profanity of any kind (a promise to his dead mother), he quickly learned of Hell in the Hurtgen forest and the infamous Battle of the Bulge, enduring the bone-chilling winter cold, the short supply of congealed canned rations, and the caked filth of living in cramped close quarters of underground bunkers, hiding from German snipers and artillery strikes, cowering like burrowing animals, where the only advice he gets from a more seasoned comrade is:
"...when you need to move your bowels, when you absolutely can't help yourself, shit in your helmet, maybe a K-ration box. Then throw it out that opening. Do not go outside to shit. Please ... The last replacement I had insisted on going outside and died with his pants around his knees."
Other reviewers have commented on parallels to Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, and the similarities are indeed inescapable, because Heck's fears of being a coward make up a central theme throughout the book. I was also reminded of one of the earliest Vietnam novels, a short book by William Pelfrey called The Big V, now out of print and difficult to find. But there too were many of the same images and characters to be found in Crane - the accidental wound, the running away in the face of the enemy, followed by a courageous charge up a hill. The fearful, doubt-torn protagonist, as well as "the tall soldier" - in Arvin's book blown to bits before Heck's eyes. There is the cathedral-like clearing encountered in the forest, the impersonal disc of the sun watching over it all, uncaring, unmoved. All of these elements from the Crane classic were in the Pelfrey novel, and are also here in Arvin's. The US Civil War, WWII, and Vietnam. The quintessential test of manhood in time of war, the finding out - courage and cowardice, that confusing and terrifying mixture - it's all here.
And then the surprising and riveting turn taken in the final twenty-five pages of the Arvin book, all based on historical fact, that gives the story its own unique twist. Elaborating on this would spoil the story for future readers, so I won't. Suffice it to say that war fiction seldom rises to this level. I will recommend it highly.
"...when you need to move your bowels, when you absolutely can't help yourself, shit in your helmet, maybe a K-ration box. Then throw it out that opening. Do not go outside to shit. Please ... The last replacement I had insisted on going outside and died with his pants around his knees."
Other reviewers have commented on parallels to Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, and the similarities are indeed inescapable, because Heck's fears of being a coward make up a central theme throughout the book. I was also reminded of one of the earliest Vietnam novels, a short book by William Pelfrey called The Big V, now out of print and difficult to find. But there too were many of the same images and characters to be found in Crane - the accidental wound, the running away in the face of the enemy, followed by a courageous charge up a hill. The fearful, doubt-torn protagonist, as well as "the tall soldier" - in Arvin's book blown to bits before Heck's eyes. There is the cathedral-like clearing encountered in the forest, the impersonal disc of the sun watching over it all, uncaring, unmoved. All of these elements from the Crane classic were in the Pelfrey novel, and are also here in Arvin's. The US Civil War, WWII, and Vietnam. The quintessential test of manhood in time of war, the finding out - courage and cowardice, that confusing and terrifying mixture - it's all here.
And then the surprising and riveting turn taken in the final twenty-five pages of the Arvin book, all based on historical fact, that gives the story its own unique twist. Elaborating on this would spoil the story for future readers, so I won't. Suffice it to say that war fiction seldom rises to this level. I will recommend it highly.
May 13, 2009
Articles of War may not reach the heights of top-notch historical fiction but it certainly has its redeeming qualities.[return][return]Nick Arvin, a mechanical engineer who is also a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, is a concise, to the point writer. The novel is about "Heck," an 18-year-old Iowa farm boy who is drafted and ends up in the infantry in Europe in late 1944. Arvin is excellent at describing the horrors, fear, confusion, self-doubt and depravations of war and battle. In fact, I expected the picture on the inside jacket to be of a man no younger than his 50s; Arvin, though, is barely 30. [return][return]Still, some events seem too coincidental and contrived. The biggest problem is the careful pace is discarded to speed Heck to a brush with history and the ultimate personal denouement (which in and of itself I found wanting). For example, although Heck is there, the Battle of the Bulge seems merely a brief timepost. Yet these are not flaws of style or clarity but construction. Thus, Articles of War does serve as an excellent reminder of the joys of plain and clear writing.[return][return]Originally published at http://prairieprogressive.com/?p=356
December 5, 2016
Well written - strong sense of being there - but disappointing, mainly because the hero himself was a bit irritating? Its difficult to write about this book. It is definitely well written, the main characters bumbling through the battle scenes read very real, though his survival given his total non engagement doesn't - but that very lack of engagement with what is happening is new, and made believable, territory. I have read many war books in an effort to understand and the one that this vaguely reminds me of is Red badge of courage by Stephen Crane, except its not as good. I am aware this is not useful reviewing but I think it is actually because the main character is a dull, faceless man lacking in personality and colour - forgettable - and maybe there is a point in that the author is making, that he is a sort of everyman, but if that is true then he has over succeeded. Having said that, it engages enough to be read to the finish. I did want to know what happened to him - though nothing did of course - nothing about the war seemed to touch him at all, including the stark misery of others. Maybe its a Waiting for Godot thing and I missed something. Having said that - I would read another book by the same author, I think there was potential, and because I feel that, I think I would read it again if I didn't already have something else waiting.
October 20, 2014
Lucid and quietly powerful, Nick Arvin's short novel follows a very real, human, and naive soldier "Heck" through the terror of a war that can drop him dead 50 different ways at the drop of a pin -- or not, with no reason or need to reason. The novel ostensibly explores cowardice through Heck, although the simplicity of that idea, cowardice, bottoms out the more we get into it. Arvin makes a brilliant choice (*I* thought it was brilliant, whatever Ms. Maslin may think) to set off this rather weighty and metaphysical subject with a bizarre false-love story that wanders in and out of the main narrative and examines the same themes of courage, reason, and suffering on a more intimate scale. It feels organic and fresh, which is all the more wonderful because it's recognizably a novelistic contrivance.
Anyway, I'm making it sound terribly ponderous, but it's an unassuming read, thanks to Arvin's precise, efficient prose. I'm not sure I'd call it funny (though the writing has wit), or "fun," but it's not a book one suffers through -- the pages turn. I finished the last 60+ pages in one sitting.
Looking forward to reading more of the author.
Anyway, I'm making it sound terribly ponderous, but it's an unassuming read, thanks to Arvin's precise, efficient prose. I'm not sure I'd call it funny (though the writing has wit), or "fun," but it's not a book one suffers through -- the pages turn. I finished the last 60+ pages in one sitting.
Looking forward to reading more of the author.
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February 5, 2009Arvin, inspired by his grandfathers' service during World War II (one with American forces, the other with the German Army), captures the horrors of battle in his first novel. Leaving out the epic sweep of standard historical fiction, the author builds his narrative from one young soldier's experience. Arvin is especially acute in his examination of the psychology of bravery when faced with devastation. His minimalist prose, which captures the panic, horror, carnage, and chaos of war, packs more emotional and descriptive punch than its simplicity would denote. Only the romantic subplot involving Heck and a French girl draws sustained critical fire, especially from The New York Times. But most agree that Articles of War is a timely, self-assured debut.
This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.
July 31, 2016
I find this kind of like a required-writing project: I can read it and the story is there, but the language feels like everything is being viewed through layers of cotton. I'm not too far in, but I'm also not sorry the book has less then 200 pages!
OK, now I'm done. I read this in audio, and it was like my old high school textbooks: deadly if engaged in while lying down because it induced sleep! The descriptions were overly literary and cerebral. The characters weren't very vividly drawn, and while I don't think a reader has to care about characters per se, I do think some kind of connection needs to be formed, otherwise the reader won't continue. I read this book through because I wanted to remind myself that, even with a fancy certificate from a well-known writer's factory, a person isn't guaranteed to be good. Just because a piano says Steinway on it doesn't mean it should be put into Carnegie Hall!
OK, now I'm done. I read this in audio, and it was like my old high school textbooks: deadly if engaged in while lying down because it induced sleep! The descriptions were overly literary and cerebral. The characters weren't very vividly drawn, and while I don't think a reader has to care about characters per se, I do think some kind of connection needs to be formed, otherwise the reader won't continue. I read this book through because I wanted to remind myself that, even with a fancy certificate from a well-known writer's factory, a person isn't guaranteed to be good. Just because a piano says Steinway on it doesn't mean it should be put into Carnegie Hall!
August 27, 2010
The book follows Heck (it's his nickname because he doesn't swear), a boy from Iowa sent to fight in World War II. He's a quiet type, so unsurprisingly, the book is also spare. Heck is a hard worker, and doesn't have any problems taking orders, but his first experience in combat leaves him with the knowledge that he's not cut out for casual heroism - or really any sort of heroism.
It is an interesting counterpoint to the usual World War II story of young men who consistently did the right thing and found extreme reserves of courage within themselves. There had to be men who found they were paralyzed by their fear, who spent more time trying to figure out how to get out rather than go forward.
I wasn't much of a fan of the ending, which I found a little too open-ended for me.
It is an interesting counterpoint to the usual World War II story of young men who consistently did the right thing and found extreme reserves of courage within themselves. There had to be men who found they were paralyzed by their fear, who spent more time trying to figure out how to get out rather than go forward.
I wasn't much of a fan of the ending, which I found a little too open-ended for me.
October 8, 2012
I love World War II stories and have read my fair share - and pretty much have Band of Brothers memorized - so I don't say this lightly, "Articles of War" was a unique take on World War II. It focuses mainly on Heck, a replacement soldier arriving in France closer to the end of the war, and his internal struggle with feelings of cowardice. The book is not action packed, in the typical manner of a war novel, but there are many scenes of violence and war as witnessed by Heck and the author made each one feel real and feel very much like you are right there with Heck.
If you enjoy World War II stories, war stories in general, or have ever wanted to read a soldier's experience from the point of view of a very real fictional young man, then I highly recommend "Articles of War."
If you enjoy World War II stories, war stories in general, or have ever wanted to read a soldier's experience from the point of view of a very real fictional young man, then I highly recommend "Articles of War."
August 19, 2014
This short novel is selected as the One Denver, One Book title, and was given to me earlier this year from my mom. This book tells the story of a single man during World War II. We don’t get much more insight into other soldiers, the war, or any grande scheme. But after reading it, you may have more insight as to what one soldier may have gone through, and not knowing the big picture helps that. And learning one soldier’s story may give you more insight into many. I’m not sure that this would be the recommendation for everyone, but it is short and an interesting read for anyone who has read and enjoyed other war fiction.
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August 1, 2017Nick Arvin's prose belies his involvement in the University of Iowa's writer's workshop, but the plot is less cliché than the self-aware writing style. For me, that is; I don't read much war fiction. If the composition was careful, what he composed was remarkable. The protagonist's panic, horror, and ignorance in battle evoked a reaction similar to that of The Road. Not as universally horrifying, because (to someone who has never seen combat), World War II is a finite, self-contained, known quantity -- unlike everything in the McCarthy.
This is for bookclub next week, and it's also the One City, One Book selection for Denver in 2008. It should be good for conversation.
This is for bookclub next week, and it's also the One City, One Book selection for Denver in 2008. It should be good for conversation.
December 11, 2007
This is a great book to teach respect for veterans. This was the One Denver One Book book and I wouldn't have been pulled in except for my bookclub choosing it. I gave it three stars because it helped me to understand war, and the deep respect that veterans deserve. I would have given more stars if I had known why the author wrote it. It would be hard for me to give more stars this book because even though it communicates respect for war as it is, and the respect due to veterans, I still wonder if the author also asked: "Why?"
December 31, 2011
The Red Badge of Courage updated to World War II (footnoting the analogy to my Dad who sent the book my way). A fairly straight-forward story of an Iowa farmboy's struggle to find his courage under difficult, but not entirely atypical circumstances. Arvin (a Colorado State grad) writes well, but the book never really took off for me. I won't elaborate much because there's real spoiler possibility here, but I will say that I'll keep an eye out for his other work. Mainly, though, it's sending me back to Crane.
March 21, 2012
I'm not usually much for war novels, but I don't think of this one so much as a war novel. Sure, the war is an integral part of the book, but this is really more a novel about the humanness of the main character, Heck. The focal point is his humanity as he experiences the confusion and insanity of the war, and how he is scarred by it. Really, it is very well done. The writing is tight and clean and the description is visceral and moving. I may not usually go for war novels, but however you want to classify this book I certainly went for it.
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