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The Innocent
This first novel by a former U.S. Army captain offers a unique perspective on the Vietnam War as experienced by a gay man. Capt. Matthew Fairchild is a desk officer in Saigon who, despite his constant struggle with hiding his sexuality, does superior work and is admired by his superiors. His affair with a young Vietnamese busboy named Nham gives him insight into the people he is fighting and himself as well. When Fairchild discovers secret information of misconduct involving the massacre of a Vietnamese village, his personal ethics as well as the inevitable disclosure of his homosexuality bring the novel to a tense and ultimately satisfying conclusion. Despite some weighty passages involving religion, Vietnamese history, etc., the author moves the story at a brisk pace and is exceptionally good at dialog. Readers will care about the characters, and this fictional account of a timely topic should be of interest.
252 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1997
28 people want to read
About the author
Robert Taylor
6 books1 followerRobert Taylor – author of The Innocent (1997), All We Have Is Now (hardback in 2002, paperback in 2006), Revelation and Other Stories (2002), Whose Eye Is on Which Sparrow? (2004), and A Few Hints and Clews (2007) – was born in Abilene, Texas, on July 22, 1940. He lived in a number of towns and cities in Texas while he was growing up, but thinks of San Antonio as his hometown.
As soon as he learned to read, he fell in love with books and started spending as much time with them as he could. Working on his high school newspaper solidified his interest in writing and led him to major in journalism at Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) in Lubbock. He was managing editor of the college newspaper his senior year and president of a number of campus organizations. In recognition of this, he was selected to appear in the 1961-1962 edition of Who's Who among Students in American Universities and Colleges. He graduated with high honors from Texas Tech in the spring of 1962 and was named Outstanding Male Graduate in Journalism.
He had joined ROTC as a way to help pay for college and upon graduation was commissioned as a second lieutenant in Army Intelligence. Graduating first in his class at Intelligence school led to an assignment at the Pentagon, in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence. The war in Vietnam kept him from being released after his original commitment of three years was up. He was promoted to first lieutenant and then captain. He was sent to Vietnam in October 1966 and was assigned to the Intelligence staff of the Commanding General at Headquarters, U. S. Army Vietnam. At the end of his year there, he was awarded a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service.
During his years in the Army, Taylor had lived with the constant fear that his homosexuality would be discovered, which would have led to an automatic dishonorable discharge. Once he was a civilian again, he was determined to leave that kind of fear behind. Although all the institutions of society were, at that time, still united in their abhorrence of homosexuality, he nevertheless told his family, friends, and coworkers that he was gay and has lived openly ever since.
Taylor’s first novel, The Innocent, was published in the fall of 1997 by Fithian Press in Santa Barbara, California, and is still in print in a second printing. His second novel, All We Have Is Now, was published in hardback by St. Martin’s Press in New York City in June 2002 (later republished in paperback by The Haworth Press in 2006). Eleven short stories and the novella, with the title of Revelation and Other Stories, were published by Puckerbrush Press in Orono, Maine, in the fall of 2002. A third novel, Whose Eye Is On Which Sparrow?, published in 2004 by The Haworth Press in Binghamton, New York, was named the “Best Gay Romance of 2004” by the InsightOut book-of-the-month club and won the 2005 Independent Publisher Book Award for the best book of the year with a gay or lesbian theme, including both fiction and nonfiction. Taylor’s most recent book, a novel called A Few Hints and Clews, published in the spring of 2007 by The Haworth Press, was a finalist for a 2008 Lambda Literary Award.
In May 1994, an essay by Taylor on the history of gay rights in America was included in Gay Pride: Photographs from Stonewall to Today, a book of photographs by Fred McDarrah published by A Cappella Books. A short story, “One Last Drink on the Piazza,” was published in the Winter/Spring 1999 issue of The Peninsula Review. Another, “Death Is Our Destination,” was published in the Winter/Spring 2002 issue of Puckerbrush Review. An essay by Taylor called “The Story of an Almost Marriage” was included in an anthology called I Do/I Don’t: Queers on Marriage, published in 2004 by Suspect Thoughts Press in San Francisco, California. This book won the 2005 Lambda Literary Award for best nonfiction anthology.
As soon as he learned to read, he fell in love with books and started spending as much time with them as he could. Working on his high school newspaper solidified his interest in writing and led him to major in journalism at Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) in Lubbock. He was managing editor of the college newspaper his senior year and president of a number of campus organizations. In recognition of this, he was selected to appear in the 1961-1962 edition of Who's Who among Students in American Universities and Colleges. He graduated with high honors from Texas Tech in the spring of 1962 and was named Outstanding Male Graduate in Journalism.
He had joined ROTC as a way to help pay for college and upon graduation was commissioned as a second lieutenant in Army Intelligence. Graduating first in his class at Intelligence school led to an assignment at the Pentagon, in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence. The war in Vietnam kept him from being released after his original commitment of three years was up. He was promoted to first lieutenant and then captain. He was sent to Vietnam in October 1966 and was assigned to the Intelligence staff of the Commanding General at Headquarters, U. S. Army Vietnam. At the end of his year there, he was awarded a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service.
During his years in the Army, Taylor had lived with the constant fear that his homosexuality would be discovered, which would have led to an automatic dishonorable discharge. Once he was a civilian again, he was determined to leave that kind of fear behind. Although all the institutions of society were, at that time, still united in their abhorrence of homosexuality, he nevertheless told his family, friends, and coworkers that he was gay and has lived openly ever since.
Taylor’s first novel, The Innocent, was published in the fall of 1997 by Fithian Press in Santa Barbara, California, and is still in print in a second printing. His second novel, All We Have Is Now, was published in hardback by St. Martin’s Press in New York City in June 2002 (later republished in paperback by The Haworth Press in 2006). Eleven short stories and the novella, with the title of Revelation and Other Stories, were published by Puckerbrush Press in Orono, Maine, in the fall of 2002. A third novel, Whose Eye Is On Which Sparrow?, published in 2004 by The Haworth Press in Binghamton, New York, was named the “Best Gay Romance of 2004” by the InsightOut book-of-the-month club and won the 2005 Independent Publisher Book Award for the best book of the year with a gay or lesbian theme, including both fiction and nonfiction. Taylor’s most recent book, a novel called A Few Hints and Clews, published in the spring of 2007 by The Haworth Press, was a finalist for a 2008 Lambda Literary Award.
In May 1994, an essay by Taylor on the history of gay rights in America was included in Gay Pride: Photographs from Stonewall to Today, a book of photographs by Fred McDarrah published by A Cappella Books. A short story, “One Last Drink on the Piazza,” was published in the Winter/Spring 1999 issue of The Peninsula Review. Another, “Death Is Our Destination,” was published in the Winter/Spring 2002 issue of Puckerbrush Review. An essay by Taylor called “The Story of an Almost Marriage” was included in an anthology called I Do/I Don’t: Queers on Marriage, published in 2004 by Suspect Thoughts Press in San Francisco, California. This book won the 2005 Lambda Literary Award for best nonfiction anthology.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 18, 2009
Truly a unique book, this novel deals with a more innocent time. It's unclear to me whether the innocent of the title is the naive U.S Captain who learns so much about Viet Nam, or the Vietnamese people, or the young man that he meets and falls in love with. Most probably it's all of the above and the clueless U.S. servicemen who are unquestioning in their world view. It probably also refers to all of us that lived through that more uninformed time when we all blithely trusted our political leaders.
I grew up in this era. I was never old enough to worry about being drafted myself but older brothers of friends served and I was easily as clueless as the young protagonist.
In addition to finally educating me to another viewpoint, this novel entertained me and presented yet another portrait of a young man's true coming of age; one of my favorite themes.
I grew up in this era. I was never old enough to worry about being drafted myself but older brothers of friends served and I was easily as clueless as the young protagonist.
In addition to finally educating me to another viewpoint, this novel entertained me and presented yet another portrait of a young man's true coming of age; one of my favorite themes.
January 4, 2018
Wasn't what I was expecting but well worth the read
August 6, 2025
Deeply disappointing the 'gay' context was almost vestigial and in many ways deeply ridiculous - I know times were different in the 1960s but seriously are we supposed to believe that some young man reaches the age of 26 without realising he is queer until he spots a dick in a department store mens room? - but the worse thing about the novel is the way the 'gay' story is used to provide an excuse for a pretty mediocre 'what the USA did wrong in Vietnam novel' which, despite its attempts to graft a Vietnamese point of view onto the story is basically the standard US centric view of the war. Although Robert Taylor is supposed to have based the novel on his own experiences in US Army intelligence in Vietnam I can't help feeling he brings less to the tale then Frank Snepp in 'Decent Interval'; Neil Sheenan in 'Bright Shinning Lie' or Michael Herr in 'Dispatches'. Even the 'gay' in Vietnam had been handled better by Charles Nelson in his 1985 'The Boy Who Picked the Bullets Up'. I might as well mention that you'd better off reading Graham Greene's 'The Quiet American' written in 1955 when Vietnam was still French then this bit of exploitative slumming with a gay sub plot written a quarter-century after South Vietnam disappeared.
A bad novel or really a mediocre novel is an insult to all the really good books out there and I could go on listing excellent literary and non fiction books to read about Vietnam. Don't read this; it is a lazy, cliched, bit of repulsive nonsense. I began this review intending to only list this book in my 'bad-disappointing' category but have revised my opinion and shelved in all five.
A bad novel or really a mediocre novel is an insult to all the really good books out there and I could go on listing excellent literary and non fiction books to read about Vietnam. Don't read this; it is a lazy, cliched, bit of repulsive nonsense. I began this review intending to only list this book in my 'bad-disappointing' category but have revised my opinion and shelved in all five.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews