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Split/Vision
Split/Vision is John Wilbur's Vietnamese experience. A former U.S. Navy SEAL, he served eighteen months in Vietnam at the height of the war years (1967-68)where he fought and lived among the Vietnamese of the Mekong Delta that became like home. 32 years later he returns alone as a tourist. After a jarring start arriving at "Ho Chi Minh" City, he encounters a split-vision in discovering a new and different country while searching for the old. In his travels, Wilbur's narration reveals an internal journey that moves rhythmically between the now and then.Drawn back to the Mekong, he muses over its ancient river and rice culture, recalls the dark nights hunting for the VC along the great brown rivers, living through the TET Offensive, a fight to near death, promises broken, redemption and renewal among the irresistible humanity of a people torn by war and decades of oppression.The discovery of the North, the surprise of Hanoi, chance encounters and unusual coincidences create a vivid and vibrant montage. Delving into the nation's complex, social, cultural and political history, Wilbur's journey makes you understand the country's bitter past, struggling present and hopeful future.
284 pages, Paperback
First published June 14, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 4, 2015
Wow! Talk about a low profile. Seems like nobody in Goodreads has read this book. It was published in 2004... been around for a while. Anyway, I must've picked this up at the transfer station. It's time for some non-fiction. Seems like I was in Vietnam about the same time as this dude, though I'm about four years younger. Also... we both attended Yale, though he graduated and I left very early. Oliver Stone and George Bush were in my class. OS left early also... Bush was a party-friend for a while and a very gregarious guy. President of the United States??????? Never met OS that I can recall.
Read a lot of this last night and after the slight challenge of accepting the author's somewhat overwrought prose(ripe would be a good description) I began to get into it. At first I was dismayed at the lack of Vietnam memoir but then... it came down like a monsoon. Pretty scary, nasty and(I assume) real. The travelogue in modern-day Vietnam is pretty interesting too. I guess this sort of thing is too old-hat nowadays. The time for all that Vietnam-media stuff was past ten years ago I suppose... Oh well... I like it fine! Reminds me of Tree of Smoke...
- This book could've used more editing/proofreading.
- The author gives some nice SE Asia history asides too.
- He writes "Audy" Murphy one time and then the correct "Audie" the next time.
- John Wayne's "Iwo Jima" s.b. "The Sands of ... ".
- First it's "Lost" Planet guide and then he gets it right: "Lonely..."!
- The author's path and mine might have crossed down there in the very south of 'Nam. We were both there in 1967 and the Mekong areas he writes about were visited by me(sort-of) when I rode that Aussie plane back to Saigon to leave the country back in November of 1967. We touched down several times at dusty airstrips before Tan Son Nhut. Mostly I was floating offshore on a spy ship. We're both navy guys although he was an officer.
- It's Rwanda, not Rawanda!
- Coors is made from Rocky Mountain SPRING water, not stream water.
Whew! I just searched the author and learned that he died a couple years ago in Florida. Suffered from dementia too. I wonder if it was war-related? Also... he and I graduated from the same prep school(I was class of 1964, while he was 1960, so I never met him)! And, like me, he was a wrestler. Unlike me, however, he was a really good one! I'm having a vague recollection of his exploits at Loomis. They won the Connecticut private school championship his senior year. I entered the school as a freshman the following Fall. He was also the captain of the wrestling team at Yale.
Work obligations stopped me from finishing last night but I should be able to do it tonight. The author is now working his way northward and away from the areas he served in back then. He's in Hue now and will wind up in Hanoi I believe. the travelogue continues to be interesting but the over-ripe writing style continues to distract. It's not HORRIBLE but the guy must've had an intense personality and it infects his writing. He seems to have had a hard time with Acceptance.
- I believe the author is mistaken about the chronology of Errol Flynn's career. He needed me to proofread this!
- The author seems to hate using hyphens for some reason.
- John Wilbur was on the cultural cusp; to young to be a 50's guy and too old to be a sixties guy. A gung-ho and then disillusioned young officer. So far he hasn't stated CLEARLY how he felt about the Vietnam War even though he does a fair bit of mild political ranting about present-day Vietnam.
- "to WHOM he was the rising son"; not "to who..."!
- The NSG was NSA as far as I know but maybe there were CIA ties as well.
Finished last night as the author makes his "escape" to super-modern and glittery Hong Kong from the economic socialist backwater of Hanoi. Still... he liked it there. At no point does he really comment on the rightness or wrongness of the war and one senses that he still wishes we had "won" it. His overall attitude seems muddled. He's no fan of socialism but sees the possibility of Vietnam evolving/growing economically at least, especially down south. The final tone is one of confusion and sad acceptance despite his reluctance to let go of that American exceptionalistic "gotta win/gotta be right" ethic. It's worth noting that John died just six years after this visit - sad. I give it a final 3.5*(rounds down to 4*). The content was pretty interesting but the overall tone was a bit of a downer and the writing was somewhat amateurish and over-emotional.
- Goes on and on about the Vietnamese women: "skin as smooth as caramel etc.).
- Very little mention of the bombing of the North.
- 30 years later he finds is acceptable to refer to the North Vietnamese as "the enemy", although the usage is somewhat ironic. My feeling from this book is that Jon's attitude was somewhat gung-ho and rigid... immature.
- This copy was signed by John and included a message "to Jean and Jake"???
-
Read a lot of this last night and after the slight challenge of accepting the author's somewhat overwrought prose(ripe would be a good description) I began to get into it. At first I was dismayed at the lack of Vietnam memoir but then... it came down like a monsoon. Pretty scary, nasty and(I assume) real. The travelogue in modern-day Vietnam is pretty interesting too. I guess this sort of thing is too old-hat nowadays. The time for all that Vietnam-media stuff was past ten years ago I suppose... Oh well... I like it fine! Reminds me of Tree of Smoke...
- This book could've used more editing/proofreading.
- The author gives some nice SE Asia history asides too.
- He writes "Audy" Murphy one time and then the correct "Audie" the next time.
- John Wayne's "Iwo Jima" s.b. "The Sands of ... ".
- First it's "Lost" Planet guide and then he gets it right: "Lonely..."!
- The author's path and mine might have crossed down there in the very south of 'Nam. We were both there in 1967 and the Mekong areas he writes about were visited by me(sort-of) when I rode that Aussie plane back to Saigon to leave the country back in November of 1967. We touched down several times at dusty airstrips before Tan Son Nhut. Mostly I was floating offshore on a spy ship. We're both navy guys although he was an officer.
- It's Rwanda, not Rawanda!
- Coors is made from Rocky Mountain SPRING water, not stream water.
Whew! I just searched the author and learned that he died a couple years ago in Florida. Suffered from dementia too. I wonder if it was war-related? Also... he and I graduated from the same prep school(I was class of 1964, while he was 1960, so I never met him)! And, like me, he was a wrestler. Unlike me, however, he was a really good one! I'm having a vague recollection of his exploits at Loomis. They won the Connecticut private school championship his senior year. I entered the school as a freshman the following Fall. He was also the captain of the wrestling team at Yale.
Work obligations stopped me from finishing last night but I should be able to do it tonight. The author is now working his way northward and away from the areas he served in back then. He's in Hue now and will wind up in Hanoi I believe. the travelogue continues to be interesting but the over-ripe writing style continues to distract. It's not HORRIBLE but the guy must've had an intense personality and it infects his writing. He seems to have had a hard time with Acceptance.
- I believe the author is mistaken about the chronology of Errol Flynn's career. He needed me to proofread this!
- The author seems to hate using hyphens for some reason.
- John Wilbur was on the cultural cusp; to young to be a 50's guy and too old to be a sixties guy. A gung-ho and then disillusioned young officer. So far he hasn't stated CLEARLY how he felt about the Vietnam War even though he does a fair bit of mild political ranting about present-day Vietnam.
- "to WHOM he was the rising son"; not "to who..."!
- The NSG was NSA as far as I know but maybe there were CIA ties as well.
Finished last night as the author makes his "escape" to super-modern and glittery Hong Kong from the economic socialist backwater of Hanoi. Still... he liked it there. At no point does he really comment on the rightness or wrongness of the war and one senses that he still wishes we had "won" it. His overall attitude seems muddled. He's no fan of socialism but sees the possibility of Vietnam evolving/growing economically at least, especially down south. The final tone is one of confusion and sad acceptance despite his reluctance to let go of that American exceptionalistic "gotta win/gotta be right" ethic. It's worth noting that John died just six years after this visit - sad. I give it a final 3.5*(rounds down to 4*). The content was pretty interesting but the overall tone was a bit of a downer and the writing was somewhat amateurish and over-emotional.
- Goes on and on about the Vietnamese women: "skin as smooth as caramel etc.).
- Very little mention of the bombing of the North.
- 30 years later he finds is acceptable to refer to the North Vietnamese as "the enemy", although the usage is somewhat ironic. My feeling from this book is that Jon's attitude was somewhat gung-ho and rigid... immature.
- This copy was signed by John and included a message "to Jean and Jake"???
-
April 25, 2025
This is an extremely interesting and prescient book written about the author's Vietnam experience as a Navy Seal juxtaposed with his post-war travel back in 2000 and his subsequent experience. John seamlessly jumps between his past wartime and 2000 experiences with candid details. In a word, riveting!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews