Wildcat’s Reviews > The Naked and the Dead > Status Update

I think this is up there with blood meridian

This is a really challenging book to read, namely because of how period-accurate the racism is. That being said, there is some really good descriptions in here. You can feel the military culture going on, and despite the spats over ethnicity and class via regional differences, they still work together because they have to. I can tell this will likely become one of my favorite books if it’s all like this.

I don’t think I’ve ever been this uncomfortable with depictions of racism in fiction until now. Mailer really nailed it in a period accurate way.

I am so conflicted about Martinez as a person. Very poignant insight into being a poor Mexican back then