James Brady (1)Resenhas

Haunting. Not all heroes are victorious. These unsung heroes illustrate the courage and commitment that keeps us free. Thanks to the Marines of Autumn!

What a fun fashion industry romp; bitchy, chatty & a bit catty! A great beach read.

This is an odd book. I read this biography of Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone in order to gain more insight into the Guadalcanal battle in the Pacific. I did gain some insight. What Brady discovered in researching this book is that the story of John Basilone has a great many discrepancies. Seems like some other readers of the book got annoyed with the author for pointing out time and again all the things that aren't right (as well as what seems OK). The middle part of the book was pretty much a bore for me, redeemed by the short but informative section of Iwo Jima. After finishing this we get an idea of who John Basilone was but not really a good picture, and I don't think some of the "truth" will be known. I'm not trying to be mysterious with that statement. Overall the book could have been written a little better.½

Brady's work has a ringing of truth to it, from start to finish. Very nearly reading as if it's a piece of nonfiction, but for its strict focus on the story and the characters at hand, the work brings to life moments of humor, love, and misery, and does so with such attention to setting and attitude that the reader becomes something of a fly on the wall of Captain Verity's journey... and is just so horrified by it as they are thankful for Brady's crafting of such a narrative.

It took me some time to discover Brady, though I'd heard his name. When I thought of war literature, I thought of Norman Mailer and Tim O'Brien, and of All Quiet on the Western Front and a handful of others. Yet, there's something about The Marines of Autumn--a sort of authenticity that comes through in Brady's style--that I'm not sure I've quite seen elsewhere. There were moments here where I was reminded I was reading fiction, but more often than not, that wasn't how I felt at all.

Absolutely recommended.½

I loved this book, especially the main character. In a way it reminded me of For Whom The Bell Tolls.

The Marines of Autumn by James Brady was an engrossing story of the Korean War. By telling the story of one reserve Marine Captain, the author also was able to give a very accurate picture of the conflict and who the major players were. The story of Captain Verity was interesting on it own, although at times all the additional fact and figures, although enlightening, seemed to slow the story down. Captain Tom Verity had been born and raised in China, spoke many of that nation’s dialects like a native and although was on the reserved list due to the death of his wife, was eventually called up and sent to Korea in order to listen to the radio traffic and discern whether the Chinese were following up on their threats to cross the border and come to the aid of the North Koreans. General McArthur was on the verge of declaring a successful conclusion to the conflict as he believed the Chinese were bluffing. What actually happened, and Captain Verity was able to help discover, was that sixteen divisions of the Red Army were pouring into North Korea and forming up in the mountains above the Chosin Reservoir. The fact that MacArthur had split his forces and could not hold the Chinese back, as well as the sheer horror of the retreat pretty much finished the General’s career and put an end to his ambition to run for the Presidency of the U.S.A.

The Marines of Autumn was an interesting look at the conflict as seen through the eyes a Marine Captain. The author writes in a very direct and unemotional style. This, along with the story being padded by so much historical and political information as well as all the detailed military facts and figures made the book read much like nonfiction. However, this in no way took away from my enjoyment of the book and I learned a lot from these pages.

Overall a little disjointed. The author will get going in narrative and then break off to tell you why the book by his family got something wrong. There are gaps in what the author can find out in parts of Basilone's life because he didn't write things in his diary and if he wrote home his letters have been lost.

Basilone the man was interesting and his story is worthy of remembrance. I just hope this isn't the definitive version of his life. He married a fellow Marine and they were together for around 6 months before he shipped out a second time. After his death she never re-married. Always saying once you have had the best how could she settle for less?

Very good memoir about the less sensational aspects of the Korean War. Brady arrives after all the see sawing and settles in to learn how to be a Marine officer on what later became the borders between North and South Korean. He is honest, unflinching and tells it like it is.

A very funny book. Even funnier if you are into fashion.

with some better editing this book might have been okay.

i'm not sure what the deal is: the author died right after the completion of the book so i think that might have something to do with it. i also feel like the book might have been rushed out in order to be ready before HBO starts airing their mini-series. whatever the reason, the book seriously needed work.

it was repetitive, jumped from time period to time period, and was short on facts. over and over the author con...morewith some better editing this book might have been okay.

i'm not sure what the deal is: the author died right after the completion of the book so i think that might have something to do with it. i also feel like the book might have been rushed out in order to be ready before HBO starts airing their mini-series. whatever the reason, the book seriously needed work.

it was repetitive, jumped from time period to time period, and was short on facts. over and over the author concluded that we would just never know what really happened.

a very frustrating read about someone who does seem to be an interesting guy and have an interesting story.

11. I like the book thought it was very well written and the charters were very thought out. On the down side it does get a little boring because it goes into every little detail about that part in the war or that gun or that style of sleeping bag it tends to drag on so parts of the book were very slow but most of it was good plot base.½

Outstanding is the bast word I can think of to describe this book!

Brady is a true story teller

p.146/302
James Brady who is the author interviews young men and women in the marines and they tell him their experiences. Most of the experiences told were combat and discipline and the question Brady asks is "why do marines fight?"

I guess the main character of the book is the author(James Brady) because he's the one interviewing the marines. He call some marines and also some marines call him so they can be interviewed. He finds people from different wars and different stories and also the marines he interviews also have similarities.

I don't think anything of the book relates to anything going on in my life.

I think maybe what I didn't like was I lost track of what was going on. It was annoying and tried to get a general idea of what was going on.

I would probably recommend this book to someone that likes the marines, but I don't know who.

Even though I lived through the Korean War and studied it in history, I found I really didn't know anything about it until I read this book. This is a very powerful portrayal of what war can be like. I recommend this to boys who like war stories.½