NYLONbooks

The Naked And The Dead

The Naked And The Dead, August 2009, 6.5/10.

Written by Norman Mailer.  Published by Picador.

Less obviously Mailer than many of his other books (although it was his first novel written when he was only 25), this novel is a highly readable insight into the machinations of a group of GI’s.  Raw and gritty, the author develops many characters into true individuals, both by their deeds and by vignettes looking back into each man’s past.  Despite this most characters are not memorable individually and this may have been intentional, as this group of infantrymen are entirely anonymous and disposable in the bigger picture, which is perhaps the point the author was making.  One of the main themes was randomness – the author did an excellent job showing that when one’s time is up there is nothing that anyone can do about it.  The book also dealt with cruelty / mercy, personal responsibility, competence / ability and the challenges in stepping out of the past and changing one’s character.