This was no ordinary war. This was a war to make the world safe for democracy. And if democracy was made safe, then nothing else mattered—no...
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reviews
Oct 23, 2007
Stephanie
rated it: 
I read this book during my lunch breaks at the cafe of Barnes & Noble in Chelsea, NYC. I think I finished it in five sittings, with great big tears rolling down my face. While everybody around me was busy quaffing scalding hot lattes, I was trying to muffle the sounds of my agonized weeping into my scarf. Luckily, this is not seen as strange behavior in Manhattan, so I was able to finish the book unmolested.
Johnny Got His Gun sounds like it was written during the early stages of the More...
Johnny Got His Gun sounds like it was written during the early stages of the More...
9 comments
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(25 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Mme. Bookling
rated it:
Every time I read a book, I feel committed to it as if to a relationship. That relationship can be an infatuational fling, a carnal attraction, a passionate love, a committed best friend, a life partner...whatever form it takes will depend on how much I will remember it. Johnny Got His Gun got completely under my skin.
I was finishing the last page on an airplane and an 80 year old yoga teacher looked at me and quietly summed up this book. "I remember reading that. It blew my m More...
I was finishing the last page on an airplane and an 80 year old yoga teacher looked at me and quietly summed up this book. "I remember reading that. It blew my m More...
4 comments
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(15 people liked it)
Feb 27, 2008
Andy
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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(7 people liked it)
Mar 01, 2011
Esteban
rated it: 
What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs in the water?
Bob.
What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs on a porch?
Matt.
What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs on skis?
Skip.
What do you call a novel about a guy who has no arms and no legs because he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Johnny Got His Gun.
***
This works best as a character sketch. As poor Jon More...
Bob.
What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs on a porch?
Matt.
What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs on skis?
Skip.
What do you call a novel about a guy who has no arms and no legs because he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Johnny Got His Gun.
***
This works best as a character sketch. As poor Jon More...
14 comments
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(21 people liked it)
Nov 20, 2008
C
rated it:
One of my favorite books, and it seems, a favorite of many other lovers of peace and justice, I have used this book since 2000 with my senior students to discuss war and our current state of affairs. This book opens up readers to many other types of discussions, however. The fact that we can loose our capacity to act in a flash; or, that we can write the way we think.
Dalton Trumbo was a writer who saw beyond his times and was able to write for future generations, much like Orwell. I feel a More...
Dalton Trumbo was a writer who saw beyond his times and was able to write for future generations, much like Orwell. I feel a More...
0 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Oct 05, 2008
Jennifer (aka EM)
rated it:
Infinite Jest has beaten me, again.
Instead, I picked this up. The new edition I got has a new Foreword by a woman namedCarolCindy Sheehan, who lost her son Casey in Iraq in 2004. This is on top of the old new Foreword by Ron Kovic -- does that name ring a bell? It should, if you are a reader of war or anti-war novels. He is the writer of the book, and the individual on whom the lead character was based, of Born On The 4th Of July, which was of course about Vietnam. (And was th
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Instead, I picked this up. The new edition I got has a new Foreword by a woman named
4 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Feb 26, 2009
Candice
rated it: 
I finished this book in December of '07, Johnny Got his Gun, and it made me want to shoot myself in the face.
It is written in second person limited, which is annoying enough if not for the added limitation of narrating through a character with no eyes, nose, ears, mouth or limbs. Written primarily in stream-of-consciousness, I simply wanted to cut my eyes out so that I could at least fall asleep on my 5-hour flight. Johnny was supposed to be an anti-war novel, receiving a mountain of prais More...
It is written in second person limited, which is annoying enough if not for the added limitation of narrating through a character with no eyes, nose, ears, mouth or limbs. Written primarily in stream-of-consciousness, I simply wanted to cut my eyes out so that I could at least fall asleep on my 5-hour flight. Johnny was supposed to be an anti-war novel, receiving a mountain of prais More...
2 comments
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(5 people liked it)
Nov 21, 2008
Luciano
rated it:
Reading this book really makes you realize that war is real. It isn't the crisp uniforms of army officers, the fast air force jets, or the big boom of navy guns that we see in commericals for the armed forces, images that paint a distorted picture of the reality of war.
War it dirty, dispairing, desperate, and destructive.
War is death.
Johnny Got His Gun is a book that shows another face of death. One that is mortally infinite. A death that you live, but you can More...
War it dirty, dispairing, desperate, and destructive.
War is death.
Johnny Got His Gun is a book that shows another face of death. One that is mortally infinite. A death that you live, but you can More...
0 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Mar 28, 2009
Chris
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Nov 11, 2011
John
rated it:
I read this book years ago. Back in the 70's. I'd barely missed Vietnam but did join the service voluntarily. A friend gave me this book.
It took a lot of guts to write the profoundly and emotionally descriptive story about the horror of war.
People come away from it with strong emotions. Not always the same. As a young man in my twenties, knowing guys that didn't come back from Vietnam and knowing a few who came back in body only, this book struck me hard. It helped me to und More...
It took a lot of guts to write the profoundly and emotionally descriptive story about the horror of war.
People come away from it with strong emotions. Not always the same. As a young man in my twenties, knowing guys that didn't come back from Vietnam and knowing a few who came back in body only, this book struck me hard. It helped me to und More...
Sep 15, 2011
Florence
rated it:
Sometimes honoring your country can be harmful and very dangerous. Many people enter the war willingly when they want to make a right and serve their country. Although today you have an option, during the Civil War there was a draft where people didn’t have a choice to join. The main character Johnny has a giant struggle throughout the book. During the war he was seriously injured and unfortunately lost a lot of privileges. These privileges aren’t items or freedom, but physical and mental privil
More...
Aug 18, 2011
Sandy
rated it:
I decided to pick this book up after reading of it in Newman and Jones' excellent overview volume, "Horror: 100 Best Books." While the overwhelming majority of the books discussed therein deal with ghosts, the supernatural, werewolves, vampires and the like, Dalton Trumbo's "Johnny Got His Gun" (1939) deals with horror of a different sort: the horror of war, or, more specifically, war's aftermath.
In this unforgettable novel, we meet a young man named Joe Bonham, More...
In this unforgettable novel, we meet a young man named Joe Bonham, More...
Jul 10, 2011
Fred
rated it:
This is an amazing book. It is almost an experiment in writing which ends up being a phenomenal piece of literature. It's almost like a creative writing assignment to write about a character with no nose, no mouth, no arms, no legs, no ears and no eyes.
There is one scene with a rat. I won't give too much away, but I'm not often bothered by graphic scenes in books. This scene had me squirming as it was so well written and so appropriate to the situation the character was in.
More...
There is one scene with a rat. I won't give too much away, but I'm not often bothered by graphic scenes in books. This scene had me squirming as it was so well written and so appropriate to the situation the character was in.
More...
Mar 27, 2011
Jaclyn
rated it: 
I liked this book, even though it started off a little slow in my opinion. The author made the whole story pretty exciting, seeing as how the entire book is about a man named Joe with no mouth, no eyes, no ears, no nose, and no limbs lying in a hospital bed never doing anything. It was amazing reading about what this man, who's as close to being dead as any human could be, feels about fighting in wars. He feels that if he can ever learn to communicate with others, he can truly speak for the dead
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0 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 15, 2011
Historyweaver
rated it:
While goin' the road to sweet Athy, hurroo, hurroo
While goin' the road to sweet Athy, hurroo, hurroo
While goin' the road to sweet Athy
A stick in me hand and a drop in me eye
A doleful damsel I heard cry,
Johnny I hardly knew ye.
With your drums and guns and guns and drums, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and guns and drums, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and guns and drums
The enemy nearly slew ye
Oh my darling dear, Ye look so que More...
While goin' the road to sweet Athy, hurroo, hurroo
While goin' the road to sweet Athy
A stick in me hand and a drop in me eye
A doleful damsel I heard cry,
Johnny I hardly knew ye.
With your drums and guns and guns and drums, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and guns and drums, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and guns and drums
The enemy nearly slew ye
Oh my darling dear, Ye look so que More...
Jan 11, 2011
Matt
rated it:
This is maybe the third greatest anti-war novel I've read ... which puts Trumbo's book in the middle of The Things They Carried (occupying the first position) and All Quiet on the Western Front (at number 3). I think it's a great book because it really makes you run the gamut of feelings ... the two of which I found myself feeling were anger, and cynicism. I found myself disagreeing with Trumbo in that I think some ideas are worth dying for. If people hadn't, then I think this world would be
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0 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 10, 2011
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Dec 26, 2010
Keith
rated it:
Dalton Trumbo was one of Hollywood’s “black-listed” screen writers of the fifties and sixties following the HUAC testimony and McCarthy hearings. He was such a brilliant screen writer that he continued writing films under pseudonyms. This novel shows his incredible skill with dialog. Joe Bonham was a “doughboy” in France during the First World War, “The Great War”, “The War to End all War” and is wounded by an exploding artillery shell. His wounds are so extreme that to describe them here w
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Oct 13, 2010
Jeannette
rated it:
I first read this book in HS and it's haunted me ever since. It was written in 1939 and is about a WWI soldier who's grieveously injured: he loses all his limbs, his sight, his hearing, his ability to communicate. But mentally -- he's all there. Problem is, no one knows it. Today, they'd do a brain scan, but.. this is the early 30s. The book was pulled from circulation during WWII because... well, it's not very uplifting and no one reading it would want to go to war. It's for this reason, though
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2 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Apr 25, 2010
Jb
rated it:
So I first discovered this book due to the Metallica video "One". I was floored by the video and wanted to learn more so after some investigating I found the movie and in turn the book. So those who say Metal is a waste, Ha!
Joe Bonham, a young soldier serving in World War I, awakens in a hospital bed after being caught in the blast of an exploding artillery shell. He gradually realizes that he has lost his arms, legs, and face, but that his mind functions perfectly, More...
Joe Bonham, a young soldier serving in World War I, awakens in a hospital bed after being caught in the blast of an exploding artillery shell. He gradually realizes that he has lost his arms, legs, and face, but that his mind functions perfectly, More...
Mar 21, 2010
Ryan
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 16, 2010
Susi
rated it: 
Johnny Got His Gun
by Dalton Trumbo
Reviewed by Susi Sanchez
Word Count: 534
Sometimes honoring your country can be harmful and very dangerous. Many people enter the war willingly when they want to make a right and serve their country. Although today you have an option, during the Civil War there was a draft where people didn’t have a choice to join. The main character Johnny has a giant struggle throughout the book. During the war he was seriously injured and unfortuna More...
by Dalton Trumbo
Reviewed by Susi Sanchez
Word Count: 534
Sometimes honoring your country can be harmful and very dangerous. Many people enter the war willingly when they want to make a right and serve their country. Although today you have an option, during the Civil War there was a draft where people didn’t have a choice to join. The main character Johnny has a giant struggle throughout the book. During the war he was seriously injured and unfortuna More...
Mar 15, 2010
Johnny Got His Gun
Dalton Trumbo
Book Review By: Ryan Toh
When you hear about war, or read about it, it's usually patriotic, and when it's fiction, it's usually thrilling. The book Johnny Got His Gun is neither patriotic or thrilling, but rather a slap in the face to what war really is, and what happens to those that don't come home the same, physically or mentally.
The book itself was written after the First World War, but ironically before the horrors of the S More...
Dalton Trumbo
Book Review By: Ryan Toh
When you hear about war, or read about it, it's usually patriotic, and when it's fiction, it's usually thrilling. The book Johnny Got His Gun is neither patriotic or thrilling, but rather a slap in the face to what war really is, and what happens to those that don't come home the same, physically or mentally.
The book itself was written after the First World War, but ironically before the horrors of the S More...
Mar 15, 2010
Savannathecoolestpersonever
rated it:
I Was Expecting So Much More From This Book. It Had The Potential To Be A Truly Moving Story, But It Just Wasn't Carried Out Well. I Think I Would've Been Much More Affective If Trumbo Hadn't Felt The Need To Repeatedly Tell Me Exactly How I Was Supposed To Be Affected. A Conversation I Had With Friends Sums This Up Perfectly. When He Saw What I Was Reading He Asked About It. I Told Him It Was About The Horrors Of War And Had Gained A Reputation Since Its Publishing Of Being Synonymous With Vari
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Mar 15, 2010
Blanca
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 15, 2010
Terry
rated it:
Johnny Got His Gun
Dalton Trumbo
Reviewed by: Terry Justice Albea
Joe thought it was just another nightmare. He couldn’t see, he couldn’t open his eyes; he couldn’t move his arms, he couldn’t move his legs, he couldn’t move his jaw to talk, or breathe through his nose. He couldn’t feel them. In reality, they were gone. Just as the artillery shell that hit him. Now he is a prisoner in his own body, and he can’t do anything about it.
Johnny Got His Gun has been one of the More...
Dalton Trumbo
Reviewed by: Terry Justice Albea
Joe thought it was just another nightmare. He couldn’t see, he couldn’t open his eyes; he couldn’t move his arms, he couldn’t move his legs, he couldn’t move his jaw to talk, or breathe through his nose. He couldn’t feel them. In reality, they were gone. Just as the artillery shell that hit him. Now he is a prisoner in his own body, and he can’t do anything about it.
Johnny Got His Gun has been one of the More...
Mar 15, 2010
Johnny Got His Gun Review
Johnny Got His Gun is a disturbing novel about the horrors of war. It was written by Dalton Trumbo in 1938 about a young soldier who lost everything in World War I. Joe Bonham finds himself in a hospital bed and slowly realizes that both his legs and arms have been amputated and on top of that he can no longer speak, hear, see or smell. The entire book takes place inside his mind, reliving his past, questioning himself, his life, and authority, as More...
Mar 16, 2010
Situation
The main situation/ thing about this book, is about a man named Johnny. This man Johnny was fighting in a war when he was hit by a bomb. The book had explained how severe the condition Johnny was in after he was hit. It was explained that all four limbs were directly affected and so was his face. In the end, the doctors had ended up cutting off/ amputating his legs. His conditions became worse, instead of good. The doctors had eventually got off his arms off as w More...
Mar 14, 2010
Carolina
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 13, 2010
Johnny Got His Gun was all about tragedies that can occur during war. This book was originally was published in 1939, two days after the outbreak of World War II. The novel was a pacifist piece published in wartime. It taught the bad ideas of war and Hitler burned all copies in the 1940’s. This story is written about a man who had nothing and had to live and survive with only his mind to rely on. You find out early on in the book that due to the war he lost all his limbs, his mouth, ears, More...
