Dear Mr. President

by Gabe Hudson

Everybody’s Gulf War Syndrome is a little bit different. Or so believes Larry, who returns home from Desert Storm to find his hair gone and his bones rapidly disintegrating. Then there’s Lance Corporal James Laverne of the US Marines, who grows a third ear in Kuwait. And in the audaciously comic novella “Notes from a Bunker Along Highway 8,” a Green Beret deserts his team after seeing a vision of George Washington, only to find a new calling—administering aid to wounded Iraqi civilians; he’s hindered only by the furtive nature of his mission and an unruly band of chimpanzees. Together these narratives form a bracing amalgamation of devastating humor and brilliant cultural observation, in which Gabe Hudson fearlessly explores the darker implications of American military power.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, War

176 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 2002

About the author

Find me here:
twitter: @gabehudson
insta:@gabeghudson
website: http://gabehudson.com/

Reviews

[Dick Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks a lot Casey! This was a really nice gift. I'm a complete sucker for books about war. Tim O'Brien's books about Vietnam have been topping my list of books I've read over the last couple years, and this lives up to any standards set by O'Brien. I forget who I was talking to, but I was recently discussing the books that we anticipated coming from Desert Storm, and George W.'s war. Anyway, this is a collection of a few short stories and one novella. They're all really great. This was the perfect follow up to the last O'Brien book I read (Going After Cacciato), because so much of that book took place mentally. And a lot of these stories deal with the mental strain.

[Terence · Rating 1 out of 5]

It seems a lot of critics liked this book. Overall, I have to admit I didn't. Hudson's book consists of a set of short stories, two of them quite good, most of them so-so, and the last and longest really quite awful. I think the reason that the critics liked Dear Mr President is that they wanted an important statement on the horrors of the Gulf War. But humour and surrealism in war books works well mostly when the object is to deflect the horror. I don't really sense that this is what is going on here. My impression is that Hudson has not actually seen much battle action, and this is the real reason for the use of an indirect approach to his subject.

[Jonathan Tennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Everybody’s Gulf War Syndrome is a little bit different.” This how the Amazon review starts off and is the best way to describe this book. It’s different than any other veteran written novel or short story collection I’ve ever read. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, just makes it difficult to compare it. It’s almost like the Things They Carried meets Hunter S. Thompson. I’m not sure if that works for anyone reading this but I enjoyed the collection and would read other works by this author.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I remembered reading something good by this guy in McSweeney's years ago. Finally traced my way back...and I can't say I'm impressed. He's about as bad of a writer as Chuck Palahniuk, similar stretches of humor. I wanted to like this book but really couldn't invest myself in the absurdity for the most part.

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark, disturbing PTSD horror; but a little more like a comic book than a nightmare. Except for the bits about public sex acts in elementary schools, which are truly devastating.

[J.G.P. MacAdam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim O'Brien meets Hunter S. Thompson. "Clever, quick, contemporary musings born out the first Gulf War." Wild, zany, humorous. Lots of comparisons to Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse Five.

Many of the reviews have got it right on this one. Great book recommendation. 👍

I was sorry to hear that Gabe Hudson died from complications of diabetes and kidney disease in his fifties. It sounds like he was a real veteran's veteran's writer, if that makes sense, as in helping other vets tell their stories. This bit by Christian Bauman, another Gen-X Gulf War/Somalia/Bosnia-era vet, was particularly moving: https://www.identitytheory.com/gabe-h...

[MaiiNerea! · Rating 1 out of 5]

Este libro cuenta con un set de historias cortas sobre militares o ex militares que estuvieron en el golfo.
La verdad no lo disfrute, hay muy pocas historias que me parecieron que eran medianamente buenas e interesantes, pero después las demás no me gustaron para nada. No lo recomendaría ni siquiera porque es corto.
La forma en la que esta escrita no me genero nada, el libro relata situaciones feas y lo lees sin sentir ningun tipo de sensacion (Almenos eso es lo que yo senti), tenia expectativas altas por ser el escritor un exmilitar y el hecho de que tenga buenas opiniones.

[Bruce Overby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gabe Hudson’s collection is a remarkably inventive telling of seven war stories that reaches well beyond the wars themselves to address a broad sweep of personal, societal, historical, and universal fissures in the human condition. The book is an easy read, wildly energetic and urgent, but at the same time deeply thought-provoking.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nine stories. A real disappointment. Of course it got notice because it's so weird but I'd not heard of it. It's an absurd, farcical, and flippant satire of Desert Storm with no service except the Coast Guard being spared humiliation. Sadly the author died in 2023 at age 52. He had served in the USMCR as a rifleman.

[Irne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Costoume adaptarme á escritura caótica e atropelada de Gabe Hudson, pero ó ser relatos lese bem. O último é o mellor (:

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book by virtue of finding a copy on Madison's "Take-a-book-leave-a-book" shelf way back when. Very entertaining series of connected vignettes, similar in some ways to O'Brien's The Things They Carried. Since then, I've seen Gabe Hudson speak in person. It was very rewarding. He was unlike what I expected from having read the book. His letters to the Whitehouse project is really neat...

[Jonas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, amazing energy, twisted plot lines though nothing expected, not your typical PTSD or Gulf War syndrome stuff, bizarro, "I rode through the desert on a camel with no name". Fans of Tim O'Brien's The Things they Carried will enjoy these stories which aren't quite as heavy due to a sardonic element of humor.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whew! Crazy with a capital C, violent, a little disturbing at times. Yet, very readable and often quite funny. Comparisons with "Catch 22" and "Slaughterhouse Five" are made on the blurb on the back cover - I don't think it's anywhere close to those in importance. A better comparison would be with Chuck Palahniuk (who wrote the blurb on the front cover).

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories all based on PTSD from the Gulf War. Each version of PTSD is totally absurd. For one, his PTSD manifested in dissolving bones. For another, either cross-dressing or taking over the body of his daughter, and yet another losing his mind and ending up in a cage.

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Painfully funny and tragic short stories about the Gulf War.

[Mike Polizzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clever, quick, contemporary musings born out the first Gulf War.

[M Burke]

"Disturbing mediocre farce, not particularly as droll as other reviewers have made it seem. The author's unlikeable characters end up making the whole book somewhat unlikeable."

[Dino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una serie di caustici e immaginifici racconti di un reduce dalla guerra in Kuwait. Interessante libro sulla stupidità della guerra e dei militari.

[Jaanus Tramberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

On very strange book, I love it : )

[Aleisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Revisited this from my school days. Meh. It didn't "pack a punch" as I had hoped it would.

[Sharper1 · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was supposed to be humorous fiction. Musta gone over my head.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. This guy sure knows how to write