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The Moi: A Novel of the Vietnam War
214 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
About the author
Barry Sadler
109 books80 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
American author, musician and former green beret.
To the general public he is most known for the hit single "Ballad of the green berets"
After his musical career he decided to write a series of novels centered around the character "Casca Rufio Longinius" Who is cursed for piercing Jesus on the crucifix with a spear and is forced to forever remain a soldier until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
In the mid 1980s Sadler moved to Guatemala City where he was shot in the head one night in a taxi. He spent 7 months in a coma and died more than a year later.
American author, musician and former green beret.
To the general public he is most known for the hit single "Ballad of the green berets"
After his musical career he decided to write a series of novels centered around the character "Casca Rufio Longinius" Who is cursed for piercing Jesus on the crucifix with a spear and is forced to forever remain a soldier until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
In the mid 1980s Sadler moved to Guatemala City where he was shot in the head one night in a taxi. He spent 7 months in a coma and died more than a year later.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 1, 2019
Until relatively recently, when you wanted to publish a book there were two ways to go. One was by getting a legitimate publisher, the other was to self publish. You'd always see ads in the back of magazines for a company called Vantage Press, a self-publishing company founded in 1949 that went defunct in late 2012. "Vantage" was another word for "vanity" and such publishers are referred collectively to as the vanity press. Self publishing a book doesn't mean a book is bad or doomed to fail. It may just be that the author doesn't know how to promote his or her book or that publishers fail to see its merit. There are many instances of books being rejected by publisher after publisher that go on to reap huge rewards for the publishing house that takes a chance on them. Lisa Genova (Still Alice), Amanda Hocking (Switched), Andy Weir (The Martian). All self published in various ways.
This is not the case of The Moi (Vietnamese for "The Animal," but you have to read the jacket flap to learn that), an incompetently written novel by Barry Sadler (1940–1989). Sadler "was a medic with US Special Forces and arrived in Vietnam with the first deployment of combat troops. In May 1965 Sadler suffered a leg wound from a punji spike daubed in human excrement. He penned Ballad of the Green Berets, a song about his unit, while recovering from the subsequent infection." (Alphahistory.com)
The Moi is riddled with errors and lapses in logic. Typos and unintentionally bad grammar abound. Words are used incorrectly; Mr. Sadler should have bought a dictionary and used it.
Aurora Publishers Inc., then in Nashville, Tenn., apparently didn't feel like investing in getting decent copy editor to give The Moi a going over.
I'd hope to find something interesting in The Moi as it was written by someone with first-hand experience not long after America lost its war in Vietnam. (It would've have been useful to know when during that war, which went from 1961 to 1975, the book takes place, but Sadler didn't feel that was worth mentioning.)
There is nothing good about this book. Zero.
If you have an interest in reading a novel about Vietnam, the gold standard is Karl Marlantes's Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War, which was published in 2009.
This is not the case of The Moi (Vietnamese for "The Animal," but you have to read the jacket flap to learn that), an incompetently written novel by Barry Sadler (1940–1989). Sadler "was a medic with US Special Forces and arrived in Vietnam with the first deployment of combat troops. In May 1965 Sadler suffered a leg wound from a punji spike daubed in human excrement. He penned Ballad of the Green Berets, a song about his unit, while recovering from the subsequent infection." (Alphahistory.com)
The Moi is riddled with errors and lapses in logic. Typos and unintentionally bad grammar abound. Words are used incorrectly; Mr. Sadler should have bought a dictionary and used it.
Aurora Publishers Inc., then in Nashville, Tenn., apparently didn't feel like investing in getting decent copy editor to give The Moi a going over.
I'd hope to find something interesting in The Moi as it was written by someone with first-hand experience not long after America lost its war in Vietnam. (It would've have been useful to know when during that war, which went from 1961 to 1975, the book takes place, but Sadler didn't feel that was worth mentioning.)
There is nothing good about this book. Zero.
If you have an interest in reading a novel about Vietnam, the gold standard is Karl Marlantes's Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War, which was published in 2009.
Displaying 1 of 1 review