The Bamboo Bed

by Eastlake William, William Eastlake

-- Dying in a bamboo bed, Captain Clancy hallucinates several philosophical conversations with a snake and a tiger. Meanwhile, Captain Knightbridge and Nurse Jane of the Search & Rescue Unit have sex in their helicopter -- the Bamboo Bed -- at 10,000 feet, setting a wartime record. Down below, two hippy kids wander the forest trying to end the Vietnam war with a dream and a guitar. In the tradition of Catch-22 and Dr. Strangelove, The Bamboo Bed treats with hilarity and outrage the grim absurdity of war.

Genres: Fiction, Literature

350 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We would regroup right here at the VC bunkers and start up again. I now had about 90 ambulatory patients left to make it to the top. We had come 400 meters up 904. Everyone has been hit by something. Those that were hit too bad I left along the way and perimeters. Old Charlie made it too hot to bring in a medevac. The Bamboo Bed flew over a couple times. She took heavy ground fire. She took so many holes we waved her off. When she came back we took a couple of shots at her ourselves. Everybody shoots at the Bamboo Bed. Both sides. Both sides shoot the s*** out of her. Why? Because she's there. Because the Bamboo Bed always shows up at a disaster. When you see the Bamboo Bed you know it's the end. Both sides.

"Like I said before, we started up 904 again. I was leaving the too bad wounded in perimeter. The dead could take care of themselves. I had three flesh wounds. None too bad. The thing that hurt like s*** was the muscle of my left arm where I had taken napalm back there in Paradise. The military call it infogel and that's what it feels like. They must have missed some of it. Leroy and Dummy Dumfries cut it out of my arm while Peter Scott sat on my head. But they must have missed some. It hurt like s***. No morphine. As long as you have command position there can be no morphine.

"Well that's it sir," Peter Scott said.

"Are we all set to go? Who's missing?"

"God is missing," Peter Scott said.

[Robert Pierson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps you had to have been in 1969 to grasp this. Well I don't know how anyone can miss the explosion of astounding prose.

Eastlake had it that poetry was easy and prose was the real challenge. He met it here.

Note; this is not anti war. As Eastlake knew, a WWII vet, wars happen and men, mostly, fight in them. Grow up.

I am aware that it is highly idiosyncratic but without apology I place this in the vicinity of the highest level of American literature.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Potent mixture of Catch-22, M*A*S*H and Apocalypse Now, with amazing stream-of-consciousness style that highlights the surreality of war.