Caputo! it's Game Time!

[Feliks, Moderator]

I'm a big fan of Philip Caputo's classic Vietnam War writing. He first made his break into Nam fiction with his ruthlessly honest self-dissection, "A Rumor of War".

It was a renowned drama and scathing repudiation of wartime regulations. Sometime later it was turned into a fine, fine 3-part tv mini-series starring acting greats Brian Denehy, Keith Carradine, Stacy Keach, Steve Forrest, and poor young Brad Davis.

Caputo wasn't a flash-in-the-pan. From the start, he displayed a solid, thoroughly competent authorial style. And he kept on displaying it. He didn't experience the typical sophomore slump after his debut. But, he did move on to writing war fiction unrelated to his own gripping story.

That being said, he will never be as well known as, (for example) Tim O'brien. He is 'masterful', but in a way 'conventional'. Just lacks that extra little bit of special magical something that O'Brien seems to have the corner on.

"Del Corso's Gallery" is a sturdy work--and I enjoyed the prose--but somehow not so much the story, which dwelt on the trauma of a war correspondent becoming jaded with violence.

That was the last work of his I read; and I haven't paid attention to his career in the interval since. I figured he was petering out or retiring.

But lately I have learned he has another very esteemed novel which came out when I was looking away--it's called, 'Horn of Africa' and treats the topic of mercenaries-for-hire in the onetime Belgian Congo or the one-time Rhodesia or somewhere else in 'the dark continent'.

So now I'm a little torn. I don' t think 'Horn' is a recent release but its said to be better even than Wilbur Smith for the African subject matter. And certainly Caputo knows the military mindset.

Should I read it? Don't know. Debating. I'm intrigued but wondering if I really need to see more from Caputo; when all that really fascinates me about him is the events of 'Rumor'.

Opinions?

[Feliks, Moderator]

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