The movie's just too doggone good, that's the problem...

books:


	• From Here to Eternity James Jones Scribner, 1976 average customer review:based on 60 reviews
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highly recommended

Very long but very good

This book was long but I am pretty glad I read it. Although it was long it was well done. There are long stretches of conversatation or internal monolugue that put me to sleep then there were scenes that were so heart wrenchingly beautifully written I almost couldn't breathe. Also, the ending is great, it really tied up nicely. The characters were real and believable, sad and complicated. I feel as if I have an understanding of Army life after living with this book for so long, not that it interests me much, but Jones did a great job of drawing the picture.

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Schofield Barracks 21st Century

I was contracting for the Army at Schofield Barracks in June 2006 and decided to read From Here to Eternity again (I read it in high school about 1962 or so). Imagine my surprise when I couldn't get a copy locally, so I ordered one from Amazon. It came to Prince Kuhio Hotel in four days, and I traveled back to 1940 Honolulu, immediately.

I had a lot of fun reading about the towns, streets and valleys I was driving back and forth seeing from Schofield to Waikiki. Jones captured the tone of the old Army, and the honky-tonk nature of the strips that surrounded many Army posts back then, adding in the exceptional Hawaiian flavor. I was interested that many of the street names and buildings were still there, such as Hilo Hattie's and Choy's and of course the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, and Moana Hotel. A visit to Doris Duke's house took us to the same neighborhood where the Prewitt's death scene played out, and I drove around the mountains to Kaneohe to see where Warden had his tryst.

It was fun, and I recommend it to anyone wanting to savor Jones as it was being written. If you're going to Hawaii, take along Eternity.

David T.

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The movie's just too doggone good, that's the problem...

It's been noted before in these reviews, but the strength of the film "From Here to Eternity" almost acts as a counterweight against this book, because we all think we're in such a hurry that we'd rather watch the 2-hour movie than read the 800+ page novel. Yes the movie is phenomenal, one of the all-time greats, and in fact yes as a work of art it is probably a little better than the book...but the book is GREAT, it gives so much more depth to the characters than the movie (any movie) could ever hope to do. If you want to swim, see the movie. If you want to dive and explore, read the book. That's my advice.

The book makes much deeper points about human life than the movie does, and that's the chief reason to read it. Jones wasn't just going for a portrait of Army life before the war, he was going for a portrait of ALL life, at least life for people at or below the poverty line, which is where most people are whether they want to admit it or not. All the characters, from Maggio to Warden to Alma (but Prewitt in particular), are living symbols of a culture that destroys most of its men and women before they even get a chance to start their lives by crushing them under the need to spend those lives scrambling for survival. But more than this, the book shows how we defeat OURSELVES by falling into the low expectations of the culture. "The Man" doesn't need to hold us down, Jones says; we do it for him. The book shows how Prewitt slowly, steadily defeats himself by refusing to play the game of life, refusing to exploit his talents for his own gain, refusing to accept that life is just simply unfair so play along with it and take what comes your way, even if it's for someone else, because it's not coming around again. Prewitt knows he's stubborn, he knows he's only beating himself, and nobody cares if he holds onto his principles or not---but he DOES hold onto them, at terrible cost, because his principles are all he has to hold on to. He has no power, no money, no property, nothing. Holding onto these ideals keeps him down and makes his life hard and small, but without them, without his honor, then his life is totally meaningless and it doesn't matter what privileges come his way. Prewitt and the others are trapped, and they know it, and there's nothing they can do about it. So maybe devoting their lives to inherently empty concepts like "The Army" or "country club respectability" is the best they can hope for.

So why only 4 stars out of 5? Well, the only quibble I'd have with this book is that it makes its point too many times. After page 600 or so you get it, you're with Jones all the way, but it gets to be too much after awhile. You kind of wish he'd get to Pearl Harbor and move along. But his writing is so powerful, his characters so real, his ideas so profound, it's hard to say anything against the book. It's just a fantastic picture of humanity.

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Can I give it MORE than 5 stars?

It is almost a pity that the movie From Here to Eternity was one of the greatest movies ever made. This is because not only will fewer people read the book, but because it is so rich in character, mood and plot that you could make five movies without duplicating any scene. The only problem is that Sgt. Warden would be a key actor in each movie and there are no actors like Burt Lancaster in Hollywood today.

One reviewer criticized the book for its pacing: there are slow sections and faster moving chapters, but this is an accurate reflection of military life, where you will have boredom alternating with intense excitement. So Jones just reflects the world he depicts in his pacing.

There are only two crucial works of fiction about World War II which must be read: From Here to Eternity and James Gould Cozzens' Guard of Honor. The action is minimal in both (non-existent in Guard of Honor: it all takes place on a Florida airbase over the course of a weekend) but both capture the times like no other book. They complement each other, too, with Jones capturing the life of enlisted men and Cozzens doing the same for officers.

One word of warning, however. If you are of a mind to read Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead (not that I recommend it), read Mailer first. Once you've read Jones, you will not be able to wade through Mailers' sophomoric, tedious, preachy tome. At the end of 900 pages of From Here to Eternity, I was sorry to see the book end. After 50 pages of The Naked and the Dead, I feared that it never would.

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A Soldier Must Obey, Yet HE May Remain Free.

James Jones is a controversial author and has written a three piece meditation about military life and service men: "From Here to Eternity", "The Thin Red Line" and "Whistle".
"From here to Eternity" is a many-layered story. There are explicit and implicit levels to read it; in all of them this book is outstanding.

It describes with crude language the life in the Army in times of peace. In this case is the USA's Army just before Pearl Harbor, but examples shown are universal and may apply to any Army in any country. At this level the class structure of Officers, Noncoms and Privates is shown with penetrating sight: the power relations, the subtle struggle amongst them, loyalties, abuses, solidarity and weakness. All these traits are depicted vividly thru the different characters that come across this epic novel.

At another level is the story of a young man. He is a Soldier (yes, with capital letter). He is the epitome of soldiership. He knows what is due to the Service and what is due to himself. He sticks to these principles without regard of personal costs.
Robert Lee Prewitt is a natural fighter; he has enjoyed boxing until an accident on the ring changed him. He will box no more. Destiny puts him in a Company, where the commanding officer is trying to form a crack team in order to win the Army's championship and enhance his career.
Private Prewitt is subject to increasing pressure to join the team. He won't bend. He will pay the price. He will remain Free in his hearth until the end.

But this is not all. Romance has its place too. Although unconventionally; Prewitt is in love with a prostitute and Sgt. Warden with his boss' wife. Still love is pure and real and touching.

Jones' opus requires the reader to get involved with the story, to cry and laugh with it, to get in touch with the deepest human emotions.
A major experience to be sure!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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