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Title: Ambush at Fort Bragg by Tom Wolfe, Edward Norton ISBN: 0-553-47896-6 Publisher: Bantam Books-Audio Pub. Date: 01 August, 1997 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 4 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.82 (22 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Wolfe-Lite, but interesting nonetheless
Comment: Tom Wolfe presents an even-handed tale about a head-twisting attempt of a newsmagazine crew to ambush military men accused of killing a gay fellow soldier. This short story will leave you wondering, "Who actually got ambushed?" The soldiers? The murdered victim? The newscrew? The American public? Possibly everyone.
In comparison to other Wolfe works, AMBUSH is relatively shallow. It's still a work that might make a number of other best-selling authors green with envy. Wolfe explores the minds of soldiers and newspeople whose motives and actions are far more complex than they appear on the surface. One would be tempted to initially label both parties in black and white judgements, but Wolfe's rich internal monologues make that difficult. The murder and it's criminal investigation ultimately become secondary to the news story and the circumstances surrounding it.
Wolfe's even-handed approach to presenting the complex details of what appears to be an open and shut case will have folks from opposite sides of life react to different details with ire. It's easy to hate the accused rednecks. They're crass, unpolished, crude, and embody every bad southern male stereotype. It also becomes easy to hate the media moguls who twist and torment the story, not because they want justice (they don't REALLY care about gay rights or even solving the crime), but because they want huge ratings. They want their names up in lights. They'd sell their souls for things they don't even believe in. The converse observation of the accused soldiers is that they'd never hide behind false pretense, even to the point of death.
The audio book has its own set of issues. Edward Norton's reading certainly hits the mark on tone and atmosphere. He's earnest, but varied in quality. (Given, deep-south--nearly-unintelligible-redneck might not be an easy accent to emmulate, but sometimes it's just painful.) The producers seemed to want to throw in "mood music" at every opportunity, so the listener is bombarded with distracting backdrops of country metal and news-promo orchestrations that add nothing to the overall mix. Please don't let that disuade you from this quick listen (about 180 minutes) is you're interested. Just consider yourself warned.
AMBUSH at FORT BRAGG comes recommended to those seeking a quick and engaging tale to fit between your larger listening projects.
Rating: 1
Summary: Not worth the paper it is written on.
Comment: With all the books I have ever read this one comes to mind as the only one that has ever turned my stomach. I am sure there are many other ways of treating a subject like homophobia without going this route. I gave it one star because there was no option lower.
Rating: 3
Summary: HE'S DONE BETTER
Comment: I like Tom Wolfe, but this novella was a disappointment. It is surprisingly unhumorous, the story's climax comes too early, and the novella trails off at the end. The two protagonists at first seem like perfect targets for Wolfe's satiric genius. One is the TV newsmagazine producer: male, jewish, unattractive, and self-pitying. The other is the TV newsanchor: female, WASP, beautiful, and shallow. It's too bad that Wolfe gets so little comedic mileage from them.
Wolfe seems to have thrown in a pornographic section in the novella for no other reason than salaciousness. (Certainly it was not done as a plot device -- it is absurd and unbelievable.)
Edward Norton does funny redneck voices, but otherwise his narration is dull and flat.
Despite all the bad things I've written, there are some funny moments, and some of the satire hits the mark. Overall, this recording is so-so.
By the way, this novella now is in print in Tom Wolfe's new book Hooking Up.
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Title: Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years by Rich Lowry ISBN: 0895261294 Publisher: Regnery Publishing Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken ISBN: 0525947647 Publisher: Dutton Books Pub. Date: 29 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown ISBN: 0385504209 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 18 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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