Matterhorn

A Novel of the Vietnam War

By: Karl Marlantes

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 21 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

An incredible publishing story—written over the course of thirty years by a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, a New York Times bestseller for sixteen weeks, a National Indie Next, and a USA Today bestseller—Matterhorn has been hailed as a "brilliant account of war" (New York Times Book Review).

Matterhorn is an epic war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead and James Jones' The Thin Red Line. It is the timeless story of a young marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: racial tension, competing ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company finds itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the marines are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them forever.

Matterhorn is a visceral and spellbinding novel about what it is like to be a young man at war. It is an unforgettable story that transforms the tragedy of Vietnam into a powerful and universal story of courage, camaraderie, and sacrifice—a parable not only of the war in Vietnam but of all war, and a testament to the redemptive power of literature.

A bonus PDF is included, with maps, a Chain of Command hierarchy, a glossary, and other interesting facts and information.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2010 Karl Marlantes (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“ Matterhorn is one of the most powerful and moving novels about combat, the Vietnam War, and war in general that I have ever read.” (Dan Rather)

“Brings a long, torturous war back to life with realistic characters and authentic, thrilling combat sequences.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“Unforgettable.… A beautifully crafted novel of unrivaled authenticity and power, filled with jungle heroism, crackerjack inventiveness, mud, blood, brotherhood, hatred, healing, terror, bureaucracy, politics, unfathomable waste, and unfathomable love." (Christina Robb, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist)

What a performance

One of the best reading I have ever had in Audible. Fantastic. Of course, an excellent book.

Thought provoking account of Vietnam

I am an avid fan of WWII books so this book was a change for me. The mind of the soldier in Vietnam is so different. From being volunteers vs. career soldiers to the racial tensions this is a very though provoking book with insights to a was that I know very little about. You have to be able to handle profanity to listen to this book. It's rampant.

An excellent novel - but beware...

This was an excellent novel - well-written, thoughtful & detailed. But beware, it is a really, really tough read. I was born in the mid-70s and was raised in Northern VA - basically a suburb of D.C. I was surrounded by lots of military families & had plenty of friends whose fathers fought in Vietnam. This book provides some clarity into why some of them were the way they were in the years post-war.

I was really deep into the audiobook when it hit me that Marlantes was not going to follow the standard narrative formula. There would be no climax to the story…no falling action…no resolution. And I realized this is because the Vietnam War, for our soldiers, had no real climax…no real resolution. There was no putting a tidy bow on it. I really wanted him to be able to pull it all together - if nothing else than to make me, as the reader, feel better. But that would not have been appropriate. The book was simply going to end.

Bronson Pinchot, as the reader, was incredible in bringing the characters to life. Cannot overemphasize how excellent his performance was.

Can’t fathom what it was like to be there.

The story is well told. Surely it only scratches the surface of what it was like.

The narration is excellent. The characters are well represented, and easy to distinguish. Exceptional job conveying the emotions.

A Compelling Vietnam Marine foot soldiers' story

Karl Marlantes’ Matterhorn is a long, compelling novel of the Vietnam war and a company of Marines involved in battles with the North Vietnamese. Marlantes supposedly took 30 years to write the book and it was originally 1,600 pages. It is now 600. It has remarkable vernacular of the Marines that often seem like another language. The characters are compelling, although from time to time the scope of the soldiers’ feelings and expressions are difficult to comprehend, like being simultaneously petrified and elated. This is certainly as good as many celebrated novels of the war such as Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried or Robert Stone’s Dog Soldiers. None of the novels are as compelling as the true accounts most notably We Were Soldiers Once…and Young by Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway which is also a wonderful movie and Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest. With the declassification of the Pentagon Papers in 2011, the full horror of this unnecessary war and Nixon’s culpability were revealed. But Matterhorn does touch upon the truths of American involvement including the poor way foot soldiers were treated from useless and ill prepared contacts with the enemy for political purposes, the lies to the soldiers and the public, conflicts between blacks and whites as well as among whites and blacks, the massive misuse of alcohol, marijuana, drugs, helicopters, food, water, battlefield equipment and many other assets. Those themes are well incorporated into a compelling story.

Double Thumbs Up

This is the kind of book that I really enjoy - not a "war novel" but a real character driven story that takes places in a war. If you're looking for a "gory war story" all battle and fighting, then this isn't your kind of book, though there is some of that as well. The author very effectively took me through the high and lows and at times I had a hard time shutting the book off (as I mostly listen on my commute). The character development was natural. The exploration of racism in a war-time environment was done in a way that wasn't preachy, didn't push a political agenda, and laid out the sad complexities of human interactions in a way that gave me a glimpse into something I had not thought of previously. It's one of those books I would have zero reservations about recommending to anyone because I think that anyone would enjoy the story.

A Story that will stick with you

What did you love best about Matterhorn?

This is one of those books that everyone should read and know about. In high school I read The Things they Carried by Tim O'Brien and I have to say Matterhorn should replace it. It's a story where you will care for the people and its one of those books were I felt anger to what was happening to each character. These is not much else I can say beyond you listen to it.

Any additional comments?

This

True? I hope not, but fear so.

I am a Viet Nan era vet. I was a medic, but was never "in country" because they didn't send women medics, just RNs.
I was reluctant to listen to this. I just wasn't sure I could handle it. I lost a lot of close friends there.
After a tentative start, I was there, there, in the mud and the blood and the fear.
Sometimes it made me cry. The characters could have been people I knew back then.
I laughed a little too, because my friends were funny guys.
In the end, like that war, I was left with a slightly broken heart and a renewed understanding of the was no one wanted.

Vietnam: As close as you want to get.

If you could sum up Matterhorn in three words, what would they be?

Good bumps, suspenseful, terrifying.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hawk, I feel like that would have been me.

Have you listened to any of Bronson Pinchot’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The book as a whole paints a picture of living in Vietnam. The personal struggles of the time and the fear and emotions that were in the soldiers. Not just the battles but the intensity of sometimes waiting for the next one to start.

Any additional comments?

The ending leaves you blow away. Its unexpected.

Incredible.

The attention to detail is amazing as well as capturing the atmosphere of that war. High marks for Bronson Pinchot’s narration as well.