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A Recollection of the War in Burma

De: George MacDonald Fraser

Narrado por: David Case

George MacDonald Fraser beloved for his series of Flashman historical novels offers an action-packed memoir of his experiences in Burma during World War II. Fraser was only 19 when he arrived there in the wars final year, and he offers a first-hand glimpse at the camaraderie, danger, and satisfactions of service. A substantial Epilogue, occasioned by the 50th anniversary of VJ-Day in 1995, adds poignancy to a volume that eminent military historian John Keegan described as one of the great personal memoirs of the Second World War.©2007 George MacDonald Fraser (P)2010 Random House

Good read

I found this book to be captivating, and a different look at less talked about aspects of WWII. a really good read.

an amazing story & something amazing to end on

It was awesome to he his side of the war after reading Flashman... quite the ending...

very relatable and no false notes

A straightforward and (at times) humorous recounting of the authors memory of serving in the British Army during the Burma Campaign. If you are the pearl clutching woke type looking for regret and angst from the author for having served during a brutal war, you will be disappointed.
This book is also not a high-level, strategy driven recounting with detailed maps, etc. It is a 'simple' narrative of a common soldier. What it is really, is an honest account of men in difficult circumstances and the various personalities of those men. I think it's also a great snapshot of the opinions and thoughts of those men (at that time) without a bunch of sanitized revisionist history. It is real.

Accents

GMF is one of my all time favourites, but I am not sure about the reader. GMF was Anglo-Scottish so why have a very upper class English drawl for the reading? Especially as he has to do the Cumbrian voices, which are so much of the magic of the book. I'm not sure if they are authentic,not being a Cumbrian but frequently they end up sounding like North country Daleks, which I suspect is not quite right!

But get past this, and the book itself is a wonder - Frasers unsentimental vivid ability to put you in the events with him is extraordinary, as is his ability to evoke characters and make the reader empathise with his pride in his comrades. And then there are the desperately moving or very funny set pieces - the scenes where the section share out the kit of a comrade killed in action, the looting of the air drop, and best of all GMF's speculating about what the section would have done if they'd been given the option of dropping the bomb or not, which truly raises the hairs on the back of your neck. And most of all the dialogue.

It pains me as a Flashman fan to say this, but this is the best GMF ever did.

Incredible and entertaining

David Case does a bang up job on Cumberland dialect. Story was engrossing as heck. Loved it!

I thought this memoir was brilliant

The author had lived through a terrible ordeal during the war and yet waited until he was an old man to write this memoir. I believe that he was able to write an insightful and nuanced recollection of his time at war against the Japanese from a mature perspective, without having lost any of the delicate details of time, place, and character in his descriptions conveying his story. The end was particularly interesting as his musings about the eventual use of atomic weapons against the enemy mirrors what so many of us who have lost a loved one in wartime try to puzzle through... Oh, and the narrator seemed particularly good with regional accents.

Great book, great description a grunts war.

those who have read any of Mr. Fraser's other books already know his gift for description. This book is a great view of an infantryman's war, with that entails.
The narrator is spot on with delivery and the accents.
I bought the hard copy of this book after listening. Would recommend for those interested in Burma, adventure, and a life experience most will never see.

Great story and narrator

I've listened to the book at least half a dozen times and I always enjoy it.

Comfort food book

My favorite book. Read all other George MacDonald Fraser books but I always come back to this. Read it
three times and listened to David Case's narration countless times.

i love GMF (not Genetically Modified Foods)

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this is not up there with Flashman or Mr. American, but it was interesting. It is the persona memoirs of a man who suffered through life in combat. Combat, which he explained so well is 99% parts fighting the elements and boredom and 10% fighting the enemy. It is amazing to see how the world over, soldiers are the same. They spend their time discussing and worrying about trvial things while they are in the process of making history. Something never change. This could have been written by a Roman solider 2,000 years ago and it would have been almost the same book and just as enjoyable.