The Pacific

I have 59 Audiobooks in my library, many of which
dealing with the Marines and battles in this book. Having finished listening to it yesterday, "The Pacific" is without a doubt the most confusing and poorly narrated of all.

The narration of this book misses on many counts. The reader's monotone voice hides the emotion that should be the center of this tale. There is no clear organization of the telling, chapters flow together like a runon sentence.

I believe another reader would make this story come alive.

I'm not quite halfway through but not sure I'll ever finish as I can't take much more. The stories of five or six men serving in WWII are told here and while each story is important and worth telling, this book ruins the stories in three ways. First, the reader is mediocre at best. Second, each story is chopped into little pieces and then intertwined with the others but often there is nothing to indicate to the listener that the story just switched from one man's story to another; they just run right into each other. It's very confusing. Finally, often the story will elude to some strange twist that's about to occur but it never does. Or some strange detail will be revealed and you're waiting for an explanation for the strange detail but it never comes. It's very unsatisfying.

In the forward the author makes it clear that this book has a different approach from other approaches to narrating history. This is not a comprehensive book about the war in the Pacific in its entirety. Nor is it a detailed account of a particular battle. It’s not the experience of one person. Instead it is the intertwined story of five men – collectively they experienced many of the war’s vast trials.

I found the narration to be clear and straightforward. It does not need a great deal of inflection – the writing is so vivid it stands on its own. In part one I found myself breathing hard as I listened to what it was like to be a dive bomber pilot rolling into a seventy degree dive raining down on a Japanese carrier at the battle of Midway. I felt revolted at the recount of enduring a Japanese POW camp on The Philippians. When I heard the detailed incredible struggle of John Basalone’s machine gun battle on Guadalcanal I was speechless. It just keeps going on and on – I was amazed.

A few warnings will make sure you enjoy this book. First, I did initially find it confusing when the narrator switches from story to story. I relaxed and told myself the confusion was part of my own vicarious experience. About one third of the way through I was familiar enough with the stories to make that issue go away. Second, the stories all start out with very great detail about some of the things you might not consider essential, but can be fascinating. Examples include: How do carrier pilots find their way back to the carrier? When firing a Browning water-cooled machine gun, fire in bursts, not a stream – the barrel will overheat. If you listen carefully, you really have a good grasp on what happens later.
I’ve read (listened) to a lot of books about history and conflict.

The approach taken in this book is fresh and enjoyable. The stories are important. The stories of these men need to be recounted and from many different angles. We ought never forget.

The material is very good, but I find myself looking forward to the end because of the narration. There is no emotion, inflection, and it seems he's only reading, not living the story.

I had high hopes as well as others had I'm sure, but I find myself fighting to stay awake during the narration of this book. I've listened to quite a few audiobooks, "Helmet for my Pillow", who is one of the soldiers in this book, and would have liked this to have had some of that emotion. I have to have the strongest cup of coffee to even stay awake during this. I believe I'll just settle for reading the book when I get a chance and watching the series on television, which is a shame.

In a nutshell - I enjoyed it.

I happened to hear about this book when I was looking for something to put on my ipod touch. I had not seen the miniseries yet.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the narration. Yes it was long, but since I got in in 35 minute commute sessions, I found myself looking forward to the commute.

It took me a month to listen to it, but I feel it was well worth the time and effort.

If I read the reviews, I might not have listened. I am glad I did.

I'm about two-thirds through with this lengthy work, and am becoming impressed how well the individual stories integrate. I watched the first episode of the HBO series, and found that the book substantially enhanced my enjoyment of the installment, which would otherwise already been quite high!

Ambrose has always been a favorite author of mine. This book is another excellent portrayal of military history. The reading was well done and the story is captivating. Another excellent book by a fantastic author.

I enjoyed the book very much, learning a great deal about WWII, the Marines involvement and basically the zeitgeist of the times. Narration is involving and emotional without being overbearing. I like the format of following 5 different people through the war and their personal experiences.

Without knowing the background of the book, other than its being adjunct to the HBO series, I did not know exactly what I was in for. This book does not give a complete history of the war, but personal accounts that tie stories of the war together. It also leans heavily on the writing of E.B. Sledge and his experiences as a Marine in some horrific battles. 360 degree view of the war is not delivered and some stories depended on what happened in previous battles, encouraging/forcing me to look them up in Wikipedia to understand how they affected the current story (which was enjoyable, mostly). What is gives the listener a very personal feel of the war, the times and what these people overcame (and some did not).

Overall I enjoyed this greatly.