From Here to Eternity

By: James Jones

Narrated by: Elijah Alexander

Length: 36 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Diamond Head, Hawaii, 1941. Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt is a champion welterweight and a fine bugler. But when he refuses to join the company's boxing team, he gets "the treatment" that may break him or kill him. First Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden knows how to soldier better than almost anyone, yet he's risking his career to have an affair with the commanding officer's wife. Both Warden and Prewitt are bound by a common bond: the Army is their heart and blood...and, possibly, their death.

In this magnificent but brutal classic of a soldier's life, James Jones portrays the courage, violence and passions of men and women who live by unspoken codes and with unutterable despair. The most important American novel to come out of World War II, this is a masterpiece that captures as no other the honor and savagery of men.

©1998 James Jones (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

A good story, but dated

I have a relative who studied writing with James Jones. Thats why I picked the book. I would have given the performance 4 stars if it werent for the voicing of Maylen Stark. like nails on a chalkboard...

One of the best I’ve ever heard.

Great characters, and story arcs. The personal philosophies expressed by the characters are done expertly to fill the reader with a sense of familiarity. Now I can’t wait to check out the movie.

Far removed from the movie

Like many books, the film adaptation of this book is nothing like the actual writing. The book goes into rich detail and fleshes out characters that are barely mentioned in the film. The book is far better than movie, only the two are not really comparable. The reader does a great job and makes listening enjoyable - important in a book of this length. So enjoy it.

Very Solid Read

Any additional comments?

This book is "Solid" in terms not just a fluff book you read and forget and move on to the next read.

The book makes you think a bit.The story is not contrived especially the romances. It is somewhat closer to real life than "romance" novels.

The beginning was a bit slow.

I almost abandoned the book, but hung in there.

The setting is at a army base but a lot of the book was about people and the characters. For the time and morals of the American culture when the book was published it was quite racy.

WOW. Great book!

Closest book like this I can think of is "A Prayer for Owen Meany".

Great Story poorly read.

James Jones is my favorite author, unfortunately Elijah Alexander's character voices nearly ruined this imo.

Terrific book, excellent narration

Where does From Here to Eternity rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is one of the best audiobooks I've listened too. I had started reading the novel several times, never making it that far into the story. But, listening to it really took me into the book. I felt like I was there, hanging out with a LL the characters, going through daily life in the military.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The major characters were great, and I was familiar with them from the film. One character who was either not in the movie, or just really put into the background was Bloom. Such a rich and complex character, he was such a jerk, but I also found my heart breaking for this tortured man.

What does Elijah Alexander bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator was amazing, and created VERY strong voices to each of the diverse characters, which, for a novel as long as this is, and with so many characters, couldn't have been easy. His voices for Stark, Maggio, and Ike Galovitch were my favorite. They were so distinct, and really brought the characters to life.

Who was the most memorable character of From Here to Eternity and why?

It's a toss up between Bloom and Maggio. They were just so vivid, so complex, deeply flawed, and tragic as well. The final scene with Bloom (I won't spoil it) remained with me for days afterwards.

Any additional comments?

Get this audiobook. I can't recommend it enough.

Never judge a book by it's movie

I must confess that it has been decades since I watched #fromheretoeternity , most likely on TMC as a late night background filler. I have no choice now but to have to watch it again next, from what I remember, it barely scratched the surface of this great story.

As many critics and fans have noted, this isn't a war novel, it is a fictional account that comes extremely close to true military life. Set in Honolulu in the months leading up to and the first few weeks of World War II, as career peacetime soldiers had to make room for peacetime draftees at the very frontier of the Pacific Campaign to come, the book details the routine and monotonous life of soldierly life where filling time and keeping soldiers busy is the biggest preoccupation of the officer and non-com class. When soldiers aren't at war, particularly in far away posts, the command busy the men in other competitive quests that bring praise and recognition to units that, in turn, provide rank and promotion for the men who command them.

Protagonists Robert E. Lee Prewitt is an okay soldier but a damn good boxer who doesn't want to box anymore. Wanting nothing more than to play music and perform duties as an army bugler, the privilege comes with the pugilistic commitment and, not one to take well to ultimatums, accepts the rigors of straight duty soldiering in exchange for not feeling owned by officers and sergeants profiting off of his golden gloves.

Written in 1950, From Here To Eternity draws on the military experience of #jamesjones and shows life as it was experienced by the men and families who were consigned to foreign postings that required a show of American force. While at peace, it was clear that war was coming and what these men had ultimately signed up for.

I can thank the #modernlibrarytop100novels for giving me the incentive to invest the 36 hours in the 800+ page novel which is part of a loose trilogy. I'll be diving into those works as well. And, despite my impression that the movie was more harlequin romance rather that army story, I am have to going to watch the film again as well.
#americanliterature #readtheworld #readtheworldchallenge #globalreadingchallenge #hawaii #armylife

Great narration, bad accents

The narration was great as long as the narrator stuck to his 'normal' voice. His accents always seemed off, especially when the characters were ethnic. His Chinese voice was painful, and he massacres any Hawaiian place name. It's like he didn't even try to learn how to pronounce them.

The story and the writing is excellent, though. The narrator is pleasant to listen to when he's not doing accents. I would have finished with the audiobook, but I learned that this was the censored 1951 version and not the restored 2011 version. I want all the gritty details, so I quit the audio and switched to a proper book. Hence the three-stars overall.

Peace and War from a soldier's viewpoint

A book that I can only compare to Tolstoy's War and Peace in that it captures an entirety of thoughts, feelings and situations. I will enjoy revisiting this story again in the future.

The narrator did an excellent job, overall.

war on different levels

I enjoyed this story a lot and have thought about it quite a few times since finishing it. Good characters and flow to the story and dec 7 seemed very real and funny in ways too.