I ain't no fortunate son

[cyrano]

I think it must have been back when I visited Bakersfield that I picked up a copy of 'Jarhead' for three dollars on the remainder rack at one of the megabookchainmallstores. Tonight, decades later, I finally started reading it. I had no real plans to read it or see the film, despite the presence of Jake Gyllenhall in all his smouldering goodness, and would likely not have bothered had it not been for the price. I am just over fifty pages in, and am stricken by this. There is a lyrical quality, although it occasionally feels forced, that I find remarkably good for a novel, let alone a first novel, let alone a first non-fiction-like novel. There is something, also, of exploring the world of an alien. But an alien who quotes Ezra Pound. So I'm not certain how far I can push that.