A close look at the men of World War II in The Naked and the Dead

This is the first “war” book I’ve read in awhile, as it isn’t normally my thing, but The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer is definitely well written. It is about the taking of the fictional island of Anopopei in the South Pacific, during World War II. It mostly follows the recon platoon, with interjections following the general overseeing the campaign.

Recon is made up of 14 or 15 guys, half of which have been around together for a battle or two, the other half are replacements. They do a good job of following orders coming down the pipes, and the group is as varied as any group with people from all over the country. Mailer’s style is particularly strong in this aspect. The main plot of the novel is told in one way, but every other chapter or so, we get a flashback of each of the main characters, and those flashbacks are each told in an entirely different way, different even from each other. The flashbacks (called “Time Machines” in the novel) are written in such a way that the person it is about may tell it, so each is in a unique style, based on the way they see life, how they think, how they perceive others. If the character is brash, then his “Time Machine” is curt and to the point. If the character is more introspective, his flashback is more flowery and wandering.

The book starts with ships approaching Anopopei. We start to get to know the men individually, and their characteristics are shown as the landing ships reach the island and the patrol starts to their tasks. I won’t get into a breakdown of each character as there are many in this novel, but they work together well despite arguments or personal misgivings among them from time to time. They are given various tasks throughout the book, until the latter half, when they are finally given a big mission. They are told to circle around to the other side of the island and come up to the Japanese front from the rear, mostly as reconnaissance, to see what they are up to. Here the glue holding them together starts to come undone. The bloodthirsty sergeant will stop at nothing to prove his worth, and when people start dying, there is a near mutiny. They must turn back before they even advance far enough to see anything, and when they get back, they find the island has been taken in their absence.

There are layers upon layers going on this book that I can’t write about in a short description, and at 700+ pages, it isn’t a book to be taken lightly. There is the private who is willing to fake insanity to be taken from the front lines, the general who hides his secrets and wants nothing more than to advance his career, mostly to please his father (though he is loath to admit it), and a multitude of other subplots scattered over the platoon and the island. Mailer’s characters are not one-dimensional, they are shaded and complex, and the flashbacks give us a unique perspective on what made each of them what they are today, something their friends may not understand. Definitely well done, and for fans of the genre, I have to say it is worthy of a read.