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Has anyone read Dog Soldiers?

post #1 of 3
10/5/08 at 7:15pm
Thread Starter 
It was written by Robert Stone in the early seventies about Vietnam and the drug culture in America. It was rated very well back in the day and was wondering if anyone had read it/their thoughts....
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post #2 of 3
10/6/08 at 7:47am
I read it back in the lat 70s and was quite impressed by it at the time. That was, of course, a time when the experiences recounted in the book could be sifted and analyzed and evaluated in terms of the recounted experiences of a lot of vets/counterculture types/druggie dropouts and spiritual seekers who made up a small but not insignificant segment of the population of the university town where I was living at the time. For what it's worth, the book seemed quite good at the time - feverish Conrad's Heart of Darkness stuff brought back from Vietnam to America. I'm not sure if it would hold up as strongly today - in particular the Zen ex-Marine Ray Hicks character.

By the by, the novel was made into what - in my opinion - was a great movie. Who'll Stop the Rain was realtively faithful to the book and boasted a great cast of some of the better semi-stars and character actors of the time: Nick Nolte, Michael Moriarty, Tuesday Weld, Anthony Zerbe, Richard Masur and had a great soundtrack.

Would be curious to know your reaction if you read it from the perspective of a newer/younger generation.
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post #3 of 3
10/6/08 at 1:29pm
Thread Starter 
That is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much. I am 23, I found it in a used book store and for some reason I had to read it. I am in the middle of it but have yet to be able to put it down. So far for me its been amazing because I know I am not reading something that was written today about that period in time. Instead the book was written pretty much during when this stuff was going on. Ill let you know when I finish it and thank you for the input I was afraid nobody knew about it.
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Styleforum › Forums › General › Entertainment and Culture › Has anyone read Dog Soldiers?