Company Commander

I had to read this book for my university's American History class.
My advice? Do not read this book unless you are in the military, or are really, really interested in it.

This is in no way a “literary” kind of book. What I mean by that is this book reads more like a painfully detailed itinerary. MacDonald chronicles his every second of every day. In my opinion, he gave way too much information where it was unnecessary and not enough information where I wanted it. The best part of the book was the dialogue, and as they were in the middle of war and battle, dialogue was seldom present.

There was hardly any emotion in this book. Maybe this was to convey the numbness and coldness the war left him with, but I don't think so. On the rare occasion that MacDonald breached emotion, it was a fleeting, surface kind of emotion. The only time I really felt anything for him or any of the others was the final 3 or 4 pages–not enough to make up for the previous 270 bland ones.

I've read other war books. Although they are not my favorite genre, I have enjoyed many of them. I can see how this book could be appealing to some people, but I do not think it is advisable for the average reader.