A Novel of Global Chess Strategy: The World Played Chess

SHH Reviews: Well written book that personalized the Vietnam War from a range of perspectives. He made a difficult topic readable for me

United States on Oct 05, 2023

Buzz Covington: What a story. This is without a doubt one one the best books I have read this year. So touching, and so many good lessons along the way. One of the few books that has adequately portrayed what it is like to be in combat, and dealing with the aftermath for years afterward. Just wow.

United States on Sep 18, 2023

James from Michigan: I'm a former US Marine. I was too young for Vietnam. Thank God. After reading this book I certainly had a deep appreciation for those that went and fought. And as we know some simply just did not return home. This was an excellent book. I had a tear at times. This is an author that I have read before. I enjoy his style of writing. I will be reading more!

United States on Sep 14, 2023

gabor s korthy: Very moving coming of age story using three young men from three different generations. Each generation with it's own unique challenges. Reminded me just how hard that time in life is for most men. My only criticism is with the editing. When the author was describing how the carpentry crew called out cut measurements saying" a pubic hair longer" . That would never happen on any job site I have been on! It would be " a C_ _ t hair longer"

United States on Sep 12, 2023

Jess: This is the only book I have read by this author but it will not be the last. I am English but come from a Forces family. My husband was stationed in Portugal and we knew young American military men the same age as some of the Vietnam vets in the book and I can still see some of their faces now. They used to come to our house and we had a lot of fun but I think they were often rather lonely and missing their families, although they didn't talk about it much. This book has brought them back to life for me, for which I thank the author. As for the book, I loved the characters, all of them. The Vietnam war was horrific in that it seemed to us to be a war that was being fought for no reason. America sent it's young men to die simply because it disagreed with the beliefs of another country. What is even more horrific is the way that those young men, boys really, were treated when they returned to the USA. The horror of My Lai resonated around the world but not all of those young men were guilty of such atrocities and they didn't deserve the "baby killer" sllurs that were heaped upon them. They had to cope with this as well as the horrific things they saw or had to do to survive. No...

United Kingdom on Sep 09, 2023

Fefer: I was hesitant to read this book because I knew it focused on the Vietnam War. I was 15 in 1969, and by the time I graduated from high school, I knew many boys who were drafted. Some joined the college ROTC to try to avoid Vietnam, but some, like William, one of the veterans in Dugoni’s novel, went. Luckily, I did not know anyone personally who died; however, much later, I knew those who had been exposed to deadly chemicals, like Todd in the novel, and died as a result, more victims of the war. Like many, I did not understand the reasons for the U.S. being involved in the war. I was never an active protester, and I never understood the public’s vilification of those veterans of the Vietnam War. As William points out through his journal entries, he was just as confused about the war as everyone else, but he had been trained to do a job, and he had been told that the Vietnamese were his enemies. He and most of his fellow soldiers were between 18-25 years old, mere kids. This novel is a coming of age novel, but it is different in that it shows the coming of age of an 18-year-old who suddenly finds himself in a foreign country where he knows no one and whose basic purpose is to...

United States on Jul 25, 2023

Kindle Customer: I enjoyed the way this book approached the subject of war, in a unique format combined with other stories/characters/timelines etc. It was a unique approach and a really great overall book. I have read so many war stories and a lot of them become repetitive, but this was enjoyable as I said and I really liked how it unfolded. Big fan of this author

Canada on Jul 09, 2023

Mr: I liked the different time lines and how they are inter connected. Although William and Beau never met, their lives were affected by each other.
The senseless Vietnam war was horrifying.
So sensitively written but without withholding the brutal facts.
Uplifting and thought provoking.

United Kingdom on Feb 01, 2023

Desney King: Robert Dugoni has written a handbook for teenage boys and young men; a handbook about rites of passage and their importance, whether they are planned or doled out by life.
I am an Australian woman who was a university student during the final years of the Vietnam War. In Australia, as in the US, thousands of us protested against the involvement of western powers in an Asian civil war. Against the politicians who sent so many young men to their needless deaths, or to return home irreparably damaged.
In William, Dugoni has created a powerfully authentic character who carries most of the weight in this novel. The narrator and other characters feel almost incidental; props that make it possible for William to tell his story.
For me, this was a deeply emotional read; it was William who kept me riveted to the page.

Australia on Nov 13, 2022

Kaffmatt: This book didn’t resonate with me as much as it would with readers in the USA. It’s not that I lack knowledge of the atrocities and uselessness of the war in Vietnam; more that the recalling of events in this lack a certain amount umph. Also, the abbreviations were used so much as to confuse at times.
The plot is told in three timelines and involves two characters- mainly. 1967 onwards told by William who was drafted to Vietnam, 1979 told by Vincenzo (Vinnie) who is 18 and working to pay his way to university and 2016 told by Vincenzo who has possession of William’s Vietnam diary and whose son is about to start university.
William and Vinnie become friends when on the same work outfit. It becomes increasingly obvious that William is suffering mentally from what is now called PTSD., as a result of the war. He has spells of great anger, shaking and lack of control. William gives Vinnie his diary so that the background and the horrendous consequences of the war are disclosed and so that Vinnie can understand William’s state of mind/actions.
So the telling of William’s war experience is interspersed with Vinnie’’s recollections from 1979 and his present day,...

United Kingdom on Sep 25, 2021