Johnny Got His Gun | 
so-so⭐️⭐️⭐️it is the definition of anti-war for sure! Joe is kept alive with his mind intact but has no arms, legs, hearing, eyes or mouth. About as horrible as it can get. But something was lacking at the heart of Joe. I kept hearing Trumbo using Joe to rant about war which I am no supporter of. I wanted more Joe less Trumbo.
My pick for today is Johnny Got His Gun, the story of a wounded WWI survivor, who is basically trapped in his burnt out husk of a body. This is a pretty brutal read…I don‘t recall this book celebrating or glorifying war for one second. It‘s a painful but worthwhile read.
Kudos to all who chose Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson today. He‘s an amazing person running a wonderful organization! I thought I‘d give another book some love and attention!
Received this lovely surprise today 🤩 - a gift from one of my book club members thanking me for all I do for our little group. 🧩 It‘s a virtual book club with a few of my high school friends, and I‘ve been running every discussion for the nearly 3 years of its existence.
pickSuch a memorable, heartbreaking read. I can 100% understand why this is called the Bible of anti-war literature, and my heart hurts now that it‘s over. This was thought provoking and anger inducing and I‘m honestly already ready to read it again.
#ConflictedWorlds #War Johnny is in a hospital recovering from very extensive and very severe injuries suffered during WWI. It is a haunting story that has stayed with me years after reading it.
The song "One" by Metallica is largely based on this book.
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
#1917 #rememberNovember @Klou
I haven‘t read All Quiet or Regeneration, but I saw 1917 in the movie theater and I read Johnny a couple years ago. Johnny is one-of-a-kind and absolutely unforgettable. Highly recommend it
He would be in this womb forever and ever and ever. He must remember that. He must never expect or hope for anything different. This was his life from now on every day and every hour and every minute of it. He would never again be able to say hello how are you I love you.
He had no arms and no legs.
He threw back his head and started to yell from fright. But he only started because he had no mouth to yell with. He was so surprised at not yelling when he tried that he began to work his jaws like a man who has found something interesting and wants to test it. He was so sure the idea of no mouth was a dream that he could investigate it calmly. He tried to work his jaws and he had no jaws.
pickIncredible and moving Anti-war novel. Here we have a protagonist who lost both his legs, arms, eyes, nose, tongue, and ears on a war. The only sense remain is touch. Novel uses third person limited stream of consciousness narrative techniqu. The whole story is happening inside the brain of our protagonist, who is stuck in his vegetative of body, as he goes through this consequences of war. Highly recommended. 10 🌟
DAY 20 #Revolver | In this anti-war story, a WWI soldier slowly discovers the extent of his brutal injuries, yet his mind is intact. He‘s a prisoner in his own body.
#MOvember
@Cinfhen
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Joe Bonham is dead though he lives. He‘s stuck in a womb-like purgatory created by war. After being savagely injured by an artillery blast, he becomes prisoner to his own ruminations & broken body. His vivid consciousness stream illustrates fond memories, dreams, & present day, at times not sure if he‘s asleep or awake. I often read through tears, my heart only able to take a couple of chapters at a time. Absolutely brilliant.
As many of you know, Metallica‘s “One” is based on this book and film. These lyrics coincide with this passage. 💔
Back in the womb it's much too real
In pumps life that I must feel
But can't look forward to reveal
Look to the time when I'll live
Fed through the tube that sticks in me
Just like a wartime novelty
Tied to machines that make me be
Cut this life off from me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, wake me
Grabbing a few pages while my little guy has swim class. He‘s doing so awesome! Meanwhile, this book is so good, but absolutely brutal. #readeverywhere
although you've waited for years you really never expected the knock. Then you get up and go over and open the door just a little at first to prepare yourself for the shock of disappointment at discovering it isn't the person you've been wanting. But then when you find that the impossible has happened that the visitor you've been praying for has arrived you're so relieved and surprised you don't know exactly what to say or how to begin it.
1. Johnny Got His Gun really disturbed me in my teens. The most horrific prison of all can be your own body.
2 Horror movies never really scared me, but while unsupervised I watched A Clockwork Orange when I was 9. That messed me up for a while.
3 Not sure. As a kid I fell down a levy and almost into a river at flood stage, thought I found a haunted boglin in an old farm house, and had a guy try to get me and my friend into his van.
4 @Clwojick
pickJohnny Got His Gun is possibly the best anti-war novel ever written. Joe Bonham is sent into the trenches of France in World War One where somewhere exists a bomb with his number stamped upon it. Bonham is mutiliated to where his eyes, nose, ears, mouth, arms, and legs are stolen from him while he lays trapped in his mind. Bonham's evolution through the story eventually leads him to culminations in understanding which I really should not spoil.
One of my reading challenge prompts is a book about war. I just started this on audiobook & am only in the foreword & can already tell this is going to be very difficult. #24in48
I've been looking for this book to read ever since I became aware of it, back when Ronald Rayguns was in the White House training and funding Contras to murder civilians. A copy finally came across my path and I wonder if I have the courage to read it with so much more blood shed since then...
One of the best books I've ever read. Ebook on sale today.
I chose 6 books out of my library that you guys suggested. @Cinfhen I'm reading yours first. Johnny Got His Gun. A book I read in high school. It's known now for the Metallic song One. But this book is an emotional roller coaster!! It's graphic, detailed and dark. I cry when I read it .
bailedWhen you start a book two months ago, put it down, and haven't picked it up since... it's a bail. Not sure if it was the stream of consciousness; lack of punctuation; or the ending that I knew was coming, but I got to page 54 and hit a brick wall. ☹️️
This has been on my to-read list for years... and I don't know if I'm feeling it. As it turns out, I don't care much for stream-of-consciousness writing anymore. Or maybe I'm just really missing some commas.
I usually don't enjoy introductions in books, but Dalton Trumbo blew me away in his... "After all, the book is twenty years younger than I, and I have changed so much, and it hasn't. Or has it?"
OBSESSED with this new poster I got for my home office.
#funfridayphoto
I chose to read this for a project, but it is a book that I've never been able to forget. And it inspired a song by a great band!
"Now that the war is through with me
I'm waking up I cannot see
That there is not much left of me
Nothing is real but pain now
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, wake me"
??⚡️??
This is my vacation "beach read," because nothing says vacation like a WWI stream-of-consciousness narrative by a blind/deaf soldier missing his arms and legs warning about the horribleness of war.
Finally starting this one. Only got it 20 years ago 😳
