The Forever War by Joe Haldeman [1974]
Thomas Dunne Books
264 pages
Reader Response by Matt H. [v 1.26] from Reading Odyssey
Rating: Recommended
Story Summary
Earth is at war with the Taurans, a technologically advanced alien race. The war is fought over interstellar distances by means of “collapsars” and therefore involves timelines modified by the laws of relativity. One month for a soldier traveling through the collapsar can mean decades back on Earth, or more.
One military recruit is William Mandella. Selected along with his comrades for high intelligence, education, fitness and mental toughness, he will be part of an elite unit which will engage directly with the Taurans. Though also highly disinclined, when not on duty, the equally numbered male and female troops fraternize and engage in recreational sex. This is encouraged by the military authorities and even legally reenforced.
Mandella's training on icy, desolate Charon is horrific. There are appalling casualties due to the extreme hazards of super-low temperature and solidified landscapes of hydrogen or helium. The soldiers use “fighting suits” that protect them and amplify their strength. However one false step in using the suit can mean instant death.
The Taurans are formidable in many ways, but not invincible. Mandella fights several land engagements with the enemy, up close. The war drags on and on through decades and then centuries. But Mandella is still in the fray after several tours. He remains young through the effects of relatively. Between two of his tours, he visits his mother on Earth. His home world is racked with violence and even a degree of chaos. Mandella also sees progressively more drastic changes in human society – including new trends in sexual orientation, especially as it relates to overpopulation. Toward his later military career, he returns to a world of direct genetic modification and synthetic reproduction.
Finally Mandella arrives in the distant future where he will receive a message from a long lost companion. He will also learn some devastating facts about the centuries long war in which he has just played a major part!
Critical Reader Response
This book immediately immersed me into a gritty, soldier-story reality. It did a great job of keeping up the pace and was actually hard to put down at times. That’s high praise. It also held together as a story, even wedding the spaceship soldier-story to the earthbound civilian story excellently; it was meaningful but not grossly moralizing. Though, some may cite one exception suggested, which I will discuss below.
Haldeman’s style is super lean and mean. It’s action-packed, to-the-point and virtually devoid of decoration. The story line and dialog too are also almost perfectly clear and easy to read. The first section is pure soldier-story. It tells of the terrifying training on icy Charon and describes some accidents in fairly gory detail. The narrator is smart, tough but humane, just like you want him to be. There’s an authentic military, G.I. feeling evoked by the lingo as well as the particular observations and situation. It has a first-hand ring of reality. The fight is often more against the harsh environment and dangerous equipment than it is directly with the enemy. There are quite a few horrible injuries described in authoritative-sounding medical detail. One is when Mandella’s favorite woman, Marygay is partially crushed during an acceleration. The rest of the speculative science is also very plausible-sounding, and comes in just the right amount to support the story. The Earth scenes, and in fact all the non-soldier scenes, were also vivid and inventive, and for the most part also exciting to read. I was wondering how the author would blend the two, but he did it brilliantly!
The only loose ends I could think of are partly a matter of preference and opinion. Though not a huge deal, I really wanted to know more about the cow-like creatures Mandella encounters on his first combat mission. They had an intriguing physicality (though gruesomely revealed). It was hinted that they had some greater significance in the story (most of all by the brain-related death of the female soldier), but nothing was later revealed about them or how or why the soldier had died. Also, I admit I wanted a little more direct contact with the Taurans. Their description was interesting, but a little more would have been welcome. The twist regarding the war is fairly obviously foreshadowed several times before the ending. These minor points are far from decisive though, in evaluating this book.
Also I think the jury is out on whether free sex would strengthen or weaken a military unit. Of course we are talking about the future, so people could have a more detached notion of sex. Contra this however, the book says that the men would mutiny if not allowed some monogamy after they had established long-term partners. Again, it’s not explicitly stated, but there is only mention of hetero-sexuality in the first chunk of the timeline. In the later sections, I found the reversal of the prevalent straight-gay expectation in society was imaginative.
Perhaps weakest as a concept is the idea of enforcing homosexuality (even on test-tube clones?) as a means of population control. Why not eliminate the sex-drive all together or breed or force sterility? How about expansion or resettlement on other planets? Or just simply a one child legal limit? Seems an odd solution when you think about it.
Sexual orientation is a prominent sub-theme in the book. The narrator is frankly and un-apologetically straight, and this bias enters into his narrator’s thoughts. But for me on first reading, it had a semi-humorous, soldierly and non-phobic tone to it. Though he acts tolerant, and says he’s tolerant, upon psychological examination, Mandella learns that he only thinks he’s tolerant. This I think shows extra sophistication on the theme. But in light of the resolution of Mandella’s friend, Charlie’s story, a deeper objection could be made – because of the apparent representation of sexual orientation as a choice and not as an inherent quality.
I have some difficultly in seeing the book as a veiled anti-gay tract. It just doesn’t have that tone. For me it’s a side theme that is handled imaginatively and ambiguously, but perhaps reflects some bias too. I certainly recommend this book as a fun read. It’s a page-turner. It’s realistic; it’s a good story! It also has enough of the speculative and imaginative to make it firmly Sci Fi. In fairness though, darker readings are possible, especially in light of a single passage describing an orgy, that tells us female soldiers are required by law to be "promiscuous and compliant."
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