Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards: A futuristic masterpiece, “perhaps the most important war novel written since Vietnam” (Junot D#65533;az). In this novel, a landmark of science fiction that began as an MFA thesis for the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and went on to become an award-winning classic–inspiring a play, a graphic novel, and most recently an in-development film–man has taken to the … film–man has taken to the stars, and soldiers fighting the wars of the future return to Earth forever alienated from their home.
Conscripted into service for the United Nations Exploratory Force, a highly trained unit built for revenge, physics student William Mandella fights for his planet light years away against the alien force known as the Taurans. “Mandella’s attempt to survive and remain human in the face of an absurd, almost endless war is harrowing, hilarious, heartbreaking, and true,” says Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Junot D#65533;az–and because of the relative passage of time when one travels at incredibly high speed, the Earth Mandella returns to after his two-year experience has progressed decades and is foreign to him in disturbing ways.
Based in part on the author’s experiences in Vietnam, The Forever War is regarded as one of the greatest military science fiction novels ever written, capturing the alienation that servicemen and women experience even now upon returning home from battle. It shines a light not only on the culture of the 1970s in which it was written, but also on our potential future. “To say that The Forever War is the best science fiction war novel ever written is to damn it with faint praise. It is . . . as fine and woundingly genuine a war story as any I’ve read” (William Gibson).
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Joe Haldeman including rare images from the author’s personal collection.
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At some point in the middle of this 45-year old novel, I felt I was reading the Forever Book, and I admit to skipping a few chapters when the battles started running together. Some elements of the military culture depicted seemed gratuitous, and the depiction of the male soldiers interaction with the female soldiers was dated and a little offensive at times. The technical specifics bogged the narrative down quite a bit too. Okay, so this is sounding more like a one or two-star rating than the four I gave it.
I’m giving the novel four-stars and recommending it for a couple of reasons. First, the premise of a war fought in deep space, during which centuries pass on earth while only months pass for the soldiers who are fighting is pretty original, especially half a century ago. But more than that, Mr. Haldeman used this bit of physics to demonstrate what every soldier, especially infantrymen, must feel coming home from every war, especially the Vietnam War. Time moves on while they’re cocooned in battle, and they leave too many friends behind on the battlefield.
The novel won some prestigious awards in its day, and though some elements don’t hold up very well, in my opinion, it’s still worth a read all these years later.
Good book, but a classic that has gotten dated as the years have gone on.
This is really about the mind-bending realities of space flight, vis-a-vis time-scale complexities. A fascinating take on the space-opera genre and to my limited understanding a rather realistic take on the difficulties one would encounter in a war with vast distances involved. Well worth a read.
One of the best sci-fi books (and best anti-war books) I’ve ever read. The alienation of vets returning from war is made clear through the author’s clever use of time dilation resulting from near-lightspeed travel. A riff on STARSHIP TROOPERS that takes inspiration not from World War Two but from Vietnam – and in the process subverts, nay reverses, Heinlein’s original point.
Powerful images of generational change!
It is obviously old-school golden age of sci-fi stuff. it is not trying to imagine just how weird life could get for aliens. It has not tried to predict really off-the-wall human ideas. It has concepts that might well be the natural outcomes of the world when he wrote it or even today. There was much less attempt to placate people when this was written in a much larger understanding of the audience and the necessities involved in making enough sales to live on.
Excellent sci fi book! If you have not read it, do so now. I recommend it highly.
The Forever War is the science fiction equivalent of The Things they Carried. It is the quintessential work of military science fiction written by a veteran of the Vietnam War. This takes on the social aspects of war and the difficulty veterans have coming home to a home that has not stayed still in their absence. It was also a very cautionary tale about our current period of permanent war from a time that should have taught us very valuable lessons.
The author uses a more realistic approach to space travel and gave war a new face what would happen if communication happened much more slowly. There are some real philosophical questions that arises.
Classic. Well worth your time. Anything by Haldeman
read this 40 years ago….still stands the test of time
What can I say it is a Sci-Fi classic, I think this is the 3rd time I have read this book
Very good SCIFI novel.
With the anniversary of D-Day being just a bit ago, this was timely reading. Joe Haldeman’s book, “The Forever War” is engaging, well-written, and meaningful, originally published in 1974. It was a Hugo and Nebula winner. I read an edition published in 2010 which Haldeman identified as the ‘definitive edition’. I read the first edition back in college in the mid-eighties. While I remember greatly enjoying the book in college, this re-read was much more impactful. I don’t know if that is due to my naivety back then, or the changes in editions.
The story is written in first-person from the perspective of Private William Mandella. Haldeman effectively pulls from his personal experiences from Viet Nam. He tells a very readable story and successfully conveys several themes:
– Solders in wartime, often return disconnected from their personal relationships and have challenges in reconnecting with family and friends.
– Solders are also often faced with ‘culture shock’, losing touch with changes in society and face difficulty integrating into everyday life after living through war’s horrors.
– War can escalate, losing touch with its original objectives. Certainly, for many solders, after being caught up in a life and death struggle and attempting to protect and save their fellow soldiers, are often left with a void, when considering, “what was it all for?”
Haldeman uses science fiction including time dilation to magnify these themes. He also creatively tells of some drastic culture shifts which the MC faces when returning from duty. This book is a masterpiece, both as a straight-up science fiction story, but also as an allegory for the horrors and hopelessness of war.
A real examination of a future that Einstein says can’t happen: traveling at light speed to battles on worlds far away. The implications of societal disconnect, due to the inability to ever see anyone on your home planet again, due to the speeds involved, make for some truly strange storytelling
This is a classic of modern science fiction for good reason. Any veteran will feel for the absurdity of war and the plight of the soldier.
One that I have read many times.
This is a great classic.
One of the best books i have ever read. Read Starship Troopers to compare the glory of war just after WWII compared to the end of the Vietnam War.
a good anti war pro war book. most excellent