Review: Senator’s Son by Larson
As a pure novel, judged on literary standards, Senator’s Son reflects its’ status as a “first novel” of a talented author whose vision of the craft is emerging. Larson excels at creating scenarios, staccato vignettes for the characters to act ( Larson may also have a future as a screenwriter – his book naturally flows in the mind like a movie). There’s always a believable, environmental, “texture” present that exceeds that of short story and science fiction writers, yet as a novelist, Larson leaves enough to the reader’s imagination so that the story moves at a dramatic pace.
Characterization in Senator’s Son is uneven. It takes a while for the individual personalities of the characters to shine beyond their common “Marine-ness” and we get only the briefest glimpse of the malign nature of the enemy, and that secondhand through the eyes of an Iraqi character. That probably is an accurate representative of the experience of most US soldiers and Marines in Iraq who are not interrogators; furthermore, having the antagonist that the characters struggle against be the total environment is perfectly legitimate. It would have been interesting for me to have seen how Larson would develop and utilize a figure who was the focus of evil; however that task would be fairly incompatible with getting an effective message across regarding COIN, success of which does not hinge on the defeat of super-villains or the resolution of black-white moral absolutes but is complexity written in shades of gray.
Finally, as an avid reader, I found Senator’s Son to be a page-turner. Several times, I looked at the clock while reading for what seemed to me a short time, noted it was 1:30 am and was regretful that I had to put it on my bedstand ( I always finished the chapter first though 🙂 ) only to repeat the process the following night. Strongly recommended.
ADDENDUM – OTHER REVIEWS of SENATOR’S SON by:
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onparkstreet:
March 15th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
I’ve only read a few select chapters on PDF and plan to read the entire novel when I get a chance (I want to read it carefully, and so put it aside until I have a little "breathing room"), but my initial impressions are the same. The narrative is really key here, and it IS a page turner. I hesitate to say this, not having read the whole thing, but I could imagine a book like this on a reading list for a class. It would help to illustrate certain principles without initially overwhelming the student, I think.
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– Madhu
Hank:
April 21st, 2010 at 9:25 pm
A good friend of mine recommended me to Luke Larson regarding a shared concern for our men and women currently deploying to Afghanistan. I was in Panama during the Noriega years and am familiar first hand with some of the nuances with the counter-insurgency mission from my work with Central & South America. Apropos to my vignette, I was impressed with the character development in The Tailor of Panama by John le Carré, who in his former life as David Cornwell actually was a British Intelligence Officer. Bearing with my digression I look forward to a read that deals with the ‘total environment’ struggles faced from someone like Luke Larson with the battle scars that lend truth to his writing. Zenpundit – Your synopsis encourages me that the exercise will be rewarded.
With Utmost Respect ~ Semper Fi,
Major Hank Salmans,
USMC (Retired)
And Luke, thank you for your service and sacrifice to this great country of ours.
zen:
April 22nd, 2010 at 2:07 am
Much thanks Major! I will send a link to Larson so that he will be aware of your comment.
Chicago Boyz » Blog Archive » Review of Senator’s Son: An Iraq War Novel:
May 12th, 2010 at 12:25 am
[…] Zenpundit says in his review, “As an explanation of COIN, I think the book is a must read for anyone unfamiliar with the […]
Review of Senator’s Son: An Iraq War Novel « OnParkStreet:
May 12th, 2010 at 12:31 am
[…] Zenpundit says in his review, “As an explanation of COIN, I think the book is a must read for anyone unfamiliar with the […]