Title: Arlen’s Gun: A Novel of Men at War
Author: Edgar Doleman
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1-6655-0859-9
Pages: 338
Genre: Military/Fictionalized Memoir
Reviewed by: Jason Lulos
Pacific Book Review
“When conversation no longer distracts and daydreams wear thin, the last defense is to become like a dog in the night: eyes open, ears alert, but the mind blank, the switches to the powers of thought and imagination turned off, awaiting some signal.” (Arlen’s Gun)
In Arlen’s Gun, author Edgar Doleman presents a stark and enthralling depiction of the soldier’s experience in the Vietnam War. This brilliantly written story is rooted in brutal realism but also speaks directly to the agony of philosophical and moral quandaries these soldiers must have faced every step of the way. This novel really is a masterful accomplishment in terms of its fluid and evocative writing style, as well as its illumination of the soldier’s mindset during the chaos of combat, and the beguiling reflections in its aftermath.
Arlen Washington is a gunner with the Air Force. His plane is shot down. He and fellow gunner, Timmy Otis, are left stranded with their rescuing Army platoon while the remainder of their crew leave for medical attention. Otis is the likeable “yesman” while Washington is notoriously unfriendly, “flaky,” and generally disagreeable: a decidedly unlikely hero. Manning the minigun (detached from the downed plane), Washington reluctantly accepts his new outfit. When daydreams allow, he’s got delusions of taking the gun home to ward off demons of his past on the bad streets of his home in Baltimore. What follows is the necessity of camaraderie amidst skirmishes and bloodshed and the moral anguish of making split decisions in this unreal war in the jungle.
The author captures all of this in vivid detail with striking psychological insights. The dialogue is brilliant and believable with its realistic humor and seriousness. The style moves fluidly from dialogue to third person narration to the soldiers’ innermost thoughts: psychological and philosophical acrobatics of making impossible choices in a split second. The novel is fascinating in this very style of changing points-of-view. The categorical imperative: the soldier making a calculated choice, a near impossibility in the hurried fog of war.
Arlen’s Gun is a captivating story and the fact that it is based upon real experiences is no surprise because it evokes stark realism. The writing is minimalist and devoid of superfluous language with occasions of poetic descriptions which seem perfectly and strategically placed. There is obvious appeal to readers interested in the military and the literature of war, but I highly recommend it to readers in general because it is so well written. Is it action-packed? Yes. But this is about the minds of soldiers as they must negotiate between the brave thing to do versus self-preservation, versus the logistically intelligent thing to do (from a long-term or short-term strategic standpoint). The author illuminates this brilliantly and suggests that sometimes the shared experience of facing these difficult decisions is what forges the bond between soldiers.
