#16- North Light (1981) Mark Helprin
This is a simple war piece.
An Israeli infantry squad awaits orders above the battleground during
the 6-Day War. It’s described as a “recollection
in the present tense.” The narrator is a member of the squad. I’m
not sure what this story is really saying: That war is boring, war is scary,
war is hell, war is…war?
Helprin tries to hit upon a few wartime life-of-a-solider
themes, and outlines the different approaches to war between old vs. young, married vs. single, but
they really don’t go anywhere. Like most
of what’s in this piece, they’re just passing thoughts. Maybe that’s the point, the idle thoughts of
infantrymen while they await the horrors of battle? I found it to be a pretty
cold, stilted scene. Like most of his pieces this one is technically
sound. Good juxtaposition of light
references in the first and last paragraphs.
However most of the writing I found over-thought or forced. Take this sentence:
“Then war hits like an artillery shell…”
Pretty clunky simile if you ask me. I mean, war IS an artillery shell, or war
began WITH an artillery shell. It’s not
a simile if it’s the exact thing you’re describing, right? Maybe I’m off base,
Helprin is an expert in writing, but somehow that bothered me a little. Its also fair to point out that Helprin
himself served in the Israeli infantry so…what do I know?
So far, in the 4 stories of this collection I’ve read, we’ve
been in the Alps, Indian Ocean, Long Island, and Israel. I like the variety, but I haven’t been able
to lock down any kind of solid feel for Helprin or this book as a collection. Sometimes
I feel a strong though muted emotion that makes me love his writing, and
sometimes he’s cold and detached. This
story fell in that latter category.
Notable Passage: “But their fear is not as strong as the
blood which is rising and fills their chests with anger and strength.”
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