Johnny Got His Gun
By Dalton Trumbo
| Average Rating: | Please log in to rate. |
| Binding: | Paperback |
| Publisher: | Citadel |
| Publication Date: | Jul. 1, 2007 |
| ISBN: | 0806528478 |
| Pages: | 320 |
| Buy: | Buy now from Amazon.com |
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World War One was, for it's time (and even today) the most horrific war to "grace" the world with its presence. Roughly 9 million men died in its four years of battle. The British Army suffered 58,000 casualties (roughly the total population a suburban New England Town) on the first day of the Battle of The Somme alone.
Johnny Got His Gun is about a young American fighting man, Joe Bonham, who, in late September of 1918, was struck by a shell. And although it did not kill him, he was badly maimed in the process. He lacks arms, legs and even a face. He lives his life, " like a side beef" dreaming and remembering the life he once had and cursing the government and war that made him the way he is. He wants very badly to die, (he taps out “kill me” in mores code) but can't. Suicide is not a possibility and euthanasia will never happen, so he lives out the rest of his days in a hospital bed, never to see the sun or hear the worlds " I love you" from his beloved Karen or his mother. This book struck me very hard, there was not a chapter that didn't make me burst into tears and the ending in and of it's self is most horrific thing I have read or seen in my life, but in a good way. It's profoundly thought provoking and eye opening.