Black Virgin Mountain

“Black Virgin Mountain: A Return to Vietnam” by Larry Heinemann is called “indicative of the emotional black hole those who have been in war often carry within them”. It is seen throughout the whole book that the author hates war and doesn’t romanticize his services when being a young soldier who has been sent to Vietnam in 1967-1968. Author’s intentions are noble as he wants to shed light on the realities of the war, though very often he writes a piece of traveling providing historical backgrounds to cultural places which bear no relation to the narrative.

It is necessary to underline that the book illustrates emotional maiming coming from the war. (Heinemann 2005) The author starts with describing noise and energy of the combat and it is the strongest position of Heinemann, because he manages to reflect the power of weapons being hold in the arms and the violence created by the war. Heinemann attacks the lies sold to those people who returned home. Nevertheless, the author loses his balance when remembering his being an agent of death.

Author writing here is too flabby and filled with cliches. Furthermore Heinemann provides long unnecessary descriptions of the visit to Hanoi, because the author thinks it lacks historical background. (Heinemann 2005) Actually Heinemann demonstrates in his book great courage in facing death and describes the horrifying realities of war. It is seen that the author uncovers his own dislocation and pains. However, he does realize the position of violence, because war takes a heavy tool in lives of thousand soldiers.
The main hero (the author) suffered not only from trauma, but also because of his two brothers, because one of them has committed suicide, whereas other has been missing for many years. The author ends the book on the scared mountain called Black Virgin Mountain. The author is able to view from its heights the place of the battles and he tries to find the answer to the horrors created by war. (Heinemann 2005) Works Cited Heinemann, Larry. Black Virgin Mountain: A Return to Vietnam. New York: Doubleday, 2005.