Chef Bourdain travels the world looking for the “perfect meal”.
Entertaining but very varied both in quality and flavour. The trip to France with his brother seeking out their childhood haunts is heartwarming. The Vietnam stories are colourful. The Russian trip is at once terrifying and hilarious.
Not as focused as Kitchen Confidential, and Mr. Bourdain does admit that after the sucess of that book he was a man looking for a purpose, which shows. Nevertheless, the writing is humorous, tight, and pithy.
As a young Warrant Officer in the US Army, Mr. Mason spent a year flying helicopters in Vietnam. This memoir chronicles his journey from wet-behind-the-ears newbie to grizzled veteran with PTSD. The perspective is very much that of soldiers who are just doing the job, far from any decision-making. They can see the futility of their efforts, but they still go out and fly, despite their fears, facing daily the horrors of mutilation and death.
Chickenhawk is a seminal book about the Vietnam War experience, and also about flying helicopters in combat. The author uses irony and self-deprecating humour to good effect, describing in starkly clinical terms the compendium of horrors he witnessed. The feelings of helplessness and futility from flying the same missions over and over again with little effect on the war effort, while at the same time the generals and politicians spout empty words claiming success is imminent, are explored not directly, but through the naively portrayed eyes of the narrator. A fascinating read whether you are into aviation or not.
