Dear Mr. President

I've been pretty disappointed with most of the negative reviews of this book posted here so far. First, there's the contention that the book isn't funny at all. How is a story about an ear growing out of a man's chest not funny? I think people are expecting this to be some kind of historical account of Gulf War 1. I mean, looking at the "customers who bought this item also bought" section, it seems as though most of the people who are reading this book are expecting some kind of political statement. I think the stories in the collection are stories first and historical accounts second, if not third or fourth. I think the major problem with most of these reviews is that they seem to be written by people who have no familiarity with what's being written today. Sure, this ain't a John Jakes historical novel, but if it were, it wouldn't be as brilliant as it is.Also, there are many comparisons made between these stories and O'Brian's stories about the Vietnam War, and I think this collection far surpasses The Things They Carried. I, personally, do not consider myself a fan of war fiction, and this book appealed to me nevertheless. With Roth, it's war first and character second, and Dear Mr. President is the opposite. So yeah, if you jarheads wants to read some deep gut military prose, then you won't like this. But if you want to read some beautiful modern writing, I'm talking about really beautiful, near-perfect storytelling, then I suggest you get this book.

I picked up this book because I read Hudson's short piece in the New Yorker (from one of the summer fiction issues) and loved it. Gabe Hudson writes with clarity, creativity, and great confidence. Of course, this book is bound to make some people irritated ... but that should not reflect at all the great voice of this young writer. Highly recommended, even for those who are wary of Hudson and his sense of humor (have some of the people ... never heard of sarcasm, wit, and facetiousness?).

These stories are about people I might have gone to high school with. It's so wierd to think that my contemporaries are veterans, and now there's a new bunch of kids going over to Iraq who are younger than my little brother & sister. But here they are in all their human strength and frailty. Fictional, yes, but every writer uses his experiences and those of his friends to color their fictional world. This book is far more readable and approachable than Catch-22 or Going after Cacciato, Apocalypse Now, and other war-genre stories to which it has been compared. Perhaps this is due to the contemporary nature of the stories, or maybe it's just because the writer captures character so well with dialogueand action. This is a very quick, captivating read.These stories have a huge dose of irony among the realistic snapshots of what the first Gulf War was like up-close. This is not the war we saw on CNN, this is more like Vietnam in the desert, where a confrontation with a few belligerent locals can turn into a landmine and booby-trap ridden massacre. War veterans come home and can't forget their lives on the front lines. Minds snap, but their hearts are still in the right place. Chemical warfare takes its toll on veterans' bodies in different, horrible ways. Iraquis know just enough of our culture to get it wrong. You kill someone in order to save them. Your life back home goes to hell while you're living in hell on the front lines. You have to laugh or you'd cry.Read this.

I just finished this book and my head is still buzzing, but I will say Dear Mr. President is probably destined to become the definitive fiction book regarding the US and Iraqi conflict. This guy comes out swinging for the bleachers, and he will knock your brain right out of the park. I sure hope someone makes sure the weapons inspectors have a copy of Dear Mr. President for their bedtime reading. Thank you Mr. Hudson!

I served in the Gulf, and not only has Mr. Hudson completely nailed that war to a tee, he also has a serious bead on human nature. I think it'll be a couple years before people truly see the historical importance of this book, but I am willing to say that this might be the most important book published this year. Mr. Hudson, through dark humor and wild story-telling, addresses issues such as Biological warfare, the little publicized psychological effects of modern war, the Bush administration's lust for war, the tenuous relationship between the Middle East and the West, America's lust for oil, the White House's utilization of mainstream media as a propaganda tool (especially CNN--anyone who served in that war will know what I am talking about), the hypocrisy inherent in America's foreign policy, gays in the military, the failure of American Intelligence, Gulf War Syndrome, the way that each generation heaps its war stories on the younger generation (namely the relationship between the Vietnam generation and the Gulf War generation), and the role that technology plays in modern warfare. Most importantly, though, it shows the human side to a war that was largely censored, and has been perceived by the American public as virtual and sanitary. And while Mr. Hudson is clearly opposed to war, he is just as quick to lampoon the Doves as he is the Hawks. It's rapidly becoming one of the most talked about books in the veteran message boards, a favorite of both young and old. I laughed a lot, sure, but I was also, somehow, very moved. It brought a lot of stuff back. It gave me a way to think about things I had previously not been able to think about. Thank you Mr. Hudson for your courage and bravery--for giving a voice to a group of men and women who have been largely marginalized and swept under the carpet by the government--especially now that Bush II wants to go make more of a mess over in Iraq. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, for civilians and veterans.