The Winds of War

I've read many WWII-related novels and works of non-fiction over the years. Therefore, I'm somewhat surprised it took me this long to arrive at Herman Wouk. Winds of War is a sweeping, magnificent epic that captured me in a way few novels do. Herman Wouk tells the story of a fictional USN family as the events leading up to America's entry into war cast them hither and yon. London, Berlin, Moscow, Pearl Harbor, New York City, Rome, Manila, and Washington DC all figure prominently as do the leaders of each Axis and Allied country.Having read much about WWII, I especially enjoyed Wouk's flawless chronology and the detail with which it was adorned. Indeed, one could absorb a better understanding of the WWII event timeline from Winds of War than from many non-fictional accounts.I do most of my reading at night before sleep. Winds of War had me looking forward to bedtime on my commute home from work. I loved this book. I loved it's character formation, it's pace, it's geographical range, and it's towering level of suspense. Every ingredient required for a memorable epic is present in an impeccable weave. Winds of War rates 5 stars and more.

There are 4 components a writer needs to write: Style, Theme, Character Development, and Storytelling Ability. All writers have these traits in varying degrees, but no writer has ever been called truly GREAT without having an abundance of Storytelling Ability. This is paramount; if you can't hook the reader it doesn't matter how jazzy you write or how noble is your theme. You must be able to tell a good story. Our greatest, and most popular writers, have always understood this: Hemingway, Miller, Wolfe (both), Bellow, Stephen King. Great storytellers. Seated in the front row of this class is Herman Wouk, an enormously popular writer who, despite his Pulitzer Prize for "The Caine Mutiny", has never been considered great, in the sense that these others have.That's a true shame. Wouk can tell a story---and I mean a WHOPPER, an EPIC in the true sense of the word---like nobody else from his generation. "The Winds of War" is part one of his absolute masterpiece, a tsunami tale of adventure, tragedy, romance, death, birth...you name it, it's in there. The story of the Henry family, headed by Victor "Pug" Henry, a Captain in the U.S. Navy, as it spreads across the globe during World War Two.This is a virtuoso performance. Wouk knits the personal stories of the Henry clan together with factual history, using letters, quotes from speeches & books, anything he can think of to put you THERE, smack dab in the middle of the action. And you are there: you follow Pug to meetings with Roosevelt, Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, and on and on. Putting fictional characters in the room with real people is a huge risk, it almost never works, but Wouk pulls it off with charm to spare. You're in Warsaw when the Nazis invade, you're at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attack, you're in Rome when Mussolini declares war. Wouk sucks you into the narrative so completely you forget that Pug's travels are pretty damn impossible. Who cares? He's a HERO, it's his job to be in impossible situations, and Pug does his job like a champion. All of his characters are absolutely fleshed out, the dialogue is nearly ear-perfect, the historical events build momentum like no book you'll ever read...forget all the pretenders to the throne, from Mailer to Jones and all the little men in between. THIS IS THE GREAT NOVEL OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. This is good old-fashioned storytelling genius, the kind of book nobody writes anymore because Style has taken center stage in the last 50 years, sadly. (I blame Joyce) If more people would read this book, and its sequel "War And Remembrance", maybe we could get back to what writing---in fact language itself---was created for in the first place: TO TELL A STORY.Check out Herman Wouk, one of the greats.

This book has a perspective unlike any other World War Two novels that I have read. Many books present the "American hero" perspective, not allowing for the point of view of the other nations in the war. Set preceding the war and up to and until the American involvement, it presents the story of and American Naval aid and his family in Germany, Russia, America, and other historically significant places. They meet Roosevelt, Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, and many other significant figures. One of the different perspectives in this story is a fictional German account of the war and the reactions to the war of the peoples in the different places they visit. This book has been thoroughly researched and most of the information about the war are accurate. If you enjoy this book, as I did, it is continued in War and Rememberence, by the same author.

Years ago my father warned me (a 10 year old tyke at the time)that great books take a while to "get going" and that resolve is needed to plow through those first few pages...Well, its the first 200 pages in this case: Herman Wouk's "The Winds of War". As we are dryly introduced to Pug Henry, the stout naval commander, and his family of superstars and misfits, one can only wonder when SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN. But don't worry: It does...And after almost exactly page 200, the book becomes wonderfully delicious. All of a sudden the plot unravles into steam-rolling scenes set in Poland, Germany, and New York. In some parts, it even steals the "can't put it down mentality" from its cheaper fiction counterparts. Wouk seamlessly blends the magnanimous events of the war with the intricate stories of every character. The general but ubiquitous ideas that defined that time period (German Anti-Semitism or, say, American Isolationism) are presented as fresh and realisitc through Wouk's powerful writing. The fictional dialogues with some of history's most memorable men (Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt) are especially rewarding and, it seems, remarkably accurate in depiction of their characters. A definite must-read