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Summary
Summary
Before the movie, this is the novel that gave life to Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John, Hot Lips Houlihan, Frank Burns, Radar O'Reilly, and the rest of the gang that made the 4077th MASH like no other place in Korea or on earth.
The doctors who worked in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) during the Korean War were well trained but, like most soldiers sent to fight a war, too young for the job. In the words of the author, "a few flipped their lids, but most of them just raised hell, in a variety of ways and degrees."
For fans of the movie and the series alike, here is the original version of that perfectly corrupt football game, those martini-laced mornings and sexual escapades, and that unforgettable foray into assisted if incompleted suicide--all as funny and poignant now as they were before they became a part of America's culture and heart.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hooker's novel-which inspired the eponymous feature film and television sitcom-follows three Army surgeons as they work together in Korea during the Korean War. As casualties rise and the conflict drags on, the surgeons find their own chaotic and darkly funny ways of coping. Veteran narrator Heller skillfully reads this memorable audio edition. Hooker's classic black comedy features a host of quirky characters, making it the sort of novel that might require multiple narrators for the audiobook. But here, Heller is up to the task by himself. His narration is never showy; instead he uses subtle vocalization to distinguish each character. Heller's narration captures the book's irreverence with a conversational, brisk pace-almost as if he were recounting stories with former brothers-in-arms. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
This audiobook may take listeners back to the past and make them feel like they're in the field with beloved characters such as Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John. In his first book, Hooker does an excellent job of examining the brutality of war, recounting what military surgeons witnessed during the Korean War, while lightening it with comic relief and showing the wildly entertaining shenanigans the doctors and soldiers engaged in to pass the time and keep their sanity. Johnny Heller does a superb job narrating the audio version. Verdict A must-listen for fans of the 1970s-80s TV show as well as those who enjoy military humor.-Ledezma L. Rodriguez, Bell/Whittington P.L., Portland, TX (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Mash A Novel About Three Army Doctors When Radar O'Reilly, just out of high school, left Ottumwa, Iowa, and enlisted in the United States Army it was with the express purpose of making a career of the Signal Corps. Radar O'Reilly was only five feet three inches tall, but he had a long, thin neck and large ears that left his head at perfect right angles. Furthermore, under certain atmospheric, as well as metabolic, conditions, and by enforcing complete concentration and invoking unique extrasensory powers, he was able to receive messages and monitor conversations far beyond the usual range of human hearing. With this to his advantage it seemed to Radar O'Reilly that he was a natural for the communications branch of the service, and so, following graduation, he turned down various highly attractive business opportunities, some of them legitimate, and decided to serve his country. Before his enlistment, in fact, he used to fall asleep at night watching a whole succession of, first, sleeve stripes, and then shoulder insignia, floating by until he would see himself, with four stars on his shoulders, conducting high-level Pentagon briefings, attending White House dinner parties and striding imperiously to ringside tables in New York night clubs. In the middle of November of the year 1951 A.D., Radar O'Reilly, a corporal in the United States Army Medical Corps, was sitting in the Painless Polish Poker and Dental Clinic of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital astride the 38th Parallel in South Korea, ostensibly trying to fill a straight flush. Having received the message that the odds against such a fortuitous occurrence open at 72,192 to 1, what he was actually doing was monitoring a telephone conversation. The conversation was being conducted, over a precarious connection, between Brigadier General Hamilton Hartington Hammond, the Big Medical General forty-five miles to the south in Seoul, and Lieutenant Colonel Henry Braymore Blake, in the office of the commanding officer of the 4077th MASH, just forty-five yards to Radar O'Reilly's east. "Listen," Radar O'Reilly said, his head turning slowly back and forth in the familiar scanning action. "Listen to what?" Captain Walter Koskiusko Waldowski, the Dental Officer and Painless Pole, asked. "Henry," Radar O'Reilly said, "is trying for two new cutters." "I gotta have two more men," Colonel Blake was shouting into the phone, and Radar could hear it. "What do you think you're running up there?" General Hammond was shouting back, and Radar could hear that, too. "Walter Reed Hospital?" "Now you listen to me . . ." Colonel Blake was saying. "Just take it easy, Henry," General Hammond was saying. "I won't take it easy," Colonel Blake shouted. "If I don't get two . . ." "All right! All right!" General Hammond shouted. "So I'll send you the two best men I have." Excerpted from MASH. Copyright (c) 1968, renewed 1996 by Richard Hornberger and W.C. Heinz. Mash A Novel About Three Army Doctors . Copyright © by Richard Hooker. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Mash: A Novel about Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
