Monthly Review 2

The Forever War is a gripping science fiction novel that masks strong themes of the Vietnam War. In this novel a man named William Mandella is the protagonist. He is drafted into the army for his intelligence and shipped into space to fight an unknown enemy, and because they go through time when they go really fast through space the universe ages much faster than they do. And when he returns the world is no longer as it once was. So he reenlists. He goes through several more battles with his girlfriend and they go to a planet that is not as hostile as earth but they have to go back into the army but are separated and because of the time differences his girlfriend will be dead long before he returns, if he even returns. But all in all this is a great book.

1. What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
I believe that the authors purpose in writing this book was to spread knowledge about a subject that everyone was scared to talk about, Vietnam. In fact I'm positive, he said so himself in the intro to the book. But nevertheless, that was his purpose and the fact that that message still gets through to my generation 30 years later, is pretty impressive.
One way I can tell this is his purpose is he said so himself, but ignoring that fact, there are themes throughout the book. First of all, the title The Forever War is representative of the Vietnam War since that was the U.S.'s longest war. And in the beginning, not knowing what the enemy looked like, or even if you could kill them in the same ways. In their first engagement the humans slaughter the enemy because they didn't know what to do.
The main character Mandela has the author's name, Haldeman, in it if you get rid of the H and turn alde into "dela" and then swap that and "man", and Haldeman is a Vietnam vet. When he returned to his home, the world seemed alien to him, the economy was a lot worse, the speech had changed, it was much more dangerous, it was one third homosexual. Drastic changes like these are changes that veterans would experience when they returned home. With this and the overall treatment of the soldiers, you can't help but see the similarities to the Vietnam War.

2. For what audience(s) is this book intended, and how can you tell? (In other words, for whom would you recommend this book?)
This book was probably intended for the Veterans of the Vietnam war, because it definitely wasn't for any other people during that time, because no one wanted to talk about it. Hardly anyone would even publish the book because it was so controversial. But writing such a timeless novel as this, he probably knew that younger generations would like this book as well. It stays current, if I had no idea that this book was written in the 70s, I would've thought it was a brand new book. It just has that feel to it.
As I said in the last letter, anyone who is old enough to read this (maturity-wise probably like 14 or 15) should definitely read this book. It's pretty awesome. Also anyone who has read Brave New World might like this book as there are similar themes and the author even writes "O brave new world" and uses words like "conditioning" to describe human behavioral modification. And there is an lot of sex in this book, as is in Brave New World, hence the recommended maturity age. But, yeah, otherwise it's good, so read this book, fer sherrrrrrrr.

5. Find out about the author. How did they end up writing this particular book? Is the author's true life reflected in the book in any way(s)?
The author is a winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards, basically this book is the more modern day Great Gatsby of science fiction, or really any genre for that matter. Seriously, it's hella good. Haldeman is a veteran of the Vietnam war, which explains the underlying themes and purpose of writing this book. And he has written a great sci fi book every other year since his first book (this book), The Forever War. He was, or maybe still is, I'm not sure yet, a creative writing professor at MIT, and has taught some of todays greats in the science fiction genre.
The authors life is reflected in many ways throughout the book, starting with the main characters name. As I said earlier, it's the same as the authors, if you switch the letters around and get rid of the "H". Also, the main characters girlfriend's name is Margay Potter. Haldeman's wife's name is Mary Gay and her maiden name is Potter. Plus, Haldeman is as I said, a Vietnam vet, and this book is basically the Vietnam War with science fiction slapped on top of it, so this book is basically his experience in the war. Much like F. Scott Fitzgerald relating his life in the Great Gatsby. Which makes it seem like the modern day Great Gatsby. Like I may have mentioned before. Basically, this authors life is reflected in the book, but subtly as any good author does.

As I said. This is an amazing book, I wouldn't hyave changed it if I could, except for the physics, because it is more or less perfect. Haldeman did a really superb job of writing this book. A romantic subplot, an impactful war, and a universe that is changing around the main character. It really doesn't get any better than this.