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Tom o' Vietnam Kindle Edition

by Baron Wormser (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 10 ratings
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"Baron Wormser has done something important with TOM O' VIETNAM in the way that he has identified and precisely embraced a stunningly particular historical moment we casually refer to as 'Viet Nam,' as if the name was not a country but a dark shroud of moral collapse that hangs over us still. More remarkably, he has constructed this narrative from the point of view of a combat soldier, fighting in the American War in Viet Nam. Somehow there is a deep legitimacy to this soldier's story because Wormser has been excruciatingly precise in his consideration and use of details—what Hemingway called 'getting the words right.' Built into TOM O' VIETNAM's narrative is a clever, bright and engaging analysis of King Lear that parallels the primary narrative in richly imaginative ways. Inventive, immodestly challenging more than a few literary fictive conventions, and sometimes even beautifully written, TOM O 'VIETNAM is, at the same time, in a class by itself and resonant of great works about Viet Nam that have come before."—Bruce Weigl
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  1. Print length
    164 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    June 4, 2018
  5. File size
    775 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Baron Wormser is the author of nine books of poetry and a poetry chapbook. He is the co-author of two books about teaching poetry and the author of a memoir along with a book of short stories and a novel. He teaches in the Fairfield University MFA program. He also is the Founding Director of Frost Place Conference on Poetry and Teaching in Franconia, New Hampshire. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He served as poet laureate of Maine from 2000 to 2005 and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Maine at Augusta in 2005.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07DJYHFBQ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ New Rivers Press (June 4, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 4, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 775 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 164 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

Customer reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
4.9 out of 5
10 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

CJS
5.0 out of 5 stars A Groundbreaking Work That Should Not Be Missed
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2018
Verified Purchase
Tom o' Vietnam is simply stunning. The narrative is easy to follow, even if you aren't well versed in King Lear. The protagonist Tom is a veteran looking for meaning after the Vietnam War, and struggling to exist in a society that for him has become foreign. Tom is obsessed with Lear, and rereads his dog-eared copy over and over again in search of meaning. The read is so engrossing that I did not initially notice that the novel does not have chapters, just one of many ways that this book is unique. For fans of the play, this is a delightful Easter egg hunt for quotations. For everyone else, it is still a powerful read due largely to Wormser's imaginative and original prose. I found myself obsessed with Tom and his journey in America.
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Wilma Moralsinn
5.0 out of 5 stars and many ring brilliantly. Although the veteran is obsessed with King Lear
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2018
Verified Purchase
Wormser completely nails the voice of a veteran shattered by an atrocity he committed in Vietnam. Not a word rings false, and many ring brilliantly. Although the veteran is obsessed with King Lear, there is no whiff of literary pretension. Many of Shakespeare's themes are Wormser's too, including the power of madness and war to strip away the veneer of civilization. The image of a man who unwittingly murders an innocent girl haunts both the play and the novel, but while the play remains unremittingly dark, Wormser offers a small ray of hope in the book's final pages. Yet it is earned.
Ken Burns gave us events and interviews, but always at a respectful distance. Wormer gives us raw feeling.
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Joseph OConnor
5.0 out of 5 stars Coming Home to Reality
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2018
Verified Purchase
What it is like to live life without the crutch of illusions. Very special.
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Logan Peterson
5.0 out of 5 stars Revisiting Lear
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2018
Tom O’Vietnam follows the flowing thought of Tom, a Vietnam vet with an unhealthy Shakespeare obsession. We follow his bumbling journey across the US, visiting his three sisters and old friends, hoping to find whatever he lost in the war.

The book follows a stream of consciousness format. It allows the reader to connect with Tom in a very intimate way. We are inside of his head, for this story we become Tom. The book interlaces Tom’s thoughts, quotes from King Lear, and words of wisdom from Tom’s war buddy Knightly.

Tom often compares himself to the characters of the play—especially Edgar, or Poor Tom. Edgar is the son of Gloucester. A plot by Edmund, Edgar’s half-brother, leads to Gloucester casting Edgar out. In the cold and rain, Edgar becomes Poor Tom.

Wormser presents a broken man, ravished by war and changed by what it made him do. Throughout the story, we see Tom struggle to overcome his inner demons and readjust to society.

Tom O’Vietnam is also a story about love—loving someone who does not want to be loved. The people around Tom want to help but have no idea how to pull him from his despair.
Tom O’Vietnam is a clever and dark book. If you haven’t read King Lear, the references might be a bit confusing, but Wormser keeps the story accessible. It’s a quick read, clocking in 154 pages, and it’s aided by the lack of chapter breaks. This choice reinforces the flowing stream of consciousness, and put the reader inside of Tom’s head.
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ConnorCeCe
4.0 out of 5 stars This is Not a Book About The Vietnam War.
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2018
This is not a book about the Vietnam War, although the aftermath of the war makes a convenient backdrop for Tom’s experience of the world. This is a book about holding your breath. The tension that Baron Wormser maintains throughout makes this a book that demands attention; it is not something that can be read casually on the subway or in a coffee shop. Once you are able to fall into the rhythm of the writing, Tom’s stream of consciousness makes you forget that you are reading a book, and instead convinces you that you are reading a mind. You are immersed in Tom’s experience of life, and his inability to bridge the gap between the inside of his head and the rest of the world. By being in his mind with him, an intimacy is formed between the reader and Tom, in which we experience all that he cannot share with others. The ending, though unfortunately disingenuous, does not discount the rest of the work. There is an acute sense while reading of the sensation of a phantom limb; however it is not a physical limb that has been lost, but instead a piece of Tom’s soul he feels has left him forever. While he obsesses over King Lear throughout the novel, it is not the play itself that is important but the choice of it as a vessel to communicate with the rest of the world. His attempts to understand and share his confusion and pain through King Lear create a multifaceted interpretation, not just of Lear itself but also Tom and how he interacts with the world around him.
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Mary Ann
5.0 out of 5 stars A study in compassion
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2018
Tom O’Vietnam follows the thoughts and physical wanderings of Tom, a Vietnam War veteran. Tom is an everyman character whose inner soliloquies and outer conversations reveal deep philosophical and spiritual wonderings that will be familiar to all human persons who—consciously or unconsciously—seek meaning in life. Tom’s keen study of people, events, and Shakespeare’s "King Lear" gives him an understanding of the absolute interdependence of the human family, especially in the face of institutional decisions, such as the waging of war, that disrupt lives and distort the finer human qualities of mercy and forgiveness. Tom is, ultimately, a beacon of compassion whose own wounds and mistakes allow him to accept without judgment the many interesting and fragile human persons he encounters in his travels.
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Oblate
5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for veterans
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2018
This book is a surprising page-turner. If you love Shakespeare just a little bit, you will find this book to be like a treasure hunt for passages from King Lear. But you don't have to know that play to follow the Vietnam veteran Tom on his compelling journey to find peace for himself through love and by roaming throughout the country. Recovery from war is a timeless subject, and this book captures the dignity of that search for something meaningful after being witness to war. Not just for veterans and their families, though, this story will capture you and reward you as you follow Tom's journey toward acceptance.
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