Tom Nolan's "Just a Walk in the Park" is hardly a walk in the park.  It is a wrenching, profane, humorous, and intensely personal narrative on the experiences of several members of a Marine combat platoon.  The book is centered on Nolan's 1967 combat tour in Vietnam, interspersed with flashbacks to the author's childhood.  Each chapter covers different themes and is told from varying points of view.  Most chapters are narrated in the author's voice.  Others use a tag team approach: alternating between the author's point of view and the perspective of the author's friends, as if they were coming alive when necessary to help tell the story.  Throughout the novel, the story-telling shifts confusingly between first and third person narration—often in the same paragraph.  But when describing the chaotic situation of the Vietnam War from the perspective of young combat Marine infantrymen, the confusion seems authentic and somehow appropriate.  

Not only do Nolan and the young men in his platoon (most of whom are barely out of high school) have to face the horrors of combat; they must also deal with leeches, mites, a large variety of snakes, banana spiders, bouncing betties, wild-eyed local "paddy queens," and much, much more.  To cope with all the stress, Noland and his buddies participate in a bizarre system of practical jokes, pranks, threats and other—often sophomoric—behavior.  In the end, they are fellow Marines who become brothers in war and if they survive… life-long friends.  

As the author warns on the book's jacket, "Just a Walk in the Park" is not for the faint of heart… and is certainly not G-rated or "politically correct."  It's filled with irreverent, profanity-laced dialog; realistic and often graphic depictions of combat situations; and honest recounting of everyday life in a strange and faraway land.

Reviewed by: John Cathcart (February 2009)