War literature (for a 17 y/o)

There is a lot of beautiful war literature around, but most of it that comes to mind is not all that encouraging for the average 17 y/o.

I’m tutoring a girl for whom we need to find her book of war lit, any war. Obviously, English language is the problem, that’s why she’s my student. So that’s the challenge: I want her to actually read the book, and understand it, and get excited about it.

I checked that it needs to be actual war literature, LotR doesn’t count.

Her teachers suggestions I just don’t think will really capture her attention. I love Hemingway but he’s out (looong, difficult). I thought about Catch-22 and All Quiet… but think those will just not hold her attention either.

I think she would probably enjoy reading The Kite Runner, but it’s just too long for someone who has trouble with English.

I’d probably go for War Horse myself, but it’s classed as a children’s book so I don’t think she’ll be allowed to read that.

So… please share the war literature you love, and any recommendations for short, perhaps contemporary novels would be most welcome. What’s The Book Thief like?

Diary of Anne Frank? I’ll think a bit more

I remember really liking Bruce Catton’s Banners at Shenandoahat that age. It’s a Civil War novel from the point of view of a young Union cavalryman.

Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab is pretty good and not a difficult read. It’s a biography about a squad of SAS soldiers dropped behind enemy lines during the early stages of Desert Storm.

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is very easy to read, linguistically. It’s an assigned text at lower secondary school level in the UK, is a hit with adults, has won many prizes and hits you very hard as long as you understand what happens at the end. There’s a film of it, but I’ve no idea if it’s any good.

“Once” is also a fantastic young adult book about a boy in occupied Poland. He’s not a sweet, nice kid, which makes it more appealing. Linky: CBBC Newsround | Reviews | Book Review: Once

Some WWI poetry is also pretty accessible, if poetry counts. Wilfred Owen to start with.

Forgot to say - I’d definitely recommend The Book Thief. Again, the main character is a bit of a naughty kid, which helps. The length might put some kids (and adults) off though.

Empire of the rising Sun by JG Ballard might be an option. It might be a bit bleak though as it’s pretty grim stuff in places.

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane.

Thanks for the great suggestions, and please keep 'em coming. If they’re not suitable for my student I can always do with good tips for myself! :smiley:

madrabbitwoman, I’m teaching in the Netherlands, so she will definitely have read Anne Frank’s Diary in Dutch already. I should’ve mentioned that!

Good call on The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, thanks SciFiSam. I am worried the teacher might complain about it being too easy/young though. I’ll ask. So The Book Thief is quite long? Is it about the same as The Kite Runner? (I should really get round to reading it myself!)

It seems quite difficult to balance, with War Horse and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas on one side and the other end of the scale weighed down with War and Peace

You could point to the multiple awards TBITSP has won, and point out that the language is intentionally simplistic, but the message is important.

The Book Thief is long for a YA book that’s not part of a series - you know, how things like the Harry Potter series get longer as they go on. It’s not insurmountably long, but it is dense. It’s worth a try but not the first book I’d choose.

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt - A Newberry Award winner, although it might skew too young, it would be an easy read.

Way too young, but a longtime favorite of mine is Snow Treasure, about schoolkids in Norway saving their country’s gold from the Nazis.

It’s interesting to see YA lit from the US about the Civil War. It’s pretty obvious that would be THE young adult lit war (yeah duh), but growing up in the UK & Netherlands, it was always the Great War in the UK and WWII for the Netherlands (and lots on that one in the UK too).

I feel sort of silly commenting, because it’s so obvious, but it just occurred to me reading all these comments. Thanks for the insight!

I read Spirit of Survival when I was a teen. It’s been quite a while, so I’m not sure if it’s the best fit language-wise, but it deals with a young girl’s experiences under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and her issues (legal and cultural) adjusting to life in the US. For someone who isn’t a native speaker of English, there might be some common ground there.

“The Things They Carried” is a decent choice. It is a collection of connected short stories based on the Vietnam War. I don’t remember the language being exceptionally complex but there is quite a bit of symbolism underlying fairly simple prose. Also with most stories being semi selfcontained it would be easy to go through the story a chapter at a time.

If you were thinking of recommending Heller and Hemingway, I’d assume your pupil’s English is already quite good.

You say you want something that will hold a 17-year-old’s interest, indicating to me that she might be somewhat jaded.

Or would she be interested in a true story by someone who served in a war?

Three books off the top of my head that certainly interested me:

MASH*** by Richard Hooker, the basis for the movie and TV show;

To Hell and Back by Audie Murphy, the most highly decorated US soldier of WWII, also made into a movie starring and written and produced by Murphy himself;

Going after Cacciato, by Tim O’Brien. Starts out in Vietnam, and is one of the most surreal novels I’ve ever read.

Another book, not about war per se but about drug smuggling in the cutthroat jungles of Southeast Asia (close enough, if you ask me): The Virtues of Hell by Pierre Boulle. I started reading it on a Saturday morning and didn’t put it down until late on Sunday.

How about Winston Churchill’s account of the Boer War?

Or, how about some of the poetry from WW1?

MASH* by Richard Hooker?

Yes, in Dutch schools (VWO) the level is expected to be very high. They are meant to be reading adult novels like the ones I mentioned, but obviously as she is taking lessons with me she isn’t quite there yet. She would absolutely be able to read them, that’s not really the problem.

It’s more that… well, I want her to enjoy reading. And often when it’s always been difficult, the pleasure in reading isn’t a natural thing. But I think (shh don’t say it too loudly!) I might have lit a tiny little spark? When we do poetry (we did Romantic poetry last term, war poetry this term, and I sneak in Shakespeare etc when I can) she lights up. For all her trouble with the language, she really gets the poetry! Poems are short, and as we connect the dots together it’s exciting and fun. (No really, it is!) I worry that if I make her read Hemingway she’ll just give up. I’d rather she read something short and do-able and loves it, and so works her way up to Hemingway.

And on top of that: she’s 17. There is plenty of homework in her life.
Great suggestions, thank you!!

I liked Jeff Shaara’s WW2 lit. The Steel Wave was riveting.

Excerpt: