# War literature (for a 17 y/o)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 8, 2013, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668 "2013-10-08T09:51:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/1 "2013-10-08T09:51:36Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/2 "2013-10-08T10:15:36Z")
Diary of Anne Frank? I’ll think a bit more
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/3 "2013-10-08T10:17:33Z")
I remember really liking Bruce Catton’s [Banners at Shenandoah](http://www.amazon.com/Banners-Shenandoah-Sheridans-Fighting-Cavalry/dp/0892440198)at that age. It’s a Civil War novel from the point of view of a young Union cavalryman.
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### Author:  [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/4 "2013-10-08T10:44:06Z")
_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.
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### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/5 "2013-10-08T11:58:21Z")
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](http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4730000/newsid_4737000/4737068.stm)
Some WWI poetry is also pretty accessible, if poetry counts. Wilfred Owen to start with.
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### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/6 "2013-10-08T12:02:52Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@glaeken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glaeken)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/7 "2013-10-08T13:55:50Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/8 "2013-10-08T14:18:12Z")
_The Red Badge of Courage_ by Stephen Crane.
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### Author:  [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/9 "2013-10-08T15:26:14Z")
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! 😃
**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_…
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### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/10 "2013-10-08T15:43:29Z")
> [@gracer](#):
>
> 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! 😃
>
> **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.
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### Author:  [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/11 "2013-10-08T15:47:58Z")
[Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt](http://www.amazon.com/Across-Five-Aprils-Irene-Hunt/dp/0425182789) - A Newberry Award winner, although it might skew too young, it would be an easy read.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/12 "2013-10-08T15:53:01Z")
Way too young, but a longtime favorite of mine is _Snow Treasure_, about schoolkids in Norway saving their country’s gold from the Nazis.
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### Author:  [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/13 "2013-10-08T16:46:55Z")
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!
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### Author:  [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/14 "2013-10-08T17:24:34Z")
I read [Spirit of Survival](http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Survival-Gail-Sheehy/dp/0688058787) 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.
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### Author:  [@Miltonyz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miltonyz)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/15 "2013-10-08T17:32:35Z")
“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.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/16 "2013-10-08T17:46:58Z")
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:
_MAS_H\*\*\* 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.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/17 "2013-10-08T17:51:19Z")
How about Winston Churchill’s account of the Boer War?
Or, how about some of the poetry from WW1?
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/18 "2013-10-08T18:28:39Z")
_M_A_S_H\* by Richard Hooker?
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### Author:  [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/19 "2013-10-08T18:57:40Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> 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?
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!!
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### Author:  [@SerafinaPekala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SerafinaPekala)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-literature-for-a-17-y-o/670668/20 "2013-10-08T19:03:26Z")
I liked Jeff Shaara’s WW2 lit. The Steel Wave was riveting.
Excerpt:
> **[Excerpt from 'The Steel Wave: A Novel of World War II' - USATODAY.com](http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2008-05-04-the-steel-wave_N.htm)**
>
> The Steel Wave...
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