Cover of Meditations in Green

Meditations in Green

Sardonic, searing, seductive and surreal, the award-winning Meditations in Greenis regarded by many as the best novel of the Vietnam War. It is a kaleidoscopic collage that whirls about an indelible array of images and characters: perverted Winky, who opted for the army to stay off of welfare; eccentric Payne, who's obsessed with the film he's making of the war; bucolic Claypool, who's irrevocably doomed to a fate worse than death. Just to mention a few.

Read more

And floating at the center of this psychedelic spin is Spec. 4 James Griffin. In country, Griffin studies the jungle of carpet bomb photos as he fights desperately to keep his grip on reality. And battling addiction stateside after his tour, he studies the green of household plants as he struggles mightily to get his sanity back. With mesmerizing action and Joycean interior monologues, Stephen Wright has created a book that is as much an homage to the darkness of war as it is a testament to the transcendence of art.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 352 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Meditations in Green? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Meditations in Green. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Sympathy for the Devil Shares Vietnam, war, vietnam war
  2. The Vietnam Reader: The Definitive Collection of Fiction and Nonfiction on the War Shares Vietnam, vietnam war, war
  3. 365 Days Shares Vietnam, war, vietnam war
  4. The 13th Valley Shares Vietnam, war, vietnam war

“People who read Meditations in Green tend to reach for these next.”

  1. One to Count Cadence
  2. The Vietnam Wars 1945-1990
  3. Paco's Story
  4. Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans

“If you want more of the same (war and military about addiction), start with these.”

  1. Sand in the wind
  2. The Five Fingers
  3. The Knife
  4. The SEAL's Little Virgin: A Naughty Single Father Novel

“If it was the Vietnam that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Cherries
  2. For the Sake of All Living Things
  3. The Phantom Blooper
  4. Vietnam Perkasie: A Combat Marine Memoir

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Advanced Elvis Course
  2. Vietnam Zippos: American Soldiers' Engravings and Stories (1965-1973)
  3. Collage: Contemporary Artists Hunt and Gather, Cut and Paste, Mash Up and Transform
  4. Lucky Hans and Other Merz Fairy Tales