Official Review: Under Another Sun

Teele · Post by **Teele** » 07 Dec 2020, 11:18

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Under Another Sun" by David S. Lewis & Dana C. Welch.]

4 out of 4 stars

Share This Review

War is an experience that no one would wish to live through twice. Human lives hang on a thin thread. Death can be brutal and unexpected. Women, children, young, and old alike become casualties and mere statistics. This was the reality in the 1900s, when the Vietnam War was raging. At the end of this battle, over 4 million lives were lost or wounded. Under Another Sun by David A. Lewis and Dana C. Welsh allows us to peer into the Vietnam War through the eyes of a combat reporter.

In the story, Tom Grey is an American combat correspondent. He was assigned to participate in a population control exercise, which was designed to weed out the Viet Cong from the Rose garden population of pro-government citizens in the villages near a Delta coast. It was supposed to be an exercise lasting only a few weeks—a piece of cake. However, over half of his group died, and he narrowly escaped. That was supposed to be his last assignment, but somehow, he received another and soon found himself in the Dong Ap Bia operation, possibly the largest air assault in the Vietnam War. This assignment turned out to be the most depressing, laborious, gore-filled weeks of his profession.

This book is a work of fiction written by a Vietnam Veteran, David Lewis, and co-author, Dana Welch. It reflects the attitudes of many Vietnam War veterans in response to the way they were treated by the American government. It took about 45 years for this book to be completed.

David and Dana have done a great job of describing scenes and capturing emotions. Time and again, I felt my heart pounding as though I was in the scene being described. Little details such as a stray tear, quivering fingers, and even momentary urinary incontinence were penned down. The development of the characters was properly done. Tom Grey's personality as a tenacious, bold, and emotional person was quite consistent. Briggs' personality was believable as well. This book makes it clear that no one really wins a war. Both parties involved in the war will incur losses in various forms, and when the war is over, the memories will keep haunting the Veterans.

I would rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It was professionally edited. I would recommend this book to those who are interested in the details of the Vietnam War and to others who are familiar with the technical terms used in the military.

However, this book is not for sensitive readers. It contains profanities, expletives, and a mild description of gore. Also, the narrative contains some undesirable activities such as the patronage of prostitutes. Therefore, impressionable readers would be better off without this book. Asides from these, this book is an excellent work of history.

******
Under Another Sun
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Tablito · Post by **Tablito** » 18 Dec 2020, 04:16

The text sounds perfect, the minor details are also on point. I guess this is the case because it has taken David and Dana around 45 years to come up with Under Another Sun.

Fozia RYK · Post by **Fozia RYK** » 20 Dec 2020, 06:50

You have Selected the book for review related to a different choice. you are selection represents that you have selected a different topic for review

Sou Hi · Post by **Sou Hi** » 20 Dec 2020, 21:19

Thanks for your interesting review. The Vietnam War has always been a nightmare for those who were involved. Even though the Vietnamese no longer resent the Americans for what they have done, it looks like there are American veterans who are still haunted by their pasts. Hopefully, this book will be able to show the world the true nature of that war and relieve the guys from their sufferings.