San Antonio Express-News: Halpert's spell-binding novel of men in aerial combat will be compared to Twelve O'clock High, The War Lover, and Memphis Belle. It will not suffer from the comparison.
New York Times Book Review: What makes this book engrossing is its evocation of the fine line between a close call and a tragedy, not to mention the way guilt is detonated by war's deadly absurdity.
Publishers Weekly: Echoes of Memphis Belle and Catch-22. Gripping fiction.
Kirkus Reviews: Flying high above Platoon-movie cliches. Compelling suspense.
Miami Herald: Harrowing portrait of the pitilessness of war.
Robert Olen Butler (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) A Real Good War is gritty, funny and rich with authenticity. The long overdue debut of a very talented writer.
Susan Minot: Sam Halpert shines his light on war and gives us material glowing with stoic humor and crusty humanity. A wonderful, unique and human book.
Leonard Michaels If you want to know what WWII air war was like, the blood, fire, and hell for American boys, A Real Good War is the book to read
.INTERVIEW: with Sam
What do you mean by the title, A REAL GOOD WAR?
Following our disastrous participation in Viet Nam, World War II came to be known by contrast as The Good War. Of course there is no such thing as a good war. War is hell, as every man in combat knows too well. After returning from a particularly rough mission, one of the gunners on our crew muttered, "You know, you just can't beat a real good war." That attempt at gallows humor, his way of dealing with the horror of the situation, remained with me all these years. It is quoted in the book. You don't throw away material like that. Anyway that's where the title comes from.
What was so special about the 8th Air Force in World War II?
In 2 years of operations devoted to air bombing Germany, the 8th alone suffered more casualties (lost, killed, or the army euphemism, missing in action) than the combined Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines lost in 10 years in Viet Nam.
What did you do in the war, daddy?
Mostly, I tried to stay out of trouble, even though getting involved somehow as navigator on a B-17 crew flying 35 bombing missions against Germany. Clearly, any resemblance to the narrator in the novel is purely coincidental.
You've had your first novel published at the age of 76. How did that come about?
A: Probably the best way to answer that is to say although I've been an avid reader all my life, I hadn't written anything at all until I was 67, when I read in a literary journal that Raymond Carver was to appear at a writer's conference in Port Townsend, Washington. I hadn't a clue to the purpose or function of a writer's conference, but I knew I wanted to meet Carver, a writer whose work I admired to the point of idolatry. I applied for admission to the conference and received a packet of admission forms along with a request for a short story as a sample of my writing ability. As I had never written a short story before, I had no trouble knocking off a story in about five or six hours. Filling out the many pages of application forms took considerably longer. Nevertheless, I was accepted, and drove my Nissan pickup from my house in Miami to the conference. After seven days and six nights of truck stops and 7-Elevens, I made it to Port Townsend. When I actually did meet Ray Carver at the conference and told him that I had driven from Miami specifically to meet him, he shook his head like a dog shuddering off water and grabbed my arm saying, "From Miami, Jesus!". Later, when we met again, he told me I had the makings of a writer. Wow! I drove all the way back to Florida on the energy of that remark, and have been writing ever since. A stack of short stories, two books on Carver, a Pushcart Prize for a piece in the Paris Review, and now this highly acclaimed novel. Not too bad for an old man.
Do you write for any specific readership? Why has A REAL GOOD WAR been praised by such a wide diversity of famed writers as Susan Minot, Leonard Michaels, Robert Olen Butler among others?
A flip answer would be that there's no accounting for taste. No, I just write as best I can. Looks like we still have all kinds of people out there interested in WWII.
Who would you say is your favorite writer?
That's almost impossible to answer. It's like asking for my favorite actor, or singer, or ball-player. I have so many favorites, but if I'm forced to limit my choice to just one writer, I'm afraid I'd still choose Ray Carver. And that's not just because I wrote a couple of books about him. Maybe it's because he never wrote a novel.
Are you still in touch with any of your old war buddies?
Not as much as I'd like. I've kept up with our pilot and bombardier, exchanging phone calls and cards, and we've visited a half-dozen times since the war. I was shocked when the misguided citizens of San Jose chose our bombardier for superintendent of schools, but he turned out to be a fine choice. I was able to catch up with our radio operator when I went out west to give readings from my second book on Ray Carver. Our co-pilot, lives in Jupiter, Florida, I believe. I haven't a clue where the rest of the boys are. Maybe this book will shake them out of the trees. I hope so.
Your novel has been praised for its gutsy realism. How much of it is actually true?
Actually true? Hell, I'd have to say all of it, but keep in mind it is fiction -- and fiction is defined as work of imaginative narration in prose form. I'll stand by that.
