It's easy to appreciate this novel for the anthropological level of detail. The author fought in the war and started writing it in the early 70s, soon after he returned home. It has legitimate chops. It consciously tries to show things as they were and not as they have been portrayed. Something like a hundred pages comprise the first day alone though you don't realize it's only been one day. There is so much incident, time is compressed. Then you realize.. this is going to be a long tour. No wonder they constantly spoke of how many days were left. And this was before the fighting started. Great book. ( )

the 13th valley is one of my husband's most favourite books, so i read it at his request several years ago. it is an amazing book and del vecchio did a fantastic job creating a work that feels so authentic and heartbreaking. given his personal experiences, it is not surprising he was able to achieve this in the 13th valley. he knows of what he writes.

if you are interested in books about the vietnam war, i highly recommend this one. it's a much better book than the more popular [b:Matterhorn|6411016|Matterhorn|Karl Marlantes|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327972545s/6411016.jpg|6599953] by [a:Karl Marlantes|2904306|Karl Marlantes|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1286209558p2/2904306.jpg]. ( )

Del Vecchio's novel the 13th valley was based on real events that the author witnessed as a war correspondet. It follows a platoon of the 101st airborne into a remote region of what was then South Vietnam--it's mission along with the other platoons in the same operation is to find and destroy a division of North Vietnamese regulars who are based and operate from there. The platoon is led by one Lieutenant Rufus Brooks--a black man who has just recieved papers from his wife asking for a divorce--but it's heart and soul reside in one Sergeant Egan--an enigmatic and complicated man who on one hand distributes drugs to his platoon but on the other is the first to walk point--the first to go down into tunnels. One of the things I found especially good in this novel is how Del Vecchio not only breaks down the mission--but breaks down this small unit. Some 570 pages are spent on two weeks worth of humping and tracking but it's not boring even if his boonierats might oftentimes disagree. Del Vecchio also breaks his unit down into squads--giving us names and the particular roles they play within their squads so that one comes to realize just how important each and every member of it is. Beyond all that how they act and behave towards each other. How some like Egan might act recklessly but with calculation whereas others out of fear let everyone within their squad or platoon down.

This is much more than just about the Vietnam war though. The letters from home--girlfriends missed--their philosophical discussions amongst themselves about the war--about racism often at the urging of Lt. Brooks trying to deal with his wifes rejection--the discussion about the Vietnamese themselves and their history often portrayed through the eyes of their scout Le Huu Minh--somewhat of an anarchist. Much of this is seen through the eyes of Chelini--aka as Cherry--the newest arrival to the platoon. We follow him from the beginning as Egan molds him from a raw almost gormless newcomer into a particularly ferocious and reckless warrior. A lot can be said for this novel. The characterization is excellent. It addresses a whole litany of issues that revolved around the war but also what was happening stateside at the time.

In the end the platoon finds the enemy headquarters--a series of underground tunnels. In the ensuing battle many of them die and many others are maimed. Del Vecchio keeps a tight control over the action--and does not descend into sentimentalism. In this he does his platoon justice and gives us a very fine book. ( )

3853. The 13th Valley A Novel, by John M. Del Vecchio (read 2 Feb 2004) This 1982 book relates with overpowering verisimilitude a battle actually fought in Vietnam in August 1970, though all the characters and the outfit are fictional. The combat description is very intense, and the account of the really rough time the troops went thru does not make for what one can call enjoyable reading. An Internet page called Vietnam Memoirs Book Shelf calls this book "perhaps the best novel to come out of the Vietnam War." I cannot say that is wrong; my candidate for the best book on the Vietnam war is not a novel: We Were Soldiers Once . . . And Young Ia Drang: The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam, by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, USA (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway--which won my "Best Book Read This Year Award" in 1999. I know of no better Vietnam novel than this one, and if you do I hope you will let me know. ( )

Best Vietnam book along with Michael Herr's Dispatches. My war top four rounded out with The Face of Battle by John Keegan and Thomas Kenneally's Confederates,
The 13th Valley gives me a vivid picture of what I might have experienced or might now regret having experienced had the Reds not successfully mounted propaganda campaign making the war "uncool" for a boy graduating in 1968 to opt into. ( )