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Title: Third in trilogy no more hopeful than the first two
Review: Whistle completes the trilogy started in From Here to Eternity and The Thin Red Line. Four characters are carried over -- the 1st Sergent, the clerk, the mess sergent, and the misfit. Here, they return stateside on a hospital ship, each with their own wounds, and the novel follows their intertwined and separate destinies. It may be one of the best attempts to outline Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, but Jones never dips so low as to call it some buzz phrase like that.Recommended to those who have read either or both of the first two books. Maybe a tough slog for those without that background. Out of print for a long time, I read a copy in the library. This useful reissue is presumably being driven by the film of The Thin Red Line. I found that book and film moving. Whistle can be immensely *more* saddening in comparison, esp. the film, which is almost hopeful compared to Jones. -dB
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