A War Without Reason

Kent Anderson’s Sympathy for the Devil shows the Vietnam War through the eyes of Hanson, a brutal Green Beret whose life becomes a cycle of violence against the Viet Cong, his fellow soldiers, and even civilians when he returns home. As Hanson’s moral compass spins out of control, Anderson brings home the madness of that conflict.

The novel included insights about combat that I had not seen in other novels. For example, the soldiers in Hanson's troop carried the weapons that their enemies used. That way, in a firefight, the enemy could not hone in on American fire. And when outnumbered, Hanson and his buddies would drop all their equipment except their weapons and run like hell. Better to be a live dog than a dead lion.

The structure of the book threw me. The story has four parts — first tour of duty, return home, training, and a second tour of duty — and the shifts were abrupt enough that I felt as if I were reading about four different versions of the character. Perhaps that was Anderson’s plan.

Anderson's book isn't the best Vietnam novel I've ever read, but its brutality lingers. The ending is shocking, and in a story full of shocks, that's saying something.

As a note, Anderson has written two other books with Hanson as a protagonist: Night Dogs and Green Sun. These are after-the-war experiences, so I'm curious as to how the character transitions into a post-Vietnam life.