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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 5 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Great Read! Apr 22, 2009
By William Ogden
Panama is a terrific book. It is listed as a work of fiction...but my guess is that author John Segelbaum may have had more than a little experience with adventure and exotic ladies in exotic locations.
On top of it all he almost totals a cool Corvette during the first few pages...that got my attention real quick. And it gets better from there!
Fun to read, full of intrigue, with twists and turns that keep the reader turning the pages. Also...some amusing moments that add to the enjoyment of the book.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Graham Greene meets M*A*S*H Feb 23, 2008
By B. Bright
"Bookgirl"
Whether you remember the Sixties or your parents have just told you about them, this book will capture for you what it was really like. It's not the funky nostalgia you see today of flowered vans (although it has one) but the gritty reality of what it was like when the draft or the threat of the draft made death seem that much closer.
The author's words are fresh and exciting. He describes the chaos that seems to follow his main character wherever he goes. If Holden Caulfield had joined the Navy in 1969 this would be his story. The book is taut and suspenseful and totally unpredictable. It combines elements of Graham Greene's "Quiet American" with "Our Man in Havana". It captures the insanities of the Miliary life that are alternately hysterically funny and infinitely tragic. It has elements of "Catch-22" and yet it is totally original.
You come to really care what happens to these people. They are real, and that is what makes it such a compelling story. Reading it is as vivid as a trip to Panama or a trip to the past.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Not since the Kite Runner have I relished a book this much! Feb 16, 2008
By Kathy Dardeck
I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! It is a real page turner. I couldn't, and didn't put it down...except when I had to explain to those around me why I was laughing so hard.
The reader gets a real sense of how honorable and crazymaking an experience the navy was for the author. The politics of the time intertwined with the author's social and naval life makes for a terrific read. Segelbaum's sense of the absurd and his fine tuned perceptions of people and cultures are dead on. I laughed, I cried...and the book stayed with me long after I finished reading it - the mark of a truly great story.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Panama is intoxicating Feb 14, 2008
By Judy Bruce
"Spellbound"
What an intoxicating journey! Panama is layered with political intrigue and cultural clashes. It's populated with colorful characters, romance and adventure. It made me laugh and it made me cry. The author took me on a mezmerizing journey to a land to which I've never been and from which I have not yet returned. Panama is both spellbinding and haunting. It's a a book you just can't put down until you've finished it.
Excellent Book Aug 02, 2011
By Jennifer Rubinstein
I recommend this book highly! It works on so many different levels. The protagonist, Shetler, is a guy you root for, from the get-go. He doesn't fit in with easy stereotypes of young men of the Vietnam era. An NROTC commissioned officer, he's far from jingoistic about U.S. foreign military ventures -- but, he honors his commitment to the U.S. Navy. He's not the hedonistic male hippie of so many novels and films. But he sure knows how to have a good time, while taking care of business! The author does a great job of creating an antihero who can be bad, but whom you never lose respect for. And, anyone who's been in a military or government bureaucracy, will relate, as Shetler flirts with insubordination raps, and worse! The plot is fast-paced and credible, and the evocation of an exotic and sleazy locale, amazing. My only quibble, and it's a small one, is that Shetler's romantic interest, Maria, seems pretty energetic for a heroin addict. I certainly look forward to more, from this fine writer!
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