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Shrapnel
Szrapnel to osobista opowieść o wojnie widzianej oczami osiemnastoletniego żołnierza. Druga wojna światowa dla Williama Whartona jest pasmem udręk, w którym nie ma miejsca na bohaterstwo. Szrapnel to swojego rodzaju spowiedź autora, zbiór opowieści, którymi nigdy nie dzielił się nawet z najbliższymi. Opowieści śmiesznych, choć i tragicznych, zmuszających do zastanowienia się nad absurdalnością wojny. Wharton jak zwykle pisze ciepło, po ludzku, przemawiając prosto do serc czytelników.
[wyd.Salamandra, 1996]
[wyd.Salamandra, 1996]
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
7 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
William Wharton
39 books262 followersWilliam Wharton (7 November 1925 - 29 October 2008), the pen name of the author Albert William Du Aime (pronounced as doo-EM), was an American-born author best known for his first novel Birdy, which was also successful as a film.
Wharton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Upper Darby High School in 1943, and was inducted into the school's Wall of Fame in 1997. He volunteered to serve in the United States Army during World War II, and was assigned to serve in a unit to be trained as engineers. He ended up being assigned to serve in the infantry and was severely wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. After his discharge, he attended the University of California, Los Angeles and received a undergraduate degree in art and a doctorate in psychology, later teaching art in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
His first novel Birdy was published in 1978 when he was more than 50 years old. Birdy was a critical and popular success, and Alan Parker directed a film version starring Nicolas Cage and Matthew Modine. After the publication of Birdy and through the early 1990s, Du Aime published eight novels, including Dad and A Midnight Clear, both of which were also filmed, the former starring Jack Lemmon.
Many of the protagonists of Wharton's novels, despite having different names and backgrounds, have similar experiences, attitudes, and traits that lead one to presume that they are partly autobiographical[citation needed]. There is precious little certifiable biography available about Wharton / Du Aime. He served in France and Germany in World War II in the 87th Infantry Division, was a painter, spent part of his adult life living on a houseboat as an artist in France, raised several children (not all of whom appreciated his philosophy of child-rearing), is a reasonably skilled carpenter and handyman, and has suffered from profound gastrointestinal problems.
In 1988, Wharton's daughter, Kate; his son-in-law, Bert; and their two children, two-year-old Dayiel and eight-month-old Mia, were killed in a horrific 23-car motor vehicle accident near Albany, Oregon, that was caused by the smoke generated by grass-burning on nearby farmland. In 1995, Wharton wrote a (mostly) non-fiction book, Ever After: A Father's True Story, in which he recounts the incidents leading up to the accident, his family's subsequent grief, and the three years he devoted to pursuing redress in the Oregon court system for the field-burning that caused the accident. Houseboat on Seine, a memoir, was published in 1996, about Wharton's purchase and renovation of a houseboat.
It is worth to be noted that he gained an enormous and very hard to be explained popularity in Poland, which was followed by many editions as well as meetings and, eventually, some works prepared and edited only in Polish.
Wharton died on October 29, 2008 of an infection he contracted while being hospitalized for blood-pressure problems.
Wharton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Upper Darby High School in 1943, and was inducted into the school's Wall of Fame in 1997. He volunteered to serve in the United States Army during World War II, and was assigned to serve in a unit to be trained as engineers. He ended up being assigned to serve in the infantry and was severely wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. After his discharge, he attended the University of California, Los Angeles and received a undergraduate degree in art and a doctorate in psychology, later teaching art in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
His first novel Birdy was published in 1978 when he was more than 50 years old. Birdy was a critical and popular success, and Alan Parker directed a film version starring Nicolas Cage and Matthew Modine. After the publication of Birdy and through the early 1990s, Du Aime published eight novels, including Dad and A Midnight Clear, both of which were also filmed, the former starring Jack Lemmon.
Many of the protagonists of Wharton's novels, despite having different names and backgrounds, have similar experiences, attitudes, and traits that lead one to presume that they are partly autobiographical[citation needed]. There is precious little certifiable biography available about Wharton / Du Aime. He served in France and Germany in World War II in the 87th Infantry Division, was a painter, spent part of his adult life living on a houseboat as an artist in France, raised several children (not all of whom appreciated his philosophy of child-rearing), is a reasonably skilled carpenter and handyman, and has suffered from profound gastrointestinal problems.
In 1988, Wharton's daughter, Kate; his son-in-law, Bert; and their two children, two-year-old Dayiel and eight-month-old Mia, were killed in a horrific 23-car motor vehicle accident near Albany, Oregon, that was caused by the smoke generated by grass-burning on nearby farmland. In 1995, Wharton wrote a (mostly) non-fiction book, Ever After: A Father's True Story, in which he recounts the incidents leading up to the accident, his family's subsequent grief, and the three years he devoted to pursuing redress in the Oregon court system for the field-burning that caused the accident. Houseboat on Seine, a memoir, was published in 1996, about Wharton's purchase and renovation of a houseboat.
It is worth to be noted that he gained an enormous and very hard to be explained popularity in Poland, which was followed by many editions as well as meetings and, eventually, some works prepared and edited only in Polish.
Wharton died on October 29, 2008 of an infection he contracted while being hospitalized for blood-pressure problems.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
June 23, 2021
Horsepenis ezredes egy langyos reggelen kilépett sátrából, nagyot nyújtózott, megropogtatta tagjait, és így szólt:
- Ó, mily csodás a hajnal! A lövegállások felől puskaporszagot hoz a szél, a távolban égő favak derengenek... öldökölni támadt kedvem! Őrmester, hozzám!
- Parancs, ezredes úr!
- Pompás ötletem támadt. Tíz percen belül sorakozó az egész szakasznak! Indokolatlan súlyú menetfelszereléssel nekivágnak annak a meredek lejtőnek ott, megrohamozzák a megerősített német bunkereket, majd közelharcban elfoglalják. Légi- és tüzérségi támogatás nincs, csak hős katonáink személyes virtusa. A haza büszke lesz Önökre! Én meg innen a biztos távolból fogom távcsővel követni az eseményeket. Kérdés van?
- Csak egy, uram. Miért nem húzol inkább a picsába?
(Egy kis Capa.)
Általában az a szabály, hogy ha jól akarsz megírni egy témát, akkor szeretned kell. Kivéve, ha a háborúról van szó. Ott elég, ha megveszekedetten gyűlölöd. Wharton azzal a céllal írja meg személyes emlékeit, hogy a gyerekei, ha elolvassák, utána még egy vízipisztolyt se tudjanak a kezükbe venni. Erős, gördülékeny szöveg, amit áthat az őszinte vágy, hogy írója bár ott se lett volna. Amivel kapcsolatban érzéseim különben ambivalensek. Egyrészt baromira drukkoltam Whartonnak, hogy képes legyen kivonni magát ebből a groteszk pokolból, másfelől viszont örülök, hogy úgy általában az amerikaiak nem vonták ki magukat belőle, mert különben fene tudja, Hitler mit csinált volna Európából. Na ja, bonyolult dolgok ezek.
- Ó, mily csodás a hajnal! A lövegállások felől puskaporszagot hoz a szél, a távolban égő favak derengenek... öldökölni támadt kedvem! Őrmester, hozzám!
- Parancs, ezredes úr!
- Pompás ötletem támadt. Tíz percen belül sorakozó az egész szakasznak! Indokolatlan súlyú menetfelszereléssel nekivágnak annak a meredek lejtőnek ott, megrohamozzák a megerősített német bunkereket, majd közelharcban elfoglalják. Légi- és tüzérségi támogatás nincs, csak hős katonáink személyes virtusa. A haza büszke lesz Önökre! Én meg innen a biztos távolból fogom távcsővel követni az eseményeket. Kérdés van?
- Csak egy, uram. Miért nem húzol inkább a picsába?
(Egy kis Capa.)
Általában az a szabály, hogy ha jól akarsz megírni egy témát, akkor szeretned kell. Kivéve, ha a háborúról van szó. Ott elég, ha megveszekedetten gyűlölöd. Wharton azzal a céllal írja meg személyes emlékeit, hogy a gyerekei, ha elolvassák, utána még egy vízipisztolyt se tudjanak a kezükbe venni. Erős, gördülékeny szöveg, amit áthat az őszinte vágy, hogy írója bár ott se lett volna. Amivel kapcsolatban érzéseim különben ambivalensek. Egyrészt baromira drukkoltam Whartonnak, hogy képes legyen kivonni magát ebből a groteszk pokolból, másfelől viszont örülök, hogy úgy általában az amerikaiak nem vonták ki magukat belőle, mert különben fene tudja, Hitler mit csinált volna Európából. Na ja, bonyolult dolgok ezek.
July 2, 2018
Inside this small book can be found many extremely good reasons why war is an abomination. Wharton is scarcely alone in his lack of joy in being in the army but few people come right out and say it while also being clear about why.Leaving it until the end of his life to write this book and especially the final chapters, shows the deeply disturbing nature of what ordinary people are asked to do. Few seem able to talk in their lifetimes about what they have truly done although I can think of some exceptions. "Shrapnel" reminds me of a NZ book I read a couple of years ago which also amounts to an end-of-life confession to his grandchildren of one man's experiences at Monte Cassino. Just reading it was terrifying.
November 15, 2012
The ending of this book had me in awe. The story, the reflection--all of it. However, if you get to the end of this book, you'll realize the last chapter is in a completely different voice from the rest--it's as though someone else wrote it.
The rest of the book, while I appreciate hearing Wharton's war story, didn't come out right. It was rarely engaging, and, quite like a soldier, had a militant voice to it.
The reason I kept reading the book was out of respect for the author's personal history. I almost felt obligated to finish the book; I lost interest, and I felt guilty for not finding myself absorbed. I only wish the entire book had the same charm as the last chapter.
The rest of the book, while I appreciate hearing Wharton's war story, didn't come out right. It was rarely engaging, and, quite like a soldier, had a militant voice to it.
The reason I kept reading the book was out of respect for the author's personal history. I almost felt obligated to finish the book; I lost interest, and I felt guilty for not finding myself absorbed. I only wish the entire book had the same charm as the last chapter.
March 6, 2025
Wharton about war, about its cruelty, grotesqueness and senselessness....
January 5, 2013
This is not the type of book I normally read yet the author's engaging and candid tyle of writing had me hooked from the start. This is not a typical soldier's memoir full of tales of bravery and glory. It's title "shrapnel" refers to the snippets and anecdotes of war that have hit home and made an impact on the author's future life plans, values and state of mind. It's well written and thought provoking but it is also a personal account of a period in history which isn't always as the history books might want us to believe. Highly recommended.
February 17, 2024
I like how Wharton begins his memoir, which he wrote when he was like 70 and introduces as "stories I did not want to tell my children," talking more about the personalities he came across in the army more so than himself. He doesn't even name the Infantry division he ended up serving in. Instead he tells us a series of often humorous stories about Birnbaum, the Gomer Pyle of his unit, and another guy, Ivy League educated, who peed on his bed every night in order to convince his sergeants and the doctors that he had a condition that disqualified him from service, and it worked.
You could say Wharton's "Shrapnel" is the anti-Band of Brothers. There's no heroic soundtrack here, no tidy wrap-up at the end. There's the D-Day invasion and the march through France and meeting up with Mongolian Russians in what became East Germany, but there is also a constant drum of absurdity, of pointless violence, from Wharton's point of view, of being plain scared and just sick of it and wanting nothing more than for the war to be over, or at least his part in it over. War crimes happen. He is witness to them, doesn't stop some of them from happening even when he could, offers little in the way of excuses; he's mostly interested in just staying alive and arguing with his officers and non-coms when they try to send him out on patrols his leadership never takes part in. As he says at one point, the only courageous people in war are the conscientious objectors. He's court martialed multiple times, none the least for trying to do the right thing and bring to light the massacre of German prisoners the men in his own squad committed (those other squad members were sentenced to Leavenworth, due to Wharton's testimony, but not without the ringleader promising to "find" Wharton after he got out of prison).
The book's title comes from the multiple bits of shrapnel he received from incoming (three Purple Hearts) and from the multiple moral wounds it took him decades to tell the story of, long after his children were grown.
You could say Wharton's "Shrapnel" is the anti-Band of Brothers. There's no heroic soundtrack here, no tidy wrap-up at the end. There's the D-Day invasion and the march through France and meeting up with Mongolian Russians in what became East Germany, but there is also a constant drum of absurdity, of pointless violence, from Wharton's point of view, of being plain scared and just sick of it and wanting nothing more than for the war to be over, or at least his part in it over. War crimes happen. He is witness to them, doesn't stop some of them from happening even when he could, offers little in the way of excuses; he's mostly interested in just staying alive and arguing with his officers and non-coms when they try to send him out on patrols his leadership never takes part in. As he says at one point, the only courageous people in war are the conscientious objectors. He's court martialed multiple times, none the least for trying to do the right thing and bring to light the massacre of German prisoners the men in his own squad committed (those other squad members were sentenced to Leavenworth, due to Wharton's testimony, but not without the ringleader promising to "find" Wharton after he got out of prison).
The book's title comes from the multiple bits of shrapnel he received from incoming (three Purple Hearts) and from the multiple moral wounds it took him decades to tell the story of, long after his children were grown.
February 14, 2022
I don't do book reviews
I don't do book reviews like you keep seeing, as I find that some give too much of the plot away and I personally hate that, as it makes the book not worth reading. I much prefer to take the authors back cover write up as a review as it can either intrigue you enough to read the book of provide you enough information to make you decide that the book is not for you.
My review rules are: The more stars, the more I liked it.
If there are too many typos or errors the less stars I give
If the storyline or plot is poor or contains too many errors, the characters are too weak, the ending lacking something, then the less stars I give.
Simple, uncomplicated and to the point without giving anything away.
Some of the books I read have been given to me by the author as a pre-release copy and this does not bias my reviews in any way
I don't do book reviews like you keep seeing, as I find that some give too much of the plot away and I personally hate that, as it makes the book not worth reading. I much prefer to take the authors back cover write up as a review as it can either intrigue you enough to read the book of provide you enough information to make you decide that the book is not for you.
My review rules are: The more stars, the more I liked it.
If there are too many typos or errors the less stars I give
If the storyline or plot is poor or contains too many errors, the characters are too weak, the ending lacking something, then the less stars I give.
Simple, uncomplicated and to the point without giving anything away.
Some of the books I read have been given to me by the author as a pre-release copy and this does not bias my reviews in any way
August 20, 2019
Interesting to read Wharton's non-fiction account of his experiences in World War II, especially having just read his award-winning novel Birdy. A different perspective on "The Good War" from the POV of a soldier on the frontlines who sees the war as an exercise in brutality and institutional (the army) dysfunction just like other wars.
December 22, 2024
At 19 Wharton arrived in Britain just in time for the D-day invasion of France. This is an ordinary grunt’s story of being scared, dealing with army stupidity, some extraordinary adventures and a strange, mundane, everyday bravery that gets him through till the end of the war. Searingly honest it reveals the utter futility of war from the ground up.
January 1, 2025
You can read about some of the events that became part of A Midnight Clear. This is probably the most realistic description of army life during WWII, and likely unfilmable. His frank assertion, that there was no justification, is startling, and unique. Maybe he never saw "Why We Fight" by Capra, or whoever.
November 3, 2019
You need to read is other, excellent, books and this adds so much to it.
March 17, 2023
Cudownie opisana historia. Podziwiam Williama za odwagę do przyznania się do tych wszystkich czynów, które popełnił. Polecam każdemu kto chciałby przeczytać prawdziwa, nieprzekoloryzowana historie.
May 28, 2023
Sensational. Deeply moving, poignant and shocking, one of the best WW2 memories I've ever read.
November 1, 2014
Some of the excerpts from the book:
"The conditioning of soldiers, so they will respond to command without question, was an abomination to me. Also, the rigid hierarchy on vested authority was an insult to my personal sense of identity, of value. I fought the military mentality with my meagre resources but to no avail. In the end they prevailed. They taught me to kill. They trained me to abandon my natural desire to live, survive, and to risk my life for reasons I often did not understand and sometimes did not accept" (4-5).
"I can see how what we call the Holocaust happened. It's a weakness in human beings, all human beings, that we must guard against. The herd instinct is strong in most people and they will follow a leader, in almost any insane programme, no matter how inhuman, just because he's the leader and other people are doing it. People who would never think of doing things like burning, gassing people, on their own, find themselves doing what they are told, no matter how cruel, vicious, murderous it might be. And, it's just because the rest of the people are doing it" (193).
"I want to put that part of my life behind me. The brutality of it all is sickening. How low human beings can come when you take the leash off them. I still have something of this feeling in me. I don't have much confidence in my fellow human beings even sixty years later.
I know how easy it would be to trick the young and everyone else into going off and fighting another stupid, meaningless war. I know how humans will turn on each other, the way cats and dogs will, in the right situation. I know from myself what one can do in the name of greed, in the name of power. These convictions lodge in my soul and have been difficult to shake. They change me" (252-53).
Now, having cited a few of the most "dark night of the soul" passages from the memoir, I should add that Wharton does add some very surreal, very entertaining, very funny, very moving vignettes about his experience in the Second World War. This is a tight little read, almost as if he wanted to rip those bandages off as quickly as possible, and I rather wish he had found enough peace and quiet in his imagination to set the stories down with more narrative clarity. Even so, it's quite the experience.
"The conditioning of soldiers, so they will respond to command without question, was an abomination to me. Also, the rigid hierarchy on vested authority was an insult to my personal sense of identity, of value. I fought the military mentality with my meagre resources but to no avail. In the end they prevailed. They taught me to kill. They trained me to abandon my natural desire to live, survive, and to risk my life for reasons I often did not understand and sometimes did not accept" (4-5).
"I can see how what we call the Holocaust happened. It's a weakness in human beings, all human beings, that we must guard against. The herd instinct is strong in most people and they will follow a leader, in almost any insane programme, no matter how inhuman, just because he's the leader and other people are doing it. People who would never think of doing things like burning, gassing people, on their own, find themselves doing what they are told, no matter how cruel, vicious, murderous it might be. And, it's just because the rest of the people are doing it" (193).
"I want to put that part of my life behind me. The brutality of it all is sickening. How low human beings can come when you take the leash off them. I still have something of this feeling in me. I don't have much confidence in my fellow human beings even sixty years later.
I know how easy it would be to trick the young and everyone else into going off and fighting another stupid, meaningless war. I know how humans will turn on each other, the way cats and dogs will, in the right situation. I know from myself what one can do in the name of greed, in the name of power. These convictions lodge in my soul and have been difficult to shake. They change me" (252-53).
Now, having cited a few of the most "dark night of the soul" passages from the memoir, I should add that Wharton does add some very surreal, very entertaining, very funny, very moving vignettes about his experience in the Second World War. This is a tight little read, almost as if he wanted to rip those bandages off as quickly as possible, and I rather wish he had found enough peace and quiet in his imagination to set the stories down with more narrative clarity. Even so, it's quite the experience.
November 15, 2016
This book is a riveting account of the Second World War. The prose is crisp and precise, yet incredibly powerful. It is also interesting in its indictment of the US military and their conduct during the Second World War. It lifts the curtain on some of the US operations in Europe and how even the glorious liberators still sometimes have their flaws. It is a fascinating collection of stories from a man who played an important front-line role in the war and you can almost hear the echo of millions of other soldiers in all his stories. I think this book is most similar to All Quiet On The Western Front and the two paint an accurate picture of life on the battlefield for a front-line soldier during the great wars. Interestingly I read this just before I read Slaughterhouse 5 and that had a strange effect. It made Slaughterhouse 5 seem glib and a bit unfeeling in comparison. Obviously they are completely different books, one non-fiction and the other experimental fiction but I just couldn't help feeling that Wharton's way of addressing the war was more poignant.
November 7, 2016
Shrapnel is a collection of short episodes from William Wharton's time in the European Theater of the Second World War. Like most books about the personal experience of war that have any ring of truth about them, Shrapnel portrays war in a most unHollywood-like dim light. At the same time, any conflict is also populated by many ordinary people showing, what for them, is a previously unimaginable degree of courage. The backstory of this book being a belated attempt to fill gaps in the sharing crucial events of his life that shaped his beliefs and his behavior as a parent just makes the book all the more interesting.
March 12, 2016
This very personal memoir is not full of the typical heroics of a soldier at war. He is honest about the fears he felt; his efforts to avoid combat; and the horrors of war he experienced. William Wharton is a gifted writer and I highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in the history of WWII.
May 28, 2015
This is nice collection of World War 2 non-fiction stories from the author's life that are a good complement to his semi-autobiographical novels. I found the novels as great reading and this book as just good.
September 4, 2015
Gentle, humorous, engaging delivery is a credit to William Wharton's recollection of his personal war stories because some of it can't have been easy to remember or convey, added to the effect he was quietly sharing his reminiscences just with me.
May 4, 2013
I really like the author' style, humour and storytelling.
May 8, 2013
stories the author did not want to but had to share. the horrors and stupidities of war
August 3, 2013
Belies the concept of "the greatest generation". A truly disturbing book..
Wharton has a following in Poland..
Wharton has a following in Poland..
January 5, 2015
A very well-written memoir taking place during WWII.
November 26, 2017
Typical Wharton story about how meaningless the WWII is. Well-written, but doesn't contain so much emotions as "The Midnight Clear" - and still a good, sad story, though.
June 6, 2019
Great.
A little different in that it's a memoir of particular events rather than a straightforward history.
A very personal account of one man's experience in WW2.
A little different in that it's a memoir of particular events rather than a straightforward history.
A very personal account of one man's experience in WW2.
August 4, 2013
Insightful because of the honesty, but not quite gripping because of the muted dramatics.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews