Brutal, ugly, and sickening in so few words. 

Repetitive in a way I’m sure is meant to reflect the narrator’s deteriorating mindset but it does become a bit tedious to read, nonetheless. He’s desperately clinging to reality and often trying to convince himself he did the right thing or that he’s even a person at all.

When it’s not repetitive, there are some stunning quotes. It also criticizes the hypocrisy of war, “You will content yourself with killing them, not mutilating them. The civilities of war forbid it.” The “civilities of war” an oxymoron. Certain disturbingly violent acts are lauded but others are condemned. Who determines this? And who sends young boys and men to fight a war for a country that’s not even theirs? A country that villainizes these men and sees them as “savages,” only to turn to this “savagery” to save themselves. An unflinching portrayal of the truly disgusting, predatory, and exploitative practices of war.