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Alan's War: The Memories Of G.I. Alan Cope (2000)

by Emmanuel Guibert(Favorite Author)

4.03 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1596430966 (ISBN13: 9781596430969)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

First Second

review 1: Have you ever held a conversation with someone a generation or two older than yourself, as they weave a web of memories into words? That is what Emmanuel Guibert has accomplished with Alan Cope's recollections from his life. I felt like I was listening to my Granny when I was a young boy. The words flowed in a conversational manner, not in any convention of prose. Guibert's images complement the lyric tone of Cope's words to create a book that is both informational and compelling. I'm not sure how I will weave this book into my US History and Modern World History courses yet, but trust me that I will find a way.
review 2: A memoir of Alan Cope's experience as a soldier in WW II in Europe, illustrated by amazingly talented artist Emmanuel Guibert, who elevates a... morend honors a common man's simple, mostly joyful life. Likeable guy, unremarkable, not sensational in the least, with no accounts of great battles, only the every day away from the front, mostly positive experiences which led him to keep connected with the military after the war. If you like stories of Macbeth or Patton, skip this book, this is the story of an every day foot soldier, a nice guy who makes many life long friends through the experience. Sort of a non-historian's view of the war. I liked it a lot. There's one sort of sub-motif, unstated, though I see other reviewers also were curious: is Alan gay? He hints at it, but never reveals. Is this important? Nah, but it gets hinted at. Sex and soldiering is discussed, but Cope's sexual experiences (with the exception of a couple failed experiences and indication of a later failed marriage) are not discussed, though hinted at in a way that makes the reader curious, I think. One other issue that is interesting is why Cope decides to not live in America after the war; his family didn't send him off warmly, which hurt him, and he comes to prefer Europe as "deeper" than the US... He seems to make friends with people who are talented and who have friends who are famous people, but we don't see Cope as having a particular talent for anything! Yet I turn the pages, find him likeable and engaging, a historian of the every day. Guibert listens to Cope's story and draws what HE sees, and this impressionistic result, with plenty of space for reader imagination/construction, works for Cope--Cope likes it even if the places Guibert imagines are nothing like the ones in Cope's memory--and for me. Guibert has the same level of forgiveness for Cope's obvious little mistakes--who cares? Leave it as he said, it's not important, etc., what's important is his storytelling....Guibert is a French non-fiction graphic biographer, journalist (The Journalist is his much acclaimed work but I liked this better for its intimacy and charm and for the friendship it gives evidence to) of pretty amazing talent. I liked this much more than I thought I would. I have just read Onward Toward our Noble Death, a Japanese soldier anti-war memoir by Mizuki, and taken together, both help you reflect on the experience of the every day soldier (an experience my Dad, both brothers and I avoided, thank goodness)...I also just finished A Chinese Life by Li and it is also a compelling story of an unremarkable guy, also documenting a life that covers those (but for Li, non-soldier) years, also just a regular guy, and all three memoirs show us the buffonery (and in Mizuki's case the tragedy) of bureaucracy, of thinking like a state. All three people come off as more interesting than any "superior" officer, for sure. And the art is terrific. less

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