[.ca] The Caine Mutiny (ISBN 0385040539)

More Than A War Story:
Good literature can transport the reader into the world of the book. Great literature enters the world of the reader. "The Caine Mutiny" is great literature. Many have seen the movie so I can say a little about the story. Set on an obsolete destroyer-minesweeper during World War II, "The Caine Mutiny", seen through the eyes of a young officer, Willie Keith, tells the story of an inadequate captain whose mismanagement leads to his relief from command when a crisis confronts the ship. With romance and a domineering mother, the book intertwines several stories which hold the reader's interest. Perhaps a Navy veteran would see much about the service in "The Caine Mutiny", I do not know. Although it is set on a naval vessel in wartime, it is much more than a war story, although that it is. I saw much about life in it. It contains instances and characters which I encounter in a life about as far from the Caine as one can imagine. This ability of this book to enter into the world of the reader, even as the reader enters the world of the book, earns "The Caine Mutiny" a place in the canon of great literature. I enjoy reading, but I cannot remember a book which I was so loath to set down. This book is a real page turner. Years ago my father told me to watch the movie, which I did. I finally took his advise the next step and read the book. Since I cannot return the favor, I will pass it on. READ "THE CAINE MUTINY"!

I appreciate it even more on my third read:
This is perhaps the third time I have read The Caine Mutiny and now with a little age under my belt, I appreciate it even more. Of course, the story is about a mutiny aboard the vintage destroyer minesweeper The Caine, during the Second World War. Most everyone is familar with Humphrey Bogarts outstanding rendition of Captain Queeg in the 1954 movie version of the book. Although other reviews have focused on the plot and character development (both which I think are excellent), I would like to address two themes which Wouk weaves throughout the book- the use, or should I say misuse, of psychology, and the issue of leadership. The mutiny, the defense and the acquittal of the Executive Office Mayrk, all revolved around psychological theories of mental illness. The officers, especially Keefer, see Queegs erratic behavior as symptomatic of psychological illness. As their dissatisfaction of the Queegs leadership grows, the more they theorize about his mental stability. Of course, as we see at the end of the book, Queeg did not suffer as much from a psychological problem, as he did from character deficiencies. Greenwald, the attorney for the defense, is able to turn the words of the Freudian psychologist (an expert witness for the prosecution) back upon him, so the psychologist admits that Queeg must have been mentally ill at the time of the mutiny. I find it ironic that using that logic, most readers of this review would be found mentally incompetent as well. What makes this novel successful (aside from good writing) is that Wouk taps into Americas love affair with psychology as the explanation for human behavior. The building of character takes second place to the building of ones self-esteem and mental health. It is a formula for disaster for our society today, as it was for the officers and crew of the Caine. This brings us to the second issue- leadership. It is particularly ironic that Keefer, the real instigator of the mutiny, the junior officer who most lack character, fails when he finally becomes captain of the Caine- he buckles under pressure and prematurely abandons ship after it is attacked leaving our hero, Willie Keith, in charge. As a result of his heroism, Willie becomes the Caines last captain. It is only under the weight of leadership that both Keefer and Keith begin to realize how difficult leadership is and the stress that Queeg was under. They discover that it is easier to complain than to lead, to foment dissension than to encourage, and to second-guess than to take responsibility. Any complaints? Yes one. The portrayal of the black seamen who served as orderlies reflects that time long past. Was there not one back sailor on board who spoke and acted like a man? Of course there was, but too bad Wouk restored to racist stereotypes in his portrayal of these sailors.

No Mutiny: Little Action But Lots of Words:
When THE CAINE MUTINY was first published in 1952, it became an instant hit since the memories of the Second World War were still quite fresh in the collective minds of the adult American public. Further, the intense psychological give and take which forms the bulk of the last one third of the novel reflected the growing fascination with Freudian theories of personality. Adding to the sales was the engrossing film version with Bogie twirling steel balls on the witness stand. However, with the passing of decades, enough time has gone by to permit a more balanced view of Herman Wouk's attempt to portray the stresses that war has on a mind that lacks flexibility. What emerges is a novel that is so lacking in strong characters and reader involvement that one now can wonder why readers even now try to plow through the nearly 400 pages of mind numbing text before the only good part emerges: Queeg on the stand. The book opens with what is surely one of the weakest portrayals of a protagonist in 20th century literature: Willie Kieth, who comes across as a feckless and uninteresting naval cadet. As I was reading several hundred pages of his supposed growth from callowness to maturity, I soon enough realized that Kieth could not carry the book on his vapid smile and non-existent character. Fortunately, Wouk includes a number or secondary characters who spice up the action. Unfortunately, by the time I come across these backups, I have had to read more than one half way through. The romantic female interest for Keith is his feminine doppleganger, May Winn, who seems to exist only to prize the dubious value of her probably non-existent virtue over any revealing insights into her relation with Willie Kieth. Keith's comrades on the Caine are infinitely more interesting. Clearly, Wouk sets up his book to point to the courtroom confrontation between attack defensive lawyer Barney Greenwald and Captain Queeg. This part, despite the incessant references to Freudian illness, is Wouk's most compelling achievement. What one takes away today after having read THE CAINE MUTINY is a sense that war truly does warp personalities that are already inclined to be warped. Yet, an author owes his reading public a more believable set of literary conventions and writing skills that were so clearly lacking here. When Keith leaves the book as one who has been reviled even by the man assigned to protect him, I got the feeling that Wouk wrote THE CAINE MUTINY as a huge inside joke that illustrates that a book that masks a dearth of conventional literary tropes needs only a "hook" to reel in a series of readers eager to discover some eternal truths about warfare only to discover that the price to learn them is a Queeg-like capitualtion to those same harsh truths.

My Favorite World War II Novel:
This is my favorite of the great World War II novels and I've read many of the great ones, which includes Mailer's "The Naked & the Dead" and James Jones' "From Here to Eternity." Wouk broke much ground with this novel and the Pulitzer was well earned. The superb court martial, Willie Keith's coming of age, and of course who can forget Phillip Francis Queeg, perhaps the most famous modern naval captain in fiction? With a wonderful assortment of characters and a superb plot, we see Willie Keith go from naive and arrogant young college graduate, to a mature tempered man who has endured the fires of war. It is a novel to be read and reread. The movie version with Humphrey Bogart isn't bad either. But as they say, the book is always better.

A ripping novel of World War Two in the US Navy.:
This is perhaps not the greatest novel ever written about World War Two, but it may be the most readable. This is an engrossing, ingenious, and well-written story of ordinary men at sea, placed in an uncommon predicament. Their predicament is simple: their captain is a spectacularly bad leader. This leads to consequences that Wouk develops brilliantly. Wouk's own experience in the US Navy gives this book a gritty authentic feel. The reader really gets a flavor of what it must have been like to be a junior US Naval officer aboard a destroyer-minesweeper. The discussions of officer efficiency reports, the codebreaking duty, casual discipline, and more, all ring true. The real story is the maturation of Willie Keith. At the beginning of the novel he is a spoiled, overprivileged lad living an aimless life. His time in the service, and the unusual predicament in which he finds himself, hardens him into a true fighting-man in a way that has happened to countless thousands of servicemen. Wouk tells this story exceedingly well, in a manner that most readers will be able to easily relate to. I found this novel to be an unusually good read primarily for this reason. Wouk's writing is first-rate, and it is easy to see why this novel appealed to readers of the early 1950s, many of them with fresh memories of World War Two. The flavor of that war lingers in the novel even today, and gives the twenty-first century reader a notion of what those times were like. This is altogether a remarkably good novel, deserving of every one of its five stars.