Ben East Books

Category: Book Reviews

  • The Big Zero

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    Ben East
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    The latest from Don DeLillo subjects readers to suffocation in a plotless environment hosting flat characters who live out an endless procession of questions about life, death, and the consequences in between. That is Zero-K. Whether or not the flattened nature of this enterprise is intentional—to emphasize confinement, restriction, joylessness, life as a movement toward death—the result is…

  • Marine Security Guards at 70

    Marine Security Guards at 70

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    Ben East
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    The Marine Security Guard program this week celebrated 70 years protecting U.S. diplomatic missions around the world. Happy Fourth of July to the Ambassadors in Blue. Two books covering their service, one non-fiction, the other fiction: Greg Matos’ Shattered Glass—The Story of a Marine Embassy Guard… recounts the December 2004 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.…

  • An ounce of hope, a Fifth of futility

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    Ben East
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    Review: God in Neon by Sam Slaughter Sam Slaughter’s collection of stories features protagonists paddling up a great river of booze. Their strokes are futile, the current strong: with beer, tequila, whiskey, Old Crow, Jack, PBR. They struggle under the blurry burden of constant intoxication, their boozing not an act so much as a reality,…

  • DeWildt’s Brutal Rural Noir

    DeWildt’s Brutal Rural Noir

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    Ben East
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    C.S. DeWildt writes a sick rural noir in Kill ‘Em With Kindness, no surprise given the strength of his previous release Love You to a Pulp. The narrative blazes through the rural backwoods of Horton burning down churches and meting out vengeance on more than a few good ol’ boys—some who deserve it, some who don’t. And…

  • Dark, hilarious, cutting

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    Ben East
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    Exactly the kind of review that makes it all worth the effort. Somebody thought enough of Two Pumps for the Body Man to post this. Mission Accomplished. Came on top of a great plug from killer noir writer C.S. DeWildt (Love You to a Pulp and just last week Kill ’em with Kindness) who said of Two Pumps: “…Full of…

  • a diplomatic noir

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    Ben East
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    At PeaceCorpsWorldwide author and reviewer John Rouse calls Two Pumps for the Body Man “Reminiscent of Joseph Heller’s famous and equally hilarious anti-war novel Catch-22.” Ben East’s humorous yet deadly serious diplomatic noir  Two Pumps for the Body Man should be required reading for any youngster contemplating a foreign service career along the conflict-torn borders of the vast American empire. It’s…

  • Peter Van Buren–We Meant Well

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    Ben East
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    Van Buren’s book stands shoulder-to-shoulder with many other great war books. The food is bad and the environment gritty. The Colonel’s in charge; body armor’s strapped on; everybody piles into helos or Humvees to leave base. A young soldier, comrade torn by hot shrapnel, ignores the bloody gristle staining his cheek to stop the damn bleeding.…

  • Short Fiction–Swimming

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    Ben East
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    Peace Corps Worldwide carried the following review of Karl Luntta’s Swimming from SUNY press. One thing is certain for foreigners at work in much of Africa: the proverbs can be as colorful as they are vague, utilitarian as they are vexing. The truth can emerge—or remain obscured—with a single phrase. Truth, in these proverbs, lies in the…

  • Heroes In Literature

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    Ben East
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    Among the acknowledgements listed back of my debut novel is Barry H. Leeds, Connecticut State University Distinguished Professor Emeritus at CCSU. Hemingway, Mailer, Kesey—these were the writers Dr. Leeds expounded to us, models who wrote tough, lean sentences and big, enduring books. I worked like hell to write the strong prose Dr. Leeds demanded in his…

  • Farce Within a Farce

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    Ben East
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    This review captures the tenor and purpose of Two Pumps for the Body Man with incredible brevity and precision. I wish I knew more about the reader, who goes simply by “B”. In some ways, that mystery (I know only that they also reviewed Soul Combat+ Ultimate Active Performance Over-Ear Headphones, Storm Black) adds to the satisfaction of having such an…