1948 - Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens

When Jesse suggested we split the full Pulitzer Prize-winning list, I thought what a great idea, this will really force me to read some good literature which I might never read otherwise. (You see, I'm a sucker for spy novels and most currently, sci-fi/fantasy, e.g. George RR Martin.)

But after the first book on my half of the list, Guard of Honor, I'm less convinced that I'll be fulfilled after a year of reading all this good literature.

When I ordered my copy of Guard of Honor, I had to get it shipped from a second hand book shop in Watkinsville, Georgia (no relation to my friend Kyle Watkins). You see, the book's level of popularity means that it has been out of print for some years now.

When it finally arrived, I couldn't help but read the 'in-your-face' endorsement quote on the front cover: "Every major war... has produced at least one masterpiece. For the Civil War, it's The Red Badge of Courage. For WWI, A Farewell to Arms. As for WWII, there are numerous candidates ... The Naked and the Dead, Catch-22, The Caine Mutiny, maybe a James Jones -- and then there is a book that I think will one day be recognized as better than any of these: James Gould Cozzen's GUARD OF HONOR." - Noel Perrin, Washington Post Book World

That day hasn't arrived yet.

Guard of Honor is a commentary of life on a military base in Florida during WWII. It highlights the idiotic bureaucracy the soldiers on the base faced, and more importantly highlighted that life of the military base was more concerned with celebrating the General's birthday and saving face in the civil rights debate, than the war.

Other than that, the book and all its 631 pages didn't do much more for me.

There was no driving plot. Nothing ever actually happened. I found myself at each turn of the page, wondering if anything was ever going to happen. And then on page 631... nothing happened.

Maybe I'm just too used to the action-packed spy novels and fantasy books. Or maybe Guard of Honor is just never one day going to be recognised as the literary masterpiece from WWII.

Either way, I can't recommend a book that just felt like it was never going to end... ever.


*Jesse and I haven't figured out our scoring system yet, but I'll repost with a score for this novel once we do.