Review of Tour of Duty
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Eloise Farthing
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- Latest Review: Tour of Duty by William H. Coles
Review of Tour of Duty
[Following is a volunteer review of "Tour of Duty" by William H. Coles.]
Tour of Duty by William H. Coles follows the story of an American doctor, Miles, throughout his placement in a French military base in the 1960’s. He faces the challenge of doing what is right in the face of a dismissive and oftentimes arrogant boss. In addition to his work life, Coles also explores the dynamics of the people who work and live alongside him in France, creating a sophisticated and rich environment of well thought out characters.
The one aspect of Tour of Duty that really stood out to me was Coles’ world building. From the very first chapter, the reader is immediately engaged in a rich environment of characters and tensions that they are encouraged to sympathise with. Despite the negative aspects to the novel that I found, this clarity in the environment and setting kept me enthusiastic to read. Furthermore, Coles utilised a complex narrative structure including several subplots, which keeps the reader anticipating on more than one front. Again, this is what drew me back into reading every time.
My main concern with Tour of Duty is that it has no real direction pulling the plot forward. I could not place my finger on one thing that progresses the plot other than the change in year noted at the start of each chapter. This makes the reading experience feel quite boring; while the years ticked forward, the plot remained fairly stagnant. While the subplots don’t necessarily make the story too convoluted, some seem to not add any value to the story. What would make this story great would be clear direction.
Also, the setting of France seems to be poorly researched. Instead of doing any apparent research into French currency, Coles describes it as “French coins”. This lack of attention to detail elucidates to the reader that this is more of a first draft than a published novel. The French language is used in a way that seemed tokenistic at best; a handful of words were scattered into the English every so often.
This leads to my rating of 3 out of 5 stars. While there was clear talent shown through the writing, the plot was quite dull and lack of research shows quite clear inattention to the novel.
I would not recommend this to the typical historical fiction fan. I found Tour of Duty under the historical fiction tab and was expecting to be transported to the midst of the Vietnam War, however, I only received remnants of the Second World War. While this novel is clearly well grounded in history, its purpose is not to recount or educate on that history for the most part. I would recommend this to someone who is interested in American and French relations, the military, and medicine.
******
Tour of Duty
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Tour of Duty by William H. Coles follows the story of an American doctor, Miles, throughout his placement in a French military base in the 1960’s. He faces the challenge of doing what is right in the face of a dismissive and oftentimes arrogant boss. In addition to his work life, Coles also explores the dynamics of the people who work and live alongside him in France, creating a sophisticated and rich environment of well thought out characters.
The one aspect of Tour of Duty that really stood out to me was Coles’ world building. From the very first chapter, the reader is immediately engaged in a rich environment of characters and tensions that they are encouraged to sympathise with. Despite the negative aspects to the novel that I found, this clarity in the environment and setting kept me enthusiastic to read. Furthermore, Coles utilised a complex narrative structure including several subplots, which keeps the reader anticipating on more than one front. Again, this is what drew me back into reading every time.
My main concern with Tour of Duty is that it has no real direction pulling the plot forward. I could not place my finger on one thing that progresses the plot other than the change in year noted at the start of each chapter. This makes the reading experience feel quite boring; while the years ticked forward, the plot remained fairly stagnant. While the subplots don’t necessarily make the story too convoluted, some seem to not add any value to the story. What would make this story great would be clear direction.
Also, the setting of France seems to be poorly researched. Instead of doing any apparent research into French currency, Coles describes it as “French coins”. This lack of attention to detail elucidates to the reader that this is more of a first draft than a published novel. The French language is used in a way that seemed tokenistic at best; a handful of words were scattered into the English every so often.
This leads to my rating of 3 out of 5 stars. While there was clear talent shown through the writing, the plot was quite dull and lack of research shows quite clear inattention to the novel.
I would not recommend this to the typical historical fiction fan. I found Tour of Duty under the historical fiction tab and was expecting to be transported to the midst of the Vietnam War, however, I only received remnants of the Second World War. While this novel is clearly well grounded in history, its purpose is not to recount or educate on that history for the most part. I would recommend this to someone who is interested in American and French relations, the military, and medicine.
******
Tour of Duty
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Tour of Duty by William H. Coles
