jacey | Booklog 112/2024: Joe Haldeman: The Forever War – Forever War #1

Narrated by George Wilson
First published in 1974, this book has been hailed as a classic. William Mandella is a physics student and a conscripted human soldier in the ongoing war against the Taurans. It begins in 1997, which might have seemed like the far future when Haldeman was writing this. Taking time dilation into account, William lives his life in his own subjective time while centuries are passing on Earth, and technology, language and attitudes are changing (rapidly, it seems, though not when you consider the timeline). It has lots to say about the futility of war (from the author's own Viet Nam experiences, I believe) but it hits homosexuality on the head with a hammer, which was perhaps right for the time it was written, but seems like a blunt instrument now. It uses the idea of relativity and technology well, and even manages a happy ending.