The Forever War

This is a well regarded science fiction novel that was written by Joe Haldeman in the 1970s.

My understanding is that it was partially a comment on the Vietnam War. I imagine that’s why the protagonist has a nihilistic and detached view of things.

The story is interesting: A young man (William Mandella) is part of the first wave of soldiers to attack a largely unknown enemy (the Taurans). Through luck, he manages to survive a number of campaigns. But what’s clever is that because of the nature of relativity, Mandella remains young while Earth and the Taurans age normally. As such, Mandella is a witness, and a participant, across hundreds of years of war.

I’ve always been fascinated by development over long periods of time. What would it be like to see where humanity lands in 500 years? Or 1,000 years? This book touches on a lot of that.

That said, it’s also a book that was written during the ’70s and there are aspects that don’t hold up well: most notably, homophobia and the backwards attitudes toward women.