Johnny Got His Gun
Rating
The Pequod Review:
Dalton Trumbo’s idea for Johnny Got His Gun supposedly originated from a newspaper article he read about a Canadian soldier who was fully dismembered in World War I but somehow survived for almost 15 years. What thoughts, frustrations, and passions did he have, and what was his view of the war in which he fought? Trumbo creates the unforgettable character of Joe Bonham (a war veteran left deaf, dumb, blind, and limbless) to imagine the answers, and turns it into an effective if crude anti-war novel. The ending will move even the most grumpy and heartless.