The Hunters by James Salter aka James A. Horowitz – a superb novel that is included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read List - 10 out of 10

 

The Hunters by James Salter aka James A. Horowitz – a superb novel that is included on The 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read List

10 out of 10

 

 

The Hunters is a mesmerizing, sublime masterpiece, that is honest, a glorious pleasure to read, that is based on the experience of the author, who has been a pilot who was in Korea, between February and August 1952, what we learn from the book is mostly what has happened to James Salter who becomes Captain Cleve Connell

 

We first meet the hero in Japan, where he is waiting for orders to fly to Korea and join the fight, the communist North, backed by China, flying the Soviet MIG planes was trying to occupy all the peninsula, and transform it into a tyranny, just like the one we see today, led by a despotic dynasty – so much for the proclaimed ‘all animals are equal’- we know from George Orwell http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/nineteen-eighty-four-by-george-orwell.html that ‘some animals are more equal than others’

In Fuchu, Japan, we also see Pell aka the self-proclaimed ‘Doctor’, who is harassing a Japanese waitress, only to be told that he must stop that, if they interact with the customers, they lose their jobs, and this is a country ravished, devasted by World War II, and the character of Pell is on display from the start, indeed, it is a proof that The Thin Slicing Theory explained in the classic Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/05/blink-power-of-thinking-without.html works

 

Captain Cleve Connell is 31, just like James Salter was in the Korean War, and we find that ‘soon it will be over for him, since His eyes weren't good enough anymore…With an athlete, the legs failed first…With a fighter pilot, it was the eyes’ and there would be some instances when the pilot does not seem to see the enemy so clearly

Towering over the fighter pilots in combat is Colonel Imil, who had known the hero when they were both in Panama, the commander has high expectations, puts the captain in charge of a flight, but it is difficult, if not impossible to approach the level reached by the colonel, who has shot down enemy aircraft

 

The aces are those who have five stars on their own plane, which indicates five enemy airplanes destroyed, and it looks as if this is all that matters – there is a happiness formula proposed by the co-founder of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, author of fabulous books http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/11/flourish-by-martin-seligman-i-ii.html who proposed PERMA, Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Achievement and apparently, Achievement is all that counts with those pilots, who worship the aces, and somehow they look down on those without downed planes

 

As in any domain, the success of the fights is a combination of luck (maybe with capital L), daring, the aforementioned Blink aka The Thin Slicing Theory, skill, courage, but in some instances, it is a question of pure defiance, including cheating and letting anything else go by, as long as you get your kill…

In one fight, Cleve is about to shoot down an enemy aircraft – and boy, he had been so unlucky, whenever he went up, there was no MIG – when he gets the radio message from Pell, who says he is in deep trouble, followed by two enemy aircraft, so he calls for support, which Cleve is pressed to offer and abandon his star

 

However, when he approaches the lieutenant, one of the MIGs just makes the wrong move and the pilot is catapulted, with the parachute (I think it was) and then this plane is credited to…Pell, who has actually done nothing to get this star, furthermore, the fellow is so abject, ruthless, selfish that he does not do his job

The way they fight is they have a leader and the wingman, the latter has to make sure that the former is safe, while the first pilot is busy trying to shoot down the foes, the wingman ensures the survival, but Pell – and he is the epitome of the bullish, self-absorbed, narcissistic individual, think Orange Jesus aka Trump, who is for me the most loathsome, disgusting leader I can think of, with the exception of Putin, Xi and some of those dictators that have absolute power, something OJ craves and has not yet had the chance to grab – just abandons his mate at one stage and the pilot is killed, because of the vile wingman

 

Colonel Imil is part of the problem, larger than life, a huge man, with immense appetites, the legend has it that he had been with three (or was it fur) different women, on the same night, and he craves stars for his squadron, almost without any caveat, ‘no matter what’ we would say, if somebody is doing harm, so be it

Captain Cleve Connell wants to address the big problem (a spoiler alert might have been required already, but most of the time I am modest, and say ‘who is going to read this anyway, and go beyond the first two lines’, so it often looks like being arrogant, let me put spoiler alerts, as if there are readers who take it all the way, and even pay attention’) and talks to Colonel Imil, he asks for privacy, but the colonel denies it

 

So Cleve says he wants Pell grounded, because he does not do his job as a solid, supportive, loyal wingman, but the commander is aghast, Pell is shooting down enemy fighters, and this is all that matters, and he is furious, now he asks the others to leave and says ‘how could you say that in front of the pilots, well, I asked for a private talk, do you want to undermine my unit’ words to that effect, which later will get some sort of feigned apology, because the colonel knows that what Cleve Connell says is very probably true, but hey, what about the stars, the casualties of the other side…the captain will eventually have the chance to face off the best from the camp of the adversaries, the elusive killer with five stripes on his aircraft

 

Now for my standard closing with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

Some favorite quotes from To The Heritage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”