Tracers, and ditches, and spooks, oh my!

So I've come to the conclusion to never spend too many hours reading a book graphically detailed about Vietnam before bedtime (or in my case during bedtime - if one falls asleep ON the book). Reason: Most likely you will, like myself, experience far out dreams of being IN Vietnam. Congratulations, Mike Herr...now I truly HAVE been to Vietnam with you.
So as far as my journey through this book goes...it's been quite the roller coaster of an adventure.
Of course, this far through the book, I've totally ditched any hopes of reading this like a novel (as I ranted about this last time, I figured I should address it here). Actually, im not quite done ranting. I cant help but lament for lack of character development and overall structure. At times I feel like im being given a really gruesome slideshow, sans the...er...slideshow.
Coming to grips with this aspect of the book, though...does make it easier to march on through. Remember how the soldiers were talking about having spurts of insanity, and downright hallucinations? Sometimes I think this book does that to me. My mind kind of went on various excursions through jungles (both natural and urban), and I ended up going in totally different directions than where the book wanted me to go. Doing the report on Vietnam totally helped bring me back to reality - when my mind went off to God knows where , events in the story that I recognized pulled me back to where I had branched off from...and reluctantly, I backtracked the paragraphs where everything went particularly fuzzy.
This whole blog may seem like yet another rant, but i don't mean it to be (DID I REALLY COME TO GRASP THE FACT THAT THE BOOK REFUSES TO BE A NOVEL - hmmm. probably not).
So what the hell do I like? I like the fact that this book isn't fluffy and soft - nor overly patriotic. It's real. vietnam wasn't exactly fighting for the freedom of America, nor was it for the benefit of people who truly needed our help (in no way am i putting those who fought down, though) But all in all the book wraps together (from what I gather), a pretty accurate account of the war from an American's perspective. I may have not been ecstatic to pick up the paperback from time to time, (and quite often found myself asking - did i bookmark the wrong page?) but it's definitely a unique work that I was pleased to have worked my way through. I feel like I not only know the war from a historians point of view, but from a more personal viewpoint.