Talk:The Burning Mountain

Latest comment: 14 years ago by Chris-marsh-usa in topic Apology. Thumbs Up.

Too Much Detail?

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Isn't this a bit too detailed for an encyclopedia entry? Some of it seems too much for a book report, even:

He tries to warn Chauncey but it is too late: the satchel charge of the girl he is giving a C-ration to blows off his head, which rolls. One child manages to destroy an armored personnel carrier, but the rest of the children, civilians, run. The teacher is obviously leading the children to kill the Americans: MacCauley blasts the teacher with six rounds and as the children flee he calls for a cease fire.

Lloyd Hansen is forced to bail out of a B-17 Flying Fortress and loses his boots in a rice paddy fertilized with the only fertilizer the villagers had available, their own. First, from a distance, he hears his comrade, Seargant Stansky, yell at an abusive "[Japanese] bastard" and score a punch, but the howling Japanese and his comrades shoot Stansky, who dies painfully, "Oh God, God."

The lead vehicle is hit and the vehicle in back hits it. Izuhara is gravely wounded, three soldiers are dead, and three cyanogen canisters are punctured by the rounds. The driver of the truck behind notices the six tracer rounds and loses control, overturning, and spilling more canisters, some of which leak. There is no time for the survivors to put on their gas masks, they, and most of the inhabitants of a nearby village, are asphyxiated by the cyanide gases. Immamura dies so quickly the last thing he notices is the fecal incontinence of either he or Izuhara, which always happens during death.

This isn't even a plot summary, just descriptions of death scenes the author found memorable.

69.155.76.41 16:48, 12 September 2007 (UTC)Reply

Apology. Thumbs Up.

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Sorry about that. It is a grabbing alternative history novel. Thanks for cleaning it up. I wonder if there should be any mention of the technology of Identification Friend or Foe or radar-assisted bombsighting, as depicted in the story. Also mentioned is the use of naval ships as gun platforms to hit inland targets. I feel I learned something reading the book, Coppel must have researched the military history pretty well.Chris-marsh-usa (talk) 06:41, 24 February 2010 (UTC)Reply