“In his new novel Nam-a-Rama, Phillip Jennings has done a big service to all of us Vietnam vets and anyone else who was touched by that conflict. He has written a book that hacks its way through the dark tangle of the Vietnam War with a blade that flashes with comedy. One of the most bizarrely profound aspects of the human condition is the way horror and hilarity can intimately embrace. And to capture that truth in fiction may be the toughest stunt of all. Phillip Jennings does that, and does it brilliantly.”
– Robert Olen Butler,
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
“Just when you thought it was safe to stop reading novels about the Vietnam War, along comes Phillip Jennings with Nam-A-Rama. It falls into no known categories of fiction (that I can think of) but is a wild, original and often hilarious ride from its opening sentence to the last. Mr. Jennings was shot down over Dien Bien Phu and is obviously trying to overcome the trauma of being associated with the site of the final French defeat. Having written Nam-A-Rama, he no longer needs to worry, for he will surely now be known as the Phillip Jennings who wrote ‘that weird, painfully funny, wonderful book.’”
– Christopher Buckley
"Phil Jennings engages our hearts and minds because his writing inhabits both places. In Nam-A-Rama, he has not only given us a crackling good satire which is fall-down funny, insightful, and heartbreaking, he has also posed questions which are every bit as relevant today as they were forty years ago. It is hard to imagine a more thoroughly evoked examination of the foibles of war - or a more timely one."
– Stephanie Kallos,
Author of Broken for You. Grove Press, 2004.
"Set during a pivotal time in U.S. history and populated by a bizarre cast of characters, Phillip Jennings' zany novel is cynical, fast-paced, irreverent, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining."
– Bob Kerrey,
President, New School University
Crazed, gritty, and hilarious--imagine Hunter Thompson riffing on Conrad and you'll get some hint of the flavor of Nam-a-Rama. Jennings is clearly a literary maniac, all in the lucid service of his readers."
– Ken Wells ,
Front Page Editor, Wall Street Journal
"Phil Jennings led what can safely be called an eventful life in Vietnam—Marine Corps pilot, Air America jockey, CIA operative—exactly the kind of experience, in other words, that most fiction writers dream about having at their beck and call. What Jennings does with this material takes the concept of surreality to a whole new level. Nam-A-Rama is a dazzlingly inventive novel of an epic American adventure abroad run totally amuck, a work that demands your full attention from start to finish.
– Nicholas A. Basbanes,
author of A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for books; Patience and Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture; Among the Gently Mad: Strategies and Perspectives for the Book-Hunter in the 21st Century, and A Splendor of Letters: The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World
“Nam-A-Rama is a wild piece of work, a sustained vaudeville softshoe on the most rollicking, ugly topic. Very, very funny. Ribald, is what people will say. Raunchy and smart. I raise my glass to Gearheardt.”
– Stewart O’Nan,
award-winning author of The Names of the Dead, Snow Angels, and The Night Country
"It's tempting to say that Phil Jennings has written our generation's Catch-22. Except it's not. What it is, is our generation's "Sauce-14",or "Joker-94," or "Raven-47," or "Scarface," "Klondike," "Sandy," "Firefly," "Durax," "Cricket," "Dagger-2F," and all the other call-signs, nicknames, and nommes du guerre by which we depersonalized each other, and thereby pretended that we were not emotionally involved in the war.
“It's ‘Henry V’ with two lead roles played by Kramden and Norton, the theme music being "Ode to Billy Joe" and "Tijuana Jail." It's a medley of tunes that might have been written and performed by the world's only right-wing folk singer and political protester. It's what would happen if you brought Jonathan Winters to your Mensa meeting.
“What it is, is brilliant."
– Major General Larry Taylor,
USMC (retired)
“Terry Southern is Alive! This damn Jennings has done what we all wanted to do—write a bitter, dark comedy about the most misunderstood action in U.S. history, the Vietnam War. Jennings is not only a hilarious story-teller, he knows his stuff. And because he does he can put a couple of realistic battle scenes in the midst of ridiculous hi-jinks, and make it work. This is one smart book! Read it at any of at least three levels and you’ll come back for another. I couldn’t find a line in the book that didn’t have a solid basis in the idiocy of the conflict. This might become the book of the Vietnam War. But there might also be people who just don’t get it. It’s their loss, but there probably won’t be many. This should be a huge book.
– Jack Butler
author of Living in Little Rock with Miss Little Rock, Jujitsu for Christ, Nightshade, and Dreamer
"Jennings has dared to go where few writers have gone before and returned a hero. With a wit as savage and devastating as napalm, he's barbecued the sacred cows grazing on the White House lawn and exposed the hideous, hilarious truth buried beneath its richly fertilized surface. This painfully funny book proves once again that behind every tragedy there's a unruly comedy patiently waiting for just the right moment to sneak up, kick the tragedy in the ass, and run like hell."
– Jim Taylor,
winner of the Golden Globe for the screenplay of About Schmidt, Golden Globe & Oscar winner Sideways and Oscar nominee for Election
“I was born in 1975. I have no real memory of the Vietnam conflict. With this in mind, I must say that Phillip Jennings Book Nam-A-Rama has struck a chord with me. The absurdity of war is a complicated concept, but Jennings has managed to encapsulate nuances and exaggerations alike in a truly unique way that everyone can relate to. The dark edged humor will cut you like a razor, but is something that will surely not be lost on today’s youth. I draw comparisons to the Iraq conflict and for someone my age or even younger I dare say -- we now has something to help us make sense of the craziness in this world. History tends to repeat itself. I thanks Mr. Jennings for showing me a world I never knew from a skewed, yet all too true point of view.”
– Rich Newey,
music video director
“I read Phil Jennings novel, Nam-A-Rama, with great interest and admiration. It is a complex novel dealing with a most complex war, and, as such, evoked very conflicting emotions within me.
“First of all, I was proud to have served in Viet Nam, as were all those with whom I lived and worked there. However, we were vaguely aware then that the ‘management’ of that unique war was highly unusual, to say the least. And, as we all know, history has shown us that while it was a war in which incredible bravery was shown, and gallant men fought and died in heroic circumstances, our civilian and military leadership failed us in almost unimaginable ways. We were also betrayed in the most bitter manner by parts of our populace at home, the same populace that spat on us and reviled us when we came home. Never before have we fought in a war in which public personalities were permitted to commit openly treasonous acts (in our eyes), without obvious penalty. Needless to say, it is a time which still haunts many of us in its complexity.
“Mr. Jennings novel captures all of that, and more. It irritates and amuses, and, most of all, teaches. Buffoonery is rampant in the leadership, and, while that caused me some angst at the moment I read it, the end result is one in which I believe reality is well represented. The bravery and ingenuity of the enlisted troops and the officer corps on the ground is demonstrated time and again, and the interaction and actions of the two main characters are a delight to read.
“I think this is an outstanding novel which represents that complex war well, and strongly urge that it be widely printed and studied as a primer on how not to prosecute a war.
– William J. McDaniel,
Rear Admiral, Unites States Navy, retired
"This hilariously surreal novel captures the way Viet Nam felt to me better than any of the many memoirs I've read since getting back to the World."
– David Drake,
author The Far Side of the Stars, Vietnam Vet
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