Here's what acclaimed best-selling author Homer Hickam had to say about John H Brown's debut novel - Augie's War:
“One of the most powerful novels I've yet read on the Vietnam War. As a veteran of that awful conflict, I was absolutely riveted by the tale of Augie and his buddies and every word rang true.”
(Author Rocket Boys, Carrying Albert Home)
###
The Author
John Brown grew up greatly influenced by his first-generation Italian-American grandparents, and his large extended family. He worked in his grandfather's Italian bakery during primary and secondary schools. After graduating from college, he was drafted into the Army as an enlisted man in 1968 and was sent to Vietnam, serving in the Americal Division from 1969-70. He began writing a novel about his experiences in Vietnam while he was in graduate school. But life got in the way and he found it necessary to find a job to support his young family. And so the book was put on the back burner until he retired from his public relations business.
Once retired, he began to write a novel- Augie's War - about Vietnam, and how a young soldier was affected by the experience. The novel explores the healing power of family to recharge the human spirit when wartime experiences threaten to darken the very soul of the protagonist. The boisterous, hiiarious and sometimes outrageous characters he interacted with growing up definitely influence his writing and enrich the story about Augie.
John Brown also written about wine and food for 37 years in West Virginia newspapers, and he continues to write a regular column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail (http://blogs.wvzettemailcom/wineboy/) and for a business weekly- The State Journal.
He is a graduate of West Virginia University and lives in Charleston, West Virginia.
###
La Voce Magazine, The Voice of the Italian American Community on Augie's War
"Augie’s War is an important testament of one man’s attempts to make sense of the war he fought and the family that helped him survive it all."
###
Reader's Favorite review by Jack Magnus
Augie’s War is a brilliant and moving story that juxtaposes Augie’s memories of his home life and time in college during the fifties and sixties with his service in Vietnam. I learned quite a lot from reading the author’s work, whose own service in Vietnam occurred in 1969-70, and whose career as a journalist would seem to be everything Augie would have hoped for if he were to survive his tour. Brown’s book is well written, and the transition from the stories about life with the Costanzas to Augie’s interminable war is effected so seamlessly that I felt both rocked and comforted by it, finding solace even as Augie did in those shared memories. Brown deftly paints his characters and the settings they find themselves in. Like Augie, I especially enjoyed the time spent with Augie’s uncles in the bakery but I’d be hard pressed to find fault with any portion of this novel, which demonstrates so eloquently the alien and terrifying environment so many young men found themselves in during the Vietnam era. Augie’s War is most highly recommended.
###
Reader's Favorite review by Stephen Fisher
Mr. Brown does an amazing job of bringing Viet Nam to life and what it was like to serve in what was considered hell on earth. The descriptions create vivid pictures of the horrors of war. Then he flips the switch as he brings the story to life, with all of the craziness to make their little area of the war a little more comfortable... if that was possible. His knowledge of army regulations, weapons and tactics was spot on. The corruption of the average Joe trying to make a buck, under the noses of the brass at headquarters, and First Sergeant. Then when our hero is threatened with being sent to the front lines, the story really kicks into gear. Augie's War is masterfully written and the environment is accurately described. John F. Brown created a masterpiece that impressed me. Well done!
###
Robert Fanelli Bartus, Jr. with Ambassador magazine (published by the National Italian American Foundation)
"West Virginia native and Vietnam War veteran John H Brown delivers a moving novel in "Augie's War." Protagonist Augustino Lee Cumpton is drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Vietnam. Augie's memory of Fun-filled family days back in West Virginia helps him cope with the tribulations of war and unscrupulous military personnel.
Brown's storytelling will engage you from the beginning to end with amusing, gritty and candid dialogue. Various chapters transition from Vietnam to Augie's hometown without skipping a beat. Augie's memories of humorous and heartfelt family moments keeps the war at bay, atl east temporarily.: Aunt Lia, the "meatball queen," loves bawdy jokes; UNcle s Giorgio and Dante, co-workers of the Chestnut Bakery, regale patrons and family with madcap stories. "They could always lift my spirits...," says Augie. With a cadre of convivial characters, you'll see why Augie's thoughts drift toward his family.
This book also attests to the spirit of brothers-in-arms and ravages of war. Brown's vivid writing allows you to witness gripping scenes detailing the carnage from explosions with images you won't forget. Although this novel is about the Vietnam War, it also conveys the message of how family, friends, and those who have your back can sustain a person through desperate times.
###
Reader's Favorite review by Jane Finch
The author, John H Brown, has cleverly combined the amusing with the awful in Augie’s War, detailing how one man’s reluctant posting to the heart of war-torn Vietnam affected not just his physical but his emotional well-being. The writing is fluent and the change from the war experiences to the reflections of a quiet and peaceful upbringing in West Virginia keep the reader’s interest and make this a compelling read. The descriptions give a powerful impression of the calm and the horrific; the characters described by the author are authentic and well developed. All in all, a read with content that is both gentle get disturbing at the same time. A well-crafted book to be recommended.
###
Charleston Gazette-Mail: Book review: 'Augie's War' a grim but awfully funny war novel
By James E. Casto
WV Book Team May 19, 2018
John H. Brown is a familiar figure to many West Virginians. He’s the founder of Brown Communications, a public relations firm now headed by his son, Bryan. He’s been a wine and food columnist for more than 30 years. From time to time, he’s written for the Gazette-Mail and the State Journal.
Now, Brown has embarked on a different kind of writing — he’s published a novel, “Augie’s War,” inspired by his war-time experiences in Vietnam.
Like Joseph Heller in “Catch 22,” the classic novel about the deadly World War 11 air war, Brown has given readers a novel that makes clear the insanity of war in all its grim and gritty horror. The casualty count in “Augie’s War” is high. Yet, at the same time, Brown’s novel, like Heller’s, includes a lineup of zany characters and a sequence of outlandish happenings sure to have readers chuckling, if not laughing out loud.
“Fifty years ago,” Brown says, “I was drafted into the U.S. Army and a few months later, I was provided an all-expense paid tour of Vietnam (1969-70). When I returned home, I decided that I would write about my experiences. But a family and career took precedence, and I put the idea on the back burner.”
A couple of years back, when Brown decided to retire from his public relations business, his wife and a few friends encouraged him to pen the story he long had dreamed of writing.
Brown says he never harbored any illusions that his novel would be commercially published. “But I knew that finishing the project would be personally rewarding. After all, it was number one on my bucket list of things to do.”
Ultimately, a small independent publishing house, Black Rose Writing, in Castroville, Texas, decided to take a chance on the book and published it in a slim paperback volume.
Yes, Brown’s novel is a war story. But it’s much more than that. It’s also about family and coming of age. The novel’s young draftee protagonist — Augustino Lee Cumpton, known as “Augie” — frequently summons up memories of his Italian-American family back home in West Virginia.
Augie’s grandfather, Salvatore Emilio Costanza, worked hard in the coal mines, saved every penny he could and used that savings to open a little business, the Chestnut Baking Co. Everyone in the family, including young Augie, worked at the bakery. Memories of the bakery and its daily parade of colorful customers provide Augie with memories he can retreat into as a way of hanging on to his sanity while he’s trapped in war-torn Vietnam.
For Augie and his battlefield buddies, the awful realities of war are compounded by the incompetent, irrational and sometimes downright criminal behavior of his unit’s superior officers.
Brown excels at painting word portraits of the men who serve alongside Augie. There is “Rooster” Washington, a huge black infantryman from the inner city who has seen it all. He and Augie seemingly get off on the wrong foot but, over time, he shows the young West Virginian ways of surviving the war and the ignorance of the base’s military commanders.
There’s Staff Sgt. Roy Shaver, who runs the off-duty NCO Club. Shaver cheats the men by short-pouring their drinks, rigging the slot machines and overcharging for the skinny Vietnamese whores he pimps.
And then there’s “Roter” Charlie, a north-Georgia helicopter pilot who swears he spotted a pink armored personnel carrier in the middle of a battlefield. Turns out Charlie was right, the vehicle was given a coat of pink paint after being pressed into service as a mobile bordello.
“Augie’s War” is a deadly serious but outrageously funny novel that deserves to find the widest reading audience possible.
James E. Casto regularly reviews books for the Sunday Gazette-Mail.
###
Readers' Favorite review by Keith Julius
John H. Brown triumphs with Augie's War, filling the novel with the type of telling details that can only come from someone that's been there and seen it first hand. Told primarily from Augie's point of view, the story alternates between heartfelt memories of home and family and nightmarish visions of the living hell the soldiers in Viet Nam endured. The story is not for the squeamish. It doesn't attempt to glamorize the experience, but rather tells how it was. The military men sound like real military men; the adventures and occasionally boisterous escapades they share ring with authenticity. You cannot read this book without realizing the sacrifices these brave men and women endured, and agonizing over the hardships they faced. A masterful look at a view of the past that we would do well not to forget.
###
Reader's Favorite review by Deborah Lloyd
This historical fiction work is a compelling perspective of one soldier’s experience in Vietnam. Although Augie Cumpton graduated from college and tried various ways to escape the war, his commitment to family and country won out.
Check out the Augie's War website https://www.augieswar.com/ to learn more about the book and to read excerpts from the novel.
The cast of interesting characters in this tale, in both Vietnam and West Virginia, is so well described that the reader can easily picture each one. There are loving and protective family members and soldiers, as well as self-centered and hateful comrades. The mechanism of Augie purposefully “returning” to memories of Riverview to endure the horrors of war is skillfully applied. A major dilemma that Augie faced, challenging his moral and ethical belief system, is also portrayed in agonizing and realistic ways. Augie’s War, written by John H. Brown, is a thought-provoking depiction of the Vietnam War. It is a memorable story that will remain in readers’ hearts and minds for a long time.
###
Read more
Read less
