The best war fiction books that are about much more than war

Published just two days after World War II was declared in Europe in 1939, and two years before the United States would enter the conflict, Dalton Trumbo’s powerfully emotional story centering on horribly wounded American World War I soldier Joe Bonham sparked controversy for its anti-war stance, while also winning the 1939 National Book Award for Most Original Book.

Apparently inspired by an article Trumbo had read about the Prince of Wales paying an emotional visit to Curley Christian, a Canadian soldier who’d survived the loss of all four limbs at the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge. Johnny Got His Gun is simply a gut-wrenching read that took me to places no one should really go.

Let’s just say I was a different 14-year-old the day I closed its covers and sat thinking for a very, very long time.

Future-facing at the time of its publication in 1957, On the Beach isn’t really war fiction in the literal sense, because the fictional war around which it is built is already over.

Set in 1963 Australia, it details the life-affirming but grim experiences of a cast of characters including the crew of a US Navy submarine who are all facing inevitable and impending death from the aftereffects of massive nuclear war that has extinguished all life in the northern hemisphere.

The LA Times described it as "timely and ironic... an indelibly sad ending that leaves you tearful and disturbed," and The Economist called it "still incredibly moving after nearly half a century.” I’d call it a compelling and thought-provoking cautionary tale, and a ride you only want to go on via your imagination.

In contrast to its title, The Time of Light is well beyond heavy, but I still found it hard to put down, both times I read it.

Rich in beauty but drenched in brutality, it’s an unconventional war story that takes place in a far-flung region that’s been steeped in conflict for centuries.

In 1994 Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, we meet an aging former German soldier who’d been captured some five decades prior at the Battle of Stalingrad, and who had chosen, upon his eventual release from Soviet captivity, to not return home. His conversations with an Armenian priest pull us heart first into his deep grief, his overwhelming shame, and his search for forgiveness, as he wrestles with his personal role in the savage Nazi invasion of Russia.

For me, The Time of Light is human complexity laid bare, a visceral read that delivers on both emotional and intellectual levels.

Well, I certainly can’t say that The Zone of Interest is an enjoyable read, but it is an important one, especially given the moment—or should I say given the neverending stream of cruel and inhuman moments that have led us right up to this moment?

And while the Holocaust may be well-trodden ground for fiction writers, the late/great Martin Amis was never a well-trodden fiction writer. Centered in and around the banality of life going on in the actual shadow of abject evil, this novel holds up a mirror and dares us to take a look. In short, it dares us to acknowledge that the monsters behind the systemic societal and institutional “othering” that led to the absolute horrors of Auschwitz weren’t actually monsters at all. They were us. Which makes them the most terrifying monsters of all.

Surely we as a species can do better. But maybe not…?

A “fictional autobiography” that has really stuck with me, What is the What is based on the real-life experiences of Valentino Achak Deng, who survived the brutality and terror of Sudan’s second civil war.

At six or seven years old, he was separated from his parents when his village, Mariel Bai, was virtually wiped out by militia. Against all odds, he ultimately made it all the way to the United States, only to experience injustice, violence, and cruelty again.

Incredibly, the real story told in What is the What is one of hope and resilience, and it’s a powerful reminder that chance and circumstances are the only differences between us and anyone else on this planet. Gee, I don’t know… maybe we should all act accordingly? 

P.S. Somewhat controversial for its “autobiographical” claim despite being novelized—some say appropriated—by another person, What is the What was required reading at numerous US colleges, including Duke University, The University of Maine, The University of Maryland, and Macalester College, and was a finalist for the National Book Award. And in a factual followup that’s maybe stranger than fiction, Deng and Eggers eventually set up a school in Mariel Bai, and Deng was later named education minister in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, South Sudan.