The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

I just finished reading The Forever War by Joe Haldeman as one of the books on my list available on Kindle Unlimited. At first, I wasn’t sure I’d like the book but I ended up loving it! Being based on the author’s experiences during the Vietnam War, the soldier’s thoughts and emotions felt very real. I especially enjoyed the struggles they faced when returning home to an Earth very different than they remembered. To me, The Forever War is like an adult-version of Ender’s Game, another of my favorite books!

Book Stats

• Title: The Forever War
• Author: Joe Haldeman
• Genre: Science Fiction
• Series: The Forever War #1
• Publication Date: 1974
• Pages: 236
• Est. Reading Time: 7 hours
• My Rating: 5/5 Stars
• Buy Now: Amazon

The Forever War: Plot Summary

Shortly after humans begin exploring and colonizing other solar systems, some of the colony ships go missing. Military escorts are quickly implemented and an alien species called the Taurans is discovered. War soon ensues and William Mandella, a high-IQ physics student and our main protagonist, is drafted. After surviving a grueling training regiment on the Earth, Moon, and Charon, Mandella and the other surviving recruits are sent to attack the Taurans in the first ground encounter.

Due to the time dilation of near-lightspeed space travel, each mission Mandella is sent on lasts only a year or two for him while tens or hundreds of years pass on Earth. Each time, he returns to a vastly different world than he grew up in. Faced with a difficult choice, Mandella must choose whether to risk death and re-enlist in the military culture he knows or try to find a place in a society he no longer belongs to.

The Forever War: My Thoughts

Of course, a sci-fi war book had plenty of cool combat scenes and futuristic weapons like mechanized exo-suits, but I found many of the philosophical parts between battles more interesting. The effects of the war on Earth and the economic justifications for it were often on Mandella’s mind. Society’s changes over time were also very intriguing and exemplified some of the very real struggles faced by soldiers returning home.

War

Parallels to how the author must have felt during/about the Vietnam War are clear throughout the book. For instance, Mandella often ponders the validity of the war and how humanity stands to benefit from it:

“What might have happened if we had sat down and tried to communicate?”

– Joe Haldeman, The Forever War

“Wars in the past often accelerated social reform, provided technological benefits, even sparked artistic activity. This one, however, seemed tailor-made to provide none of these positive by-products.”

– Joe Haldeman, The Forever War

Mandella must also face the horrors of war, both killing / witnessing death and being wounded in battle. On many occasions, he and other soldiers struggle to cope with the war. Even once back on Earth, the memories and impacts of the war continue to haunt them.

“I was disgusted with the human race, disgusted with the army and horrified at the prospect of living with myself for another century or so.”

– Joe Haldeman, The Forever War

“I had to stifle an impulse to laugh. Surely ‘cowardice’ had nothing to do with his decision. Surely he had nothing so primitive and unmilitary as a will to live.”

– Joe Haldeman, The Forever War

Economics of War

For the most part, the war against the Taurans was viewed as an economic necessity:

“The fact was, Earth’s economy needed a war, and this one was ideal. It gave a nice hole to throw buckets of money into, but would unify humanity rather than dividing it.”

– Joe Haldeman, The Forever War

This echoes a similar opinion many have about the Vietnam War. For example, the following quote works just the same for real life when you replace “Taurans” with “Viet Cong” and “Earth” / “world” with the “United States”.

“It’s hard to describe their attitude, which was pretty uniform. They were angry in an abstract way that it took so much tax money to support; they were convinced that the Taurans would never be any danger to Earth; but they all knew that nearly half the jobs in the world were associated with the war, and if it stopped, everything would fall apart.”

– Joe Haldeman, The Forever War

Another economic impact of war is discussed when Mandella and other soldiers return from deployment with large sums of money from held pay and interest. They were often redeploying soon and had a short period of time to enjoy themselves:

“We were remarkably healthy victims of a terminal disease, trying to cram a lifetime of sensation into a half of a year.”

– Joe Haldeman, The Forever War

I think this phenomenon is also true in today’s military, although with far less impact from interest since deployments aren’t impacted by near-lightspeed travel.

Sexuality

In addition to economics, one of the biggest ways society’s changes were depicted was through sexuality and cultural norms. At the beginning of the book, heterosexuality is the norm and men and women are paired together for bunks and “leisure time”. However, as time passes, homosexuality is recommended as a means of population control and eventually becomes the norm. While Mandella finds the newfound prevalence of homosexuality somewhat off-putting, those who have grown up in the new society think his heterosexuality is horrifying and suggest he undergo therapy to correct it.

“I did have a new friend who sat in my lap all the time. It was the cat, who had the usual talent for hiding from people who like cats and cleaving unto those who have sinus trouble or just don’t like sneaky little animals. We did have something in common, though, since to my knowledge he was the only other heterosexual male mammal within any reasonable distance. He’d been castrated, of course, but that didn’t make much difference under the circumstances.”

– Joe Haldeman, The Forever War

For a book published in 1974, this must have been quite a progressive and controversial idea. Even today we’re far from accepting and normalizing homosexuality.

The Forever War: In Closing

Overall, I really enjoyed The Forever War by Joe Haldeman! If you enjoy sci-fi and haven’t read this book, you really should. I was reluctant at first to start a new series, but the book can certainly stand alone as a short, entertaining read. I think I’ll skip Forever Peace, which takes place on a different future of Earth, but may go ahead and read Forever Free, which continues Mandella’s story.

Have you read The Forever War? What did you think? Were you surprised by the sexuality and other aspects outside of the war? I’d love to discuss your thoughts in the comments!