Review of The Navy, it's not just a job, it's a grease gun rammed up your butt
Posted: 12 Aug 2024, 11:58
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Navy, it's not just a job, it's a grease gun rammed up your butt" by Jason Earley.]
"They're so homophobic, yet there's so much homosexual behavior. Only it's acceptable when it's done by people who are allegedly 'straight' and in the name of 'tradition'." (Quote from The Navy, it's not just a job, it's a grease gun rammed up your butt by Jason Earley.)
The above quote gives you a flavour of Jason Earley's short memoir about his experiences in the US Navy in the 1970s, from boot camp to looking back long after discharge. In explaining how he came up with that and other alternative versions of the Navy's advertising slogan, "It's not just a job, it's an adventure", he uncovers the realities of hazing and persecution. He recounts how the trauma activated a predisposition to schizophrenia (diathesis). So be warned that besides mental illness, this book explicitly references sex acts and assaults, with vulgar language throughout.
That's not the only type of language, though. Earley uses a range of vocabulary to convey many scenes and sensations. For example, he describes in detail the "mystical Samsonian fate" of getting a crewcut. In addition to being vivid, Earley's writing is funny. Although the subject matter had serious implications, his humour often made me chuckle. For example, here's a quote related to the persecution he received for being an atheist: "To this day, it is still socially acceptable to persecute an atheist. Trans, bi's, gays, queers, antisocials, felons, rapists, and even those who worship Xenu the mass-murdering intergalactic alien, are protected due to bias laws."
Earley cleverly incorporates a different perspective from his own in that some chapters take the form of a dialogue between him and a "psych". This individual asks some questions about Earley's own behaviour. Although this touch enriched the memoir, both Earley's responses to specific questions and the story more generally seemed to have parts missing. It's fair enough if the author doesn't want to share something or can't remember, but if so, I think this should have been explicitly stated. As is, the chapters had an uneven feel and the ending seemed abrupt. Not least because the entire book is very brief, I believe it could be improved by filling in some of those gaps.
In that connection, there is also room for improvement in the editing. I know the author did some work to correct the text, but some errors remain, adding to the impression that this is still a rough draft overall. Some words were real words that would have been spelt correctly had they been used with a different meaning in another context. One example of this is the use of "pinning" where "pining" was needed. There were also some formatting errors, for example involving punctuation, and chapter headings on the contents page that didn't match those in the body of the text.
Although this hits the mark as a frank, funny and thought-provoking memoir, I believe the quality could be improved if certain shortcomings were addressed, as detailed above. Weighing all this up, my rating is three out of five stars. I can recommend it to anyone interested in a personal account of naval service that doesn't shy away from the seamier side. This is suitable for mature readers who are not easily offended.
******
The Navy, it's not just a job, it's a grease gun rammed up your butt
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
"They're so homophobic, yet there's so much homosexual behavior. Only it's acceptable when it's done by people who are allegedly 'straight' and in the name of 'tradition'." (Quote from The Navy, it's not just a job, it's a grease gun rammed up your butt by Jason Earley.)
The above quote gives you a flavour of Jason Earley's short memoir about his experiences in the US Navy in the 1970s, from boot camp to looking back long after discharge. In explaining how he came up with that and other alternative versions of the Navy's advertising slogan, "It's not just a job, it's an adventure", he uncovers the realities of hazing and persecution. He recounts how the trauma activated a predisposition to schizophrenia (diathesis). So be warned that besides mental illness, this book explicitly references sex acts and assaults, with vulgar language throughout.
That's not the only type of language, though. Earley uses a range of vocabulary to convey many scenes and sensations. For example, he describes in detail the "mystical Samsonian fate" of getting a crewcut. In addition to being vivid, Earley's writing is funny. Although the subject matter had serious implications, his humour often made me chuckle. For example, here's a quote related to the persecution he received for being an atheist: "To this day, it is still socially acceptable to persecute an atheist. Trans, bi's, gays, queers, antisocials, felons, rapists, and even those who worship Xenu the mass-murdering intergalactic alien, are protected due to bias laws."
Earley cleverly incorporates a different perspective from his own in that some chapters take the form of a dialogue between him and a "psych". This individual asks some questions about Earley's own behaviour. Although this touch enriched the memoir, both Earley's responses to specific questions and the story more generally seemed to have parts missing. It's fair enough if the author doesn't want to share something or can't remember, but if so, I think this should have been explicitly stated. As is, the chapters had an uneven feel and the ending seemed abrupt. Not least because the entire book is very brief, I believe it could be improved by filling in some of those gaps.
In that connection, there is also room for improvement in the editing. I know the author did some work to correct the text, but some errors remain, adding to the impression that this is still a rough draft overall. Some words were real words that would have been spelt correctly had they been used with a different meaning in another context. One example of this is the use of "pinning" where "pining" was needed. There were also some formatting errors, for example involving punctuation, and chapter headings on the contents page that didn't match those in the body of the text.
Although this hits the mark as a frank, funny and thought-provoking memoir, I believe the quality could be improved if certain shortcomings were addressed, as detailed above. Weighing all this up, my rating is three out of five stars. I can recommend it to anyone interested in a personal account of naval service that doesn't shy away from the seamier side. This is suitable for mature readers who are not easily offended.
******
The Navy, it's not just a job, it's a grease gun rammed up your butt
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
