The Fence-Walker

By William Holinger

"The Fence-walker is a fascinating fusion of traditional virtues of craft and up-to-the minute contemporary themes. William Holinger presents us with a rare drama set in the 'Second' Theatre--Korea, right up on the DMZ--during the midst of the Vietnam War. It's a social drama that boils up with a heat only a 'cold' war can, paradoxically, generate, and a psychic drama as well, that of the education of his young lieutenant Richardson, the fence-walker of the title. The barrier Richardson patrols so dutifully divides North and South Korea, communist and capitalist values, but it stands too, as Holinger develops his plot--and his metaphor--between innocence and experience, son and father, Eastern culture and Western, love and hate, life and death. I don't know of another military novel set in a time of hostilities below the threshold of war that uses the naturalistic details of army life as cunningly as Holinger's, not since, maybe, Styron's The Long March, perhaps, not since James Jones's The Pistol. Attention, troopers, read this novel at once." -- Alan Cheuse, author of The Bohemians and The Grandmother's Club

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887060242
• ISBN13: 9780887060243
• Release Date: June 1985
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

What's a DMZ?

In the 1960's a highly trained and motivated North Korean Army attempted to infiltrate the Demilitarized Zone(DMZ). The line that separates North from South Korea. Men of the American Army's 2nd and 7th Infantry Division's were there to stop them. With Vietnam at it's height, news of the Americans in South Korea warranted scant attention back in the world(USA). These men guarded the middle of the DMZ from Guard Posts which the North Koreans attempted to infiltrate and harrass. American combat patrols searched their sectors and set up ambushes at night. Even more American soldiers manned the Southern end of the DMZ. This book, by an American Officer who served on the DMZ, gives a good accounting of what it was like for some men. I know, I was there, wounded by friendly fire while on night ambush, 9 July 1969. I was the Senior Medic(SP5) of Bravo Company of the 1st Bn, 23rd Inf, 2nd Infantry Division. For good reviews of the book read those that are already written. I could add little more except that from 1966 to 1969 hundreds of Americans became casualties in this undeclared war. They gave their lives to help keep South Korea free. Few know of their deaths except comrades, friends and families. There are two other fictional accounts of life on the DMZ written by men who were there. Muffled Shots: A Year on the DMZ by William Rosky and North of the River by Mark B. Higginson. Both are fine accounts of their tours on the DMZ. For a non-fiction publication get, Scenes from an Unfinished War: Low-Intensity Conflict in Korea, 1966 to 1969. It is a Leavenworth Paper, number 19. It was written by(then) Major Daniel P. Bolger, a veteran of the Second Division.

An important story of an unknown conflict

The Fence-Walker tells the story of American troops on the DMZ that seperates North and South Korea. It is the late 1960's, at the height of the Vietnam War. These troops live a trip wire existence and face death everyday in a place that most Americans don't know exist. Holinger draws upon his experience as an infantry officer in Korea, during this time. His writing takes the reader into the fighting positions, guard posts, and bunkers. His characters are well developed. I swear I served with some of these guys, in Korea, 15 years later! The story is an important reminder that the "Forgotten War" in Korea, didn't end in 1953. That American troops have served, sacrificed, and died, unknown and unrecognized, in Korea. A service, sacrifice, and lack of recognition that exists to this day.

Compelling Story, Beautifully Told

The Fence-Walker is about American soldiers guarding the border between North and South Korea, and about what happens to men under such pressure. The first person voice, with its control and authenticity, pulls you quickly into this hair-trigger world. You feel you're sitting on the lip of a volcano. The writing is beautiful and the story unforgettable.