Tiboli Taboo

By Christopher Howard

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0977475700
• ISBN13: 9780977475704
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Capicorn Pub Inc
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.5" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Page turner, yet deep

The times of the easy-going, clean-fun military books have passed and the new era of deep, dark, real and in-your-face war stories, like the one in this book, is now upon us. Somehow, the book reminded of me the recent movie "Jarhead", a book from the same genre which takes a deeper look at war, or, should I say, at people who are in the midst of it and trying to cope with it. Stolen treasure, cat-and-mouse game around the world, cliff-hangers and page-turning action abound in this book. However, more interestingly, deep, dark thoughts and revelations, disturbing images and ideas are what really makes you read with interest and think about what you've just read. "Black" isn't always black and "white" isn't always white, to use a cliche - growing and learning more, you must re-asses and adjust your views and beliefs, just like the Maynard is forced to. I enjoyed the book thoroughly and I strongly recommend it.

story draws you in and doesn't let you go

I can see the Three Kings comparison, but for me this book brought to mind Indiana Jones -- if Indiana Jones weren't Hollywood shlock with the line firmly drawn between good and bad. In Howard's book, you can't tell who to hate and who to feel sympathy for. In other words, the characters are real human beings rather than pretty people meant to play on readers' emotions. The story grabs you, pulls you in, and gnaws away at your insides because the lead character - Maynard - speaks the truth, and the truth is a hideous accident you can't look away from.

Are we really alive?

I like to consider myself an active reader. Tiboli Taboo is the best book I have read in a long time. Particular comparisons shall extend to such novels as American Psycho, perhaps a touch of Blood Meridian...themes are drawn from The Sun Also Rises. Howard also draws from film media, blending touches of Fight Club with Office Space. The inevitable comparisons to Kelly's Heros (or Three Kings, the pale remake, if you must) will be noted. Shifts in time al la Quentin Tarentino are also prominent. What Howard doesn't do is beat you over the head with his character's pyschoses. He delivers a facinating story without losing you along the way. Familiar themes are borrowed but not stolen. Our protaganist is not the pretty picture of Brad Pitt nor the jovial nihilist played by Peter Gibbons. We don't chase after the treasure like Eastwood, we flee for our lives with it. Witty dialog is not used to prop up our storyline. Specialist Maynard Byrne is a white collar American who is jarred out of his stupefying existence by the attacks on the World Trade Center. He evolves from a man trying to discover meaning in his existence prior to 11 September 2001 to a being detached from the chains of "reality". He doesn't learn to do as he pleases; he learns to do what he is meant to do.

Let Lajudice visit the Oval Office!

One of the back cover blurbs compares the plot to "Fight Club meets Three Kings" but I'd have rather preferred "Platoon meets Reservoir Dogs." Howard (who actually served in an elite unit in the US infantry) has written a book about men at war, about the ugly monster in each one of us. This novel actually transcends its plot (US infantrymen in Afghanistan post 9/11) which becomes a mere gateway to an absolutely real universe of pain, loneliness, poverty and horror, where violence actually feels like a logical remedy, an antidote to the reality in which a significant portion of Americans exist EVERY DAY. The USA (contrary to the views held worldwide) has become a profoundly unjust, wasteful and excruciatingly cruel system of economic interdependence for its subjects. And the subjects of the empire are too scared and apathetic to stand up for a change. This is a country conceived by idealists and scholars (well almost) who are turning in their graves at the sight of the bunch of heartless, filthy-rich illiterates who have hijacked the idea and are clearly raveling in the act.

Compelling Read

Set in the contrasting backdrops of stark Afghanistan and tranquil Horseshoe Bay (Seattle/Vancouver), Howard provides imagery from the liquid shadow under a helicopter morphing with the landscape to the charred remains of an insurgent cooked by enemy fire. Maynard, the protagonist, in his angst over failure in relationships, career, etc., strikes back when confronted with an opportunity to enrich himself at the cost of the people he has been dispatched to liberate. Christopher Howard establishes himself in his introductory novel as one who sees into the darkest parts of his character's soul and who lays those thoughts out in the open. Private Maynard's thoughts are not for the faint of heart or for those easily offended. Neither are his ominous recollections of an estranged girlfriend, or a combat patrol that goes very wrong. Author's official website at christopherhoward.org.