The Eleventh Man Book

Sometimes, I know exactly how I'll review a book and can hardly wait to get my thoughts down. Other times, like, this time in particular, a book is so lost in that foggy middle between good and bad, that my thoughts never seem articulate. I've avoided writing about The Eleventh Man, by Ivan Doig, for over a month now. I've got eight books dammed up behind it, waiting their turn for review.

I grew up looking at Ivan Doig titles in my parent's living room. Surprisingly, it wasn't until a few years ago that I finally read the first of his Montana trilogy, Dancing At The Rascal Fair. That experience taught me that Doig is in no hurry to entertain his readers. Rather, a lot like growing up in Montana, he rewards those who endure.

With this in mind, I began The Eleventh Man, Doig's latest novel. Ben Reinking grew up understanding how the world of journalism worked as his father owned the local paper in Gros Ventre, Montana. With a degree in journalism from Treasure State University, where he was also a member of "The Supreme Team" 1941 championship football team, he enlists in the armed forces as a pilot. Before he is finished with his training, however, he is given an assignment a war correspondent for the Threshold Press War Project. When the war department learns that the entire eleven members of "The Supreme Team" are enlisted in the war, they propagandize the situation into a opportunity to create war heroes. Ben travels around, visiting his old teammates where they are serving and writes a regular column, spinning tales of bravery and American pride. While waiting for his different travel assignments, he spends his time at East Base outside of Great Falls, Montana. There, he falls in love with Cass Standish, a married female pilot in the Women's Airforce Service Pilot (WASP. There really were female pilots. I had no idea!)

When his columns turn into obituaries as teammate after teammate falls, Ben is forced into understanding that nothing is fair in love and war.

An interesting enough look at WWII, but there is something almost too planned about this book to make it satisfying. It's almost as if I could see his brainstorm page lying somewhere on a table - "I'll have one guy serving in Italy. This guy in the Pacific. Another one in London and another storming Normandy. I need a few to be stuck in the states to highlight what went on here, though. I know...I'll put one guy in the coast guard and another will be stuck flying back and forth to Alaska where I can write up the Russia angle. To tie them all together, I'll make them all old friends....no...teammates! Even better. And one will know what's going on with everyone else and he'll mainly be in Montana so I can still write about the area I know best!" A jaded opinion, but it felt that way.

If you love all things WWII, then you'd probably enjoy this book as well. If not, then read Doig's other books instead. They're better.