IF YOU SURVIVE

War autobiographies fall into a special group of books about battle, in which one hears first-hand accounts of front-line action. Written more than 40 years after the fact, this Army officer's chronicle of events in Europe during WWII gives the reader grenades, mortar fire, and tank guns, as well as K rations in cold, wet foxholes. The narrator sounds youthful, but his gasp for breath between each sentence is clearly heard, creating an unusual sound in an audiobook. The war itself provides the only continuity to this rather cold history, which does little to increase listeners' pulses. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 00]