Seen in TV Tropes entry for the New Wave

[james_davis_nicoll]

Joe Haldeman's The Forever War was a bizarre deconstruction of military SF, full of surreal imagery and borderline existentialism, inspired by the author's real-life experiences in the Vietnam war.

What book did they read? Not The Forever War.

Comments

[sean o'hara (from livejournal.com)]

I'm guessing they mean the novelizations of Robotech.

[peterm99.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I've never really felt I understood what "existentialism" is, but if The Forever War counts then I'm even more clueless than I thought.

I might have to give them surreal, though. The spherical force field that's so high tech you can only use javelins and spears was cool but ridiculous. Not that the book was "full of" that sort of thing, granted.

[nelc.livejournal.com]

I think the someone may be unfamiliar with literary SF. The phrase "surreal imagery" sounds like something mainstream critics emit when they encounter the genre for the first time.

[bruce munro (from livejournal.com)]

Perhaps they were thinking of Lucius Shepard's Life During Wartime?

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

While I don't see The Forever War like that, I can see where someone unfamiliar with certain common SF tropes might respond that way. Like if they came to it from a different genre altogether?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I don't know. The fight against the teddy bears who shoot bubbles that take the top of your head off? That's pretty surreal.