What's this book about a soldier with a head injury

January 3, 2024 6:19 AM

Hello brain trust. I am trying to remember a book that is I would guess speculative fiction. I am struggling to remember the details. It is a first person account of the aftermath of a battle. The narrator is extremely unreliable, however because he is suffering from a head injury from an explosion.

He is hallucinating, etc. He walks away from the explosion, not knowing he is experiencing this degree of difficulty. The conflict is in eastern Europe? I believe? Apologies for the lack of specificity. I remember it vaguely. I want to say that the cover was oranges and yellows.

posted by kaelynski to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

Soldier of the Mist, by Gene Wolfe, fits most things about that description, although not precisely.
posted by sagc at 6:51 AM on January 3

Perhaps it's Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo?
posted by XtineHutch at 8:35 AM on January 3

Is it Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.? Billy Pilgrim survives the firebombing of Dresden and becomes “unstuck in time.” Definitely an unreliable narrator. The first Dell paperback edition had an orangey cover.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 8:49 AM on January 3 [2 favorites]

Pretty sure that this isn't what you're looking for, but I try to seize every opportunity to recommend Ford Madox Ford's remarkable The Good Soldier, if only because you refer to soldiers and unreliable narrators. It's been a while since I've read it, but I'm pretty sure that head injuries play no part in this book. But, seriously, this book is incredibly good.
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:57 AM on January 3

Response by poster: Thanks for these, all! None of these is what I am thinking of. It was more recent that these, I would guess it was written after the year 2000. Written by an Eastern European about Eastern Europe -- it could be the Baltics somewhere? Not sure the exact region.
posted by kaelynski at 6:10 PM on January 4