cover image Shep's Army: Bummers, Blisters, & Boondoggles

Shep's Army: Bummers, Blisters, & Boondoggles

Jean Shepherd, edited by Eugene B. Bergmann. Opus (Hal Leonard, dist.), $14.95 trade paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-62316-012-8

Editor Bergmann attempts with much success to simulate a posthumous memoir of author, comedian, and radio personality Jean Shepherd%E2%80%99s army years. Utilizing years of broadcasts and taking advantage of multiple retellings of the same events, Bergmann has assembled a surprisingly unified and confident account of oppressive years spent in the army%E2%80%99s Signal Corps from 1942 to 1944, with factual commentary between chapters providing context. Shepherd was never shipped to a warzone; thus the incidents recounted mostly concern the accommodations at a series of stateside camps, the cruelty of the fellow soldiers, and the sometimes Kafka-esque bureaucracy. His service was not without the defiance of death, and seems to have damaged both Shepherd and his compatriots; the pessimistic tone may surprise fans. The collection is otherwise a compliment to Shepherd%E2%80%99s usual storytelling and the exaggerated melodrama of his signature narration style, with a number of laugh-out-loud moments in a presentation that, against the odds, captures the energy of an oral telling. The book is reminiscent of Spike Milligan%E2%80%99s WWII memoirs; both include stories told in hindsight of the authors%E2%80%99 young goofball selves before their respective fame as radio comedians. (Aug.)