Have You Ever Read The Book?

Talk about all things M*A*S*H -- the novel, the film, the television series, even the play. Not to mention the spin-offs, merchandise, cast, crew and anything else you can think of to talk about.
Post Reply
BigT112
Private
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 12:05 am

Have You Ever Read The Book?

Post by BigT112 »

I am in the midst of reading Richard Hooker's book again, and I was wondering how many people read the book and what they thought of it. I thinks its pretty good to be honest, radically different from the TV show, but thats ok!
User avatar
Chuck
Sergeant
Posts: 55
Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 12:50 pm
Location: Maryville, Tennessee (Go Vols!)

Re: Have You Ever Read The Book?

Post by Chuck »

I read it and thought it mirrored the original movie pretty well.
User avatar
RJ
General of the Army
Posts: 423
Joined: Sat May 14, 2011 7:26 pm
Contact:

Re: Have You Ever Read The Book?

Post by RJ »

I read it once a long, long time ago. I do not really remember much about it, to be honest.
Zelmo Zale
Private
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 8:05 am

Re: Have You Ever Read The Book?

Post by Zelmo Zale »

I just read the book a few months ago and thought it was pretty good. I thought it interesting how Trapper seemed to be the centerpiece of the 4077th and Hawkeye, although dominant in his own way, seemed more like the sidekick. Of course, these roles would get reversed on the TV show.

I also was surprised there was no "Major Frank Burns" in the book. There is a CAPTAIN Frank Burns who only appears on a page or two. The Frank Burns character in the movie and TV show is a combination of Captain Burns and a Major from the book whose name I cannot recall.

The Henry Blake character in the book is one-dimensional...all he really does is yell at Trapper and Hawkeye. McLean Stevenson played Blake close to the vest for the first few episode and slowly made the character his own. It wasn't until the beginning of Season 2 where Blake became more of a "clown", but he became much funnier and enjoyable to watch.

I wondered how Duke would have translated to the TV show. He was the third most important character in the book (maybe even #2) and would have been a fine addition to the TV show, but the cast was already getting too crowded. Season 1 had a lot of fringe players who just didn't work out (Spearchucker, Ugly John) or just weren't needed (Ho-Jon, Cutler, Leslie) and took away lines from more prominent characters.
User avatar
Chuck
Sergeant
Posts: 55
Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 12:50 pm
Location: Maryville, Tennessee (Go Vols!)

Re: Have You Ever Read The Book?

Post by Chuck »

Apparently, M*A*S*H (Three Army Doctors) was the first in a series of M*A*S*H books by Richard Hooker. I liked the first one, so I might try to find the others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hooker_(author)
User avatar
RJ
General of the Army
Posts: 423
Joined: Sat May 14, 2011 7:26 pm
Contact:

Re: Have You Ever Read The Book?

Post by RJ »

Chuck wrote:Apparently, M*A*S*H (Three Army Doctors) was the first in a series of M*A*S*H books by Richard Hooker. I liked the first one, so I might try to find the others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hooker_(author)
Be aware that Hooker actually only wrote two additional M*A*S*H novels (M*A*S*H Goes to Maine and M*A*S*H Mania). The rest were written by William E. Butterworth, although Hooker was credited as well.
User avatar
theprofromdover
Private
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:17 pm
Location: North Carolina, USA

Re: Have You Ever Read The Book?

Post by theprofromdover »

Read it years ago and absolutely loved it.
davidrobinson
Private
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 12:00 pm

Re: Have You Ever Read The Book?

Post by davidrobinson »

RJ wrote: Fri Oct 05, 2012 5:39 pm
Chuck wrote:Apparently, M*A*S*H (Three Army Doctors) was the first in a series of M*A*S*H books by Richard Hooker. I liked the first one, so I might try to find the others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hooker_(author)
Be aware that Hooker actually only wrote two additional M*A*S*H novels (M*A*S*H Goes to Maine and M*A*S*H Mania). The rest were written by William E. Butterworth, although Hooker was credited as well.

I though Hooker wrote 3, The first 2 and then the very last one. MASH, MASH MAINE and MASH MANIA
User avatar
RJ
General of the Army
Posts: 423
Joined: Sat May 14, 2011 7:26 pm
Contact:

Re: Have You Ever Read The Book?

Post by RJ »

That's correct. Technically, the original novel was written by Richard H. Hornberger with W.C. Heinz using the pen name Richard Hooker. I believe Hornberger wrote M*A*S*H Goes to Maine and M*A*S*H Mania on his own.
Post Reply