SOURCE: "Two Numbed Vietnam Vets Turn to the Soil," in Chicago Tribune Books, June 4, 1989, sec. 14, p. 5.

In the following review, Johnson faults the "moribund" characterization and "somnolent" pacing of Soldier's Joy, but concludes that "the determination and risk-taking evident in Soldier's Joy are likely to bear fruit in [Bell's future work."]

Madison Smartt Bell has earned a reputation as one of the South's most promising young writers. In four previous novels and one story collection, he has written skillfully about the Northeast—especially New York City and urban New Jersey—as well as his native South.

His first novel, Washington Square, was a harrowing tale of New York's drug underworld, while Waiting for the End of the World focused on a disturbed group of men—including a drug dealer and a Vietnam veteran—who plot to blow up Times Square. The stories collected in Zero db clearly illustrated...