What is the author's tone in What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes?

Marlantes mixes passages of persuasive writing with quickly-paced and frank descriptions of his combat experiences. The resulting tone is a mixture of the excitement of these battle descriptions and the more somber reflections of the author as he honestly assesses his experiences after forty years. When Marlantes examines some of the spiritual ramifications of his combat experiences the tone also approaches the mystical.

The opening paragraphs of the book tell the story of Zoomer, a soldier in Marlantes' command who was shot in the chest and lay gasping for breath waiting to be evacuated. The story is indicative of several other passages in which the author describes combat scenes in graphic detail. His intention is to relate the extreme conditions of warfare and evoke in the reader an idea of how these extremes might affect a young man experiencing them for the first time with no preparation.

Marlantes' frank tone carries over into the portions of the book where he is describing his struggles to cope with the conflicting emotions his combat experience produced. He is honest about his shortcomings, his drug use and the sometimes poor treatment of his friends and family. He does not offer excuses, but seeks to explain the origin of his behavior and how others might avoid the same difficulties he faced by being better prepared. Some of his emotional struggles came in the form of nightmares and even visions of a dark presence stalking him. With the help of a Capuchin monk and a Native American Shaman, Marlantes performed ceremonies intended to reconcile himself with the souls of the people he had killed or seen die in Vietnam and to remove the dark stalking presence. These passages are presented in a straightforward tone, as if the souls and spirits he sees are real presences, giving the book a mystical tone.