This book, like any has it's merits and faults. The naration is a bit unconventional in form, and the transitions are a bit confusing at times, and some imagery is strongly overused, but the intreaging character development and rich detailed descriptions make this book worth reading. It is true Crane never saw battle in his life, publishers have never made a secret of this, but after the book debued he was congradulated by war veterans for his accurate depictions and even consulted by various periodicals as a war coorespondant. If you are unconceded enough to get passed grammatical errors in the narration, and see the book for what it was when it was written, then you should enjoy it. Happy reading.