Berm Book Reviews

Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls

Liane Moriarty's What Alice Forgot

Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange

Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give

Victor Hugo's Les Miserables

Julian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending

Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Vivian Shaw's Strange Practice

Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Chrissie Keighery's Whisper

Robert O'Neill's The Operator

The Operator by Robert O’Neill is an autobiography of his incredible life. O’Neill enlisted into the navy right out of high school, and over his 16 year military career has went on 11 tours overseas to fight for our country. He climbed his way up the rankings, eventually becoming a Seal Team leader by being on high profile missions such as the rescue that inspired the movie Lone Survivor, the rescue that inspired the movie Captain Phillips, and took the shots that killed Osama Bin Laden.

One recurring event in the book is O’Neill asking himself how he got there. When he is still in high school, he thinks that there is no way that just a kid from Butte, Montana can become a Navy SEAL. When he is at the second level of admissions for becoming a SEAL, he thinks that there is no way that a kid from Butte, Montana can pass it. When he is overseas, participating in the most high profile missions the Seals have ever been apart of, he thinks to himself, how can a kid from Butte, Montana be making this big of a change. With this constant theme, it gives the reader motivation that they too can do extraordinary things. If a kid from a small farm town can grow up to be the one that assassinates the world’s most horrific terrorist, it does not matter where you are from. It shows that if you put your mind to it and train hard enough, you can do whatever you want.

Another theme in the book is equality. After the recruits pass all the required training and officially become a SEAL, they all are equals. When O’Neill is first assigned his SEAL team, he realizes one of his old instructors is in it. O’Neill then calls him what he used to call him at training, and his now teammate tells him to call him by his first name. This shows that even though O’Neill is new to the team, they consider him to already be their equal and be on a first name basis.

Equality is displayed throughout the entire book. It is shown again through the titles of the SEALs. While there still is a leader of each team for decision making, everyone is still considered an equal. Each person on the team is called an operator because they all work together to operate as a unit on the mission. This gives everyone a sense of self worth on the team, that even the newest guy on the team is under the same title and importance as veterans.

Equality is presented again during high profile missions. During the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s complex, O’Neill is left on the point when entering the final room, in which he kills Bin Laden. When he gets back from the mission, all O’Neill wants is to be treated like he was before the kill, like an equal. When people start to honor him too much and treat him like a superior, O’Neill switches SEAL teams so that he can have a fresh start with new people who will treat him like an equal again. Most people would want to feel honored and respected for such an amazing accomplishment, but all O’Neill wants is to be treated like he used to be .

The book does a great job of explaining the content. The military is notorious of abbreviations and confusing lingo, but O’Neill does a good job of explaining everything before he refers to it as the abbreviations. A person with military knowledge may be able to better understand the book, but the good descriptions provided by the author make it easy for anyone to be able to appreciate this work.

Overall, The Operator by Robert O’Neill is a fantastic book. It provides insight on some of the most famous military operations of our time by someone who actually participated in them. Along with providing knowledge on important historical events, it also provides good themes throughout the story that can be applied not only in military settings, but also everyday life.

Tatjana Soil's The Forgetting Tree

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five

Chris Kyle's American Sniper

Erika L. Sanchez's I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter