The Scars of the Square Needle By Pierre R. Beaumier (209 pages, drawings) Reviewer:  James Healy Overall Rating: 2 Stars: Some readers would enjoy it but many would not. This is a Vietnam era story with somewhat fictional characters, but apparently based on the author's own first-hand accounts. The anti-hero Dick Boucher may in fact be an alias for the author. According to the back cover, author Pierre Beaumier has "worked in" journalism, political activism and human services following some military service. Boucher enlists in the navy to avoid the army, but soon learns he hates the navy and most "lifers" and most persons in authority. One might describe this book as the experiences of an anti-establishment artist while in the navy. He's a knife carrying First Division sailor not looking for trouble but quite often finding it. The knife becomes an obsession. His destroyer is deployed to Vietnam and for some reason the ship's corpsman selects Seaman Bucher to accompany him by helicopter to aid wounded villagers. The sight of a dead boy haunts Boucher. Much of this is presented in partial flashbacks that are at times confusing. His brawls, brig time and eventual capture after being AWOL comprises much of the story. The cruel SPs and Marine Guards most certainly gain Boucher's contempt. There seems to be plenty of blame assigned to older people and even Hollywood for somehow glorifying war--at least WWII. The navy didn't deserve Boucher and he didn't deserve the navy. It wasn't a fit, but rather a misfit. Unlike a Cagney, Bogart or Garfield moody movie character, the author, in this reviewer's opinion, fails to win much empathy for his character. And, unlike a Cagney-Garfield-Bogart death ending (often in a noble effort), Boucher survives as the navy gives him his wish and discharges him. The author quotes from Tao Te Ching, an ancient Chinese book that is a source of inspiration for poets and writers as might be Confucianism or other philosophy of life. The point of the book may be to "know yourself", but this reviewer leaves it to a younger reader from that era to more effectively interpret the author's intention with this book. Availability: Barnes & Noble