Biltmore Oswald - The Diary of a Hapless Recruit

This is quite well written, in an endearing and droll style, and is furthermore an historical document, dating from the last year of the First World War. I was tempted to give it three stars, except that it doesn't really go anywhere or achieve anything, and I may not feel the urge to reread it.

It's a semi-autobiographical diary of the author's experiences as a US naval recruit, presumably exaggerated for humorous effect. Being a diary rather than a novel, it has no particular plot and just stops whenever he leaves off writing.

Thorne Smith later became better known for humorous alcoholic fantasies, but this was his first publication; it has no element of fantasy and remarkably little alcohol in it (the Prohibition Era had not yet started). It turns self-deprecation into an art form; if we can identify the protagonist with the author, he was the worst naval recruit ever.