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Jim Pederson
An American soldier in the Vietnam War, assigned to the same battalion as Paul Berlin, Eddie Lazzutti is an occasional friend to Paul Berlin, as well as a talented singer. When a particularly tragic event occurs among the soldiers, Eddie is often the first one to convert it to comedy, singing about it until everyone else joins in. In the main plotline of the book, Eddie is one of the only soldiers to travel all the way to Paris to track down Cacciato.
Eddie Lazzutti Quotes in Going After Cacciato
The Going After Cacciato quotes below are all either spoken by Eddie Lazzutti or refer to Eddie Lazzutti. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 10 Quotes
Then they were falling. Paul Berlin felt it in his stomach. A tumbling sensation. There was time to snatch for Sarkin Aung Wan's hand, squeeze tight, and then they were falling. The road was gone and they were simply falling, all of them, Oscar and Eddie and Doc, the old lieutenant, the buffalo and the cart and the old women, everything, tumbling down a hole in the road to Paris.
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Chapter 16 Quotes
So in the hottest part of the afternoon, in a tiny hamlet called Thap Ro, they chose up teams according to squads. Eddie Lazzutti ripped the bottom out of a woman's wicker grain basket, shinnied up a tree, attached it with wire and slid down. No backboard, he said, but what the hell—it was still a war, wasn't it?
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Chapter 40 Quotes
Shrugging, glancing again into the mirror, the girl opened the door and stepped out. She watched while Oscar dumped out her suitcase and sleeping bag. She never stopped smiling.
Eddie drove, Oscar rode shotgun.
"You know," Doc said wistfully, "sometimes I do feel a little guilt."
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Eddie Lazzutti Character Timeline in Going After Cacciato
The timeline below shows where the character Eddie Lazzutti appears in Going After Cacciato. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...term meaning “absent without leave”). Corson asks Berlin about Cacciato’s squad—which consists of Berlin, Doc, Eddie Lazzutti, Stink, Oscar, and Harold Murphy. Corson tells Berlin that this squad, squad three, is...
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...the distance—Cacciato is cooking himself breakfast. Lieutenant Corson wakes up and announces, “let’s do it.” Eddie, Oscar, and Harold Murphy proceed towards Cacciato, while Corson and the other soldiers stay behind,...
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Chapter 2
...Sea, and it’s a little before midnight. Nearby, he sees other soldiers, such as Doc, Eddie, and Oscar, sleeping peacefully.
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Chapter 6
...Stink kills the buffalo, the soldiers spend the night at the edge of the savannah. Eddie and Doc drag the buffalo off the road, leaving one buffalo for transportation. Then, the...
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...next morning, the soldiers bury Nguyen and proceed to leave, accompanied by the three women. Eddie and Stink hitch the surviving buffalo up to the cart, and Paul Berlin decides to...
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Chapter 16
One day in July, the soldiers arrive at a small village, Thap Ro. There, Eddie Lazzutti takes a woman’s basket and converts it into a basketball hoop. Life is dull,...
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Chapter 18
...the events of the previous chapter, and the troops have gathered together to eat dinner. Eddie raises an important question: what are the soldiers supposed to be searching for? Oscar Johnson...
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Chapter 21
...fear and hatred. After searching and finding nothing, Berlin goes to meet with Oscar and Eddie. Neither has found Cacciato, but they come across Cacciato’s bag, which is now empty.
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Chapter 22
The chapter begins with the narrator noting that Eddie Lazzutti loves to sing. He listens to radio broadcasts and sings along with the music.
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Chapter 24
On the soldiers’ last day of stand-down, Eddie, Doc, Paul Berlin, and Oscar walk to the 82nd Commo Detachment, where the soldiers keep...
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Chapter 29
The soldiers blame their arrest, the narrator explains, on each other: Eddie blames Stink, Oscar blames Eddie, etc. Eddie makes the mistake of asking a local man...
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...that plays loud American music, and he orders beers for everyone. He asks Doc and Eddie to tell him about the war from which they’ve come. Doc replies that there’s nothing...
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...focus on survival—if he doesn’t understand why his country is at war. As they talk, Eddie and Stink dance in the bar.
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Chapter 31
As the incident of Billy Boy’s death ends, the soldiers resume their business. Eddie sings humorous songs about Billy Boy, and Cacciato offers Berlin a stick of his prized...
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Chapter 33
...After this time, Berlin is handcuffed and brought into a large room, along with Stink, Eddie, Doc, Oscar, and Corson. Sarkin is thrown into this room as well. She kisses Berlin’s...
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Chapter 41
...keeps getting larger and more complicated. When the battle finally ends, Paul Berlin, Cacciato, and Eddie Lazzutti patrol the area, searching for bodies. They find the body of a fellow soldier,...
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Chapter 43
...to Paris permanently and abandoning the search for Cacciato. But before he can explain himself, Eddie tells Berlin that Dwight Eisenhower has died—an important piece of news for Americans. Berlin decides...
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Chapter 44
...Berlin brings the soldiers to his new home, and they eat dinner there. Over dinner, Eddie proposes that the soldiers travel to Sweden. Oscar dismisses this idea, and tells his soldiers...
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Chapter 46
...troops to show them what poor soldiers they are. Oscar angrily tells Berlin, Doc, and Eddie that they’ll need to obey him at all costs. He also tells Berlin to “go...
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