Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
This book is a little slow to start, but it is a powerful read once you get going.
Incredible writing. Distressing story about the effects of war while it is being waged publicly, and then privately once home. It is clear that Powers has a command of his experience and the power of poetic words to transform it. A book I admire for its beauty while wishing it didn't have to be written.
Thank you, Jan, for sending it as a BOTNS Secret Santa gift! A great choice.
Thank you, Jan, for sending it as a BOTNS Secret Santa gift! A great choice.
Beautiful, haunting, mostly beautiful. A very quick/short read but one I would definitely recommend.
I've always been fascinated by the tales that can be equally horrifying and beautiful. This was one such tale. It really puts you in the moments, some of them simple and beautiful and others the stuff of nightmares. True horror lies in the things our men and women of the military have seen and experienced in war. It's devastating to think of the burden being carried around by so many.
This was the last book I read for my Literature of War class, and I found myself lost in a lot of places. I felt like I never read it even though I did. I liked the writing and it was beautiful, but I believe it was too analytical and I can’t follow along with that style.
I loved this. So beautifully written, the prose was just gorgeous.
Tough subject to write on, but oh wow, the words used.
Tough subject to write on, but oh wow, the words used.
Powerful story told in unflinching detail about what war does to its soldiers-those who die on the battlefield and those who slowly die when they return. The sacrifices this protagonist made cut me in two. I’m usually not a fan of this genre, but the author’s poetic way of painting a scene drew me in. This one will stay with me for a while.
The buzz on this book made me think it would be this brilliant and incredible story about the war, it only pissed me off. I finished the book angry, and not in the way the author might have intended.
The prose was too fluffy and literary, especially if I'm to believe the narration is by a 21-year-old infantryman. Maybe if I didn't have so many personal friends who are or have been 21-year-old infantrymen, the story would have been more believable to me, but while the prose was beautiful, it didn't fit with the story or the character.
I also found the character development to be extremely lacking.
The end shocked and startled and frustrated me and it left me hating the book and the story and the characters, even as poorly defined as they were.
The prose was too fluffy and literary, especially if I'm to believe the narration is by a 21-year-old infantryman. Maybe if I didn't have so many personal friends who are or have been 21-year-old infantrymen, the story would have been more believable to me, but while the prose was beautiful, it didn't fit with the story or the character.
I also found the character development to be extremely lacking.
The end shocked and startled and frustrated me and it left me hating the book and the story and the characters, even as poorly defined as they were.
I really did not like this book.
It was written as if a poet decided to change a poem into a novel. Just didn't work. Too wordy with too short a narrative. No story development; and the 'big reveal' held for the end? Quite disappointing.
In addition, this novel had every archetype/stereotype found in war novels and movies, yet with absolutely no character development.
As this took place in the Iraq war, it should have seemed more like the war in Iraq, instead of sounding like Vietnam moved to the desert. Anyone who has been involved, or lived with those involved, know that the author has made the war so generalized, and left out many particulars of this war, that it didn't matter the actual location. Throwing in a local colloquialism or two does not make it so.
Just a tedious read.
It was written as if a poet decided to change a poem into a novel. Just didn't work. Too wordy with too short a narrative. No story development; and the 'big reveal' held for the end? Quite disappointing.
In addition, this novel had every archetype/stereotype found in war novels and movies, yet with absolutely no character development.
As this took place in the Iraq war, it should have seemed more like the war in Iraq, instead of sounding like Vietnam moved to the desert. Anyone who has been involved, or lived with those involved, know that the author has made the war so generalized, and left out many particulars of this war, that it didn't matter the actual location. Throwing in a local colloquialism or two does not make it so.
Just a tedious read.