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3.25 AVERAGE
3.25 AVERAGE
The first few stories in this book were really enjoyable. However, the more I read the less I connected with the stories/characters. The after effects of war can leave deep scars, not always visible. These stories delve deep into what it is to be soldier, veteran, or even those who knew the person in action. It was a very interesting perspective to be in!
I won this book as a FirstRead.
These Heroic, Happy Dead is a collection of short stories about veterans. Some take place while the men are still in the army, and some take place after they have come home. Some of the characters appear in more than one story, although if the blurb on the back of the book hadn't mentioned it, I think I only would have noticed that one of them showed up in multiple stories.
The stories were all well written. Several of them had ambiguous endings, leaving me wanting to know more, what happened next. As a pacifist, I can't imagine voluntarily joining the army, and after reading these stories, I definitely still can't. The men in the stories who are back home after the service have trouble adjusting to life back home, and I hope the extent of their struggles does not represent the typical soldier. (For example, 2 of the them have killed someone since getting home.) It was an interesting collection, and I would definitely recommend it to someone who wants to read stories about the war in Afghanistan, since several of the stories take place there.
These Heroic, Happy Dead is a collection of short stories about veterans. Some take place while the men are still in the army, and some take place after they have come home. Some of the characters appear in more than one story, although if the blurb on the back of the book hadn't mentioned it, I think I only would have noticed that one of them showed up in multiple stories.
The stories were all well written. Several of them had ambiguous endings, leaving me wanting to know more, what happened next. As a pacifist, I can't imagine voluntarily joining the army, and after reading these stories, I definitely still can't. The men in the stories who are back home after the service have trouble adjusting to life back home, and I hope the extent of their struggles does not represent the typical soldier. (For example, 2 of the them have killed someone since getting home.) It was an interesting collection, and I would definitely recommend it to someone who wants to read stories about the war in Afghanistan, since several of the stories take place there.
Great read over 2 nights with well written characters and common theme of veterans of Post 9/11 wars.
Won as a book giveaway and would recommend as purchase if enjoy tight prose and stories which seem to revolve around "real" people.
Won as a book giveaway and would recommend as purchase if enjoy tight prose and stories which seem to revolve around "real" people.
Such a good concept for a collection, but unfortunately did not deliver for me. Really liked 'Visitors.'
I have a serious problem with this book in that it only shows the stereotypical violent, maladjusted veteran/soldier type. There is no denying that there are people who have bad personalities or who find it difficult or impossible to adjust to civilian life but that isn't the only type there is! There are also veterans/soldiers who retire or decide not to re-up and adjust perfectly well to civilian life. It's books like these, ones that only acknowledge the ugly side of military life, that perpetuate negative stereotypes! As an army brat, and a future soldier, this really bothers me. You should represent the good with the bad. [Side note; I realize the author is a former soldier, but that doesn't mean his representation of military life isn't skewed.]
As for the writing, it was good in its form. The stories flowed well and the open-ends were very attention grabbing. The only story I actually liked was Kids.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
As for the writing, it was good in its form. The stories flowed well and the open-ends were very attention grabbing. The only story I actually liked was Kids.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
Disclaimer: I received this book as an advanced reader copy from the publisher, in partnership with The Reading Room, to read and review.
I wanted this to be so much more than it was. The writing style is great; I really got absorbed into most of the stories. However, they usually ended right after things started getting interesting. I’m not saying cliffhanger; I’m saying it felt like the stories ended mid-sentence. Even when a story has a cliffhanger, you know a conclusion is coming and can make guesses about what’s coming next, thus heightening anticipation. In these stories, that set-up is missing. It’s a lot of extemporaneous thoughts and actions, so there’s no sense of direction to where the stories are going. Then, by the time you reach the end of the story it’s such an abrupt conclusion, I was left more like, “so what was the point” instead of “what happens next”. Also, the description made it seem like there would be some interconnection between the stories by the use of recurring characters. However, I’m not sure this worked for me. These callbacks were practically non-existent. You would read a story about one guy or a group of guys and then a random side character from that story would be barely mentioned in another story. Or the main character in a story would end up being the random side character in another story, and you would only have a few vague words to hint that it’s the guy from the other story. An additional problem: Notice all the “guys” in those sentences? These stories are very focused on military males. Yes, the military has a male majority, but there are more and more females signing up to defend their country every day; it might have been nice to include a story about one of them.
This book has such an interesting concept; I just wish it had be executed in a different way.
I wanted this to be so much more than it was. The writing style is great; I really got absorbed into most of the stories. However, they usually ended right after things started getting interesting. I’m not saying cliffhanger; I’m saying it felt like the stories ended mid-sentence. Even when a story has a cliffhanger, you know a conclusion is coming and can make guesses about what’s coming next, thus heightening anticipation. In these stories, that set-up is missing. It’s a lot of extemporaneous thoughts and actions, so there’s no sense of direction to where the stories are going. Then, by the time you reach the end of the story it’s such an abrupt conclusion, I was left more like, “so what was the point” instead of “what happens next”. Also, the description made it seem like there would be some interconnection between the stories by the use of recurring characters. However, I’m not sure this worked for me. These callbacks were practically non-existent. You would read a story about one guy or a group of guys and then a random side character from that story would be barely mentioned in another story. Or the main character in a story would end up being the random side character in another story, and you would only have a few vague words to hint that it’s the guy from the other story. An additional problem: Notice all the “guys” in those sentences? These stories are very focused on military males. Yes, the military has a male majority, but there are more and more females signing up to defend their country every day; it might have been nice to include a story about one of them.
This book has such an interesting concept; I just wish it had be executed in a different way.
A very strong collection of short stories from a former National Guard medic that explore the affect of war on men, both in the field and back at home. Mogelson's rich characters and detailed observations make for a set of compelling and moving stories in a really wide variety of settings and situations. This is no one-trick post-combat pony, folks. Masculine without being overly dude-y, and a perfect use of the short story format. This is a good one, y'all.
War stories and war movies bother me. So, when I got this book to read, I almost didn't read it. Since it was a collection of short stories, I went ahead and read it, hoping for the best.
Mogelson did a great job depicting how wars and combat affect soldiers, both in war and in peacetime. This is actually why I dislike war stories so much: it's just commonplace to throw these men and women into horrific conditions, instruct them to kill then toss them back in to reality without any help. I've always felt that war is played as a game by the people declaring it. It's easy to declare when you never have to fight.
The characters we meet actually intertwine throughout the stories, their past, their present. Veterans of Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq. Veterans who can't handle life after war, who give up, turn angry and violent.
All in all, each story made me sad and angry about how vets are treated, or in several cases, ignored and left alone, after they have been used by the bigwigs to win their wars. Don't get me wrong, some wars were justified. But just as many were not.
Mogelson did a great job depicting how wars and combat affect soldiers, both in war and in peacetime. This is actually why I dislike war stories so much: it's just commonplace to throw these men and women into horrific conditions, instruct them to kill then toss them back in to reality without any help. I've always felt that war is played as a game by the people declaring it. It's easy to declare when you never have to fight.
The characters we meet actually intertwine throughout the stories, their past, their present. Veterans of Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq. Veterans who can't handle life after war, who give up, turn angry and violent.
All in all, each story made me sad and angry about how vets are treated, or in several cases, ignored and left alone, after they have been used by the bigwigs to win their wars. Don't get me wrong, some wars were justified. But just as many were not.
'These Heroic, Happy Dead: Stories' by Luke Mogelson is a collection of 10 short stories with a linked theme and some subtle links between them.
The stories here are about people affected by recent wars that American has been involved in. Through deployments to criminal activity. A shady military contractor, a reporter talking about Kabul, and a guy who talks his way into a crew job on a boat in the San Francisco bay are just a few of these characters. These are flawed, human characters who sometimes make bad choices. Much of that is fueled by experiences they've had in a warzone.
The author is a recent reporter for the New Yorker and was based in Afghanistan. Like many short story collections, I thought some stories were better than others. A couple of the stories are online at The New Yorker if you want a sample.
The writing style is clean and unbiased. There is no weighting judgment placed on the characters or their actions. They just are who they are, forever changed by war. The work is reminiscent to me of the writings of Tim O'Brien. I enjoyed reading this work.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Crown Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
The stories here are about people affected by recent wars that American has been involved in. Through deployments to criminal activity. A shady military contractor, a reporter talking about Kabul, and a guy who talks his way into a crew job on a boat in the San Francisco bay are just a few of these characters. These are flawed, human characters who sometimes make bad choices. Much of that is fueled by experiences they've had in a warzone.
The author is a recent reporter for the New Yorker and was based in Afghanistan. Like many short story collections, I thought some stories were better than others. A couple of the stories are online at The New Yorker if you want a sample.
The writing style is clean and unbiased. There is no weighting judgment placed on the characters or their actions. They just are who they are, forever changed by war. The work is reminiscent to me of the writings of Tim O'Brien. I enjoyed reading this work.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Crown Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
I rated this 1 star which means "I did not like it" according to the GR rating system. I'll admit I only read the first two stories. The writing was quite well done, easy to read and follow. I actually liked both beginnings but neither story had a point. They just ended. I felt they were pointless and I felt it was pointless to read the rest of the stories, it was a waste of my time to read the first two. I got this book free as a review copy.
Edit: I read some of the other reviews. According to the showcased reviews, the writing is supposed to show how war affected these veterans but I did not get a feel of that at all. I felt the writing was too shallow to depict any of that. There just wasn't enough depth in the writing to portray that, which is why I gave it a 1 star.
Edit: I read some of the other reviews. According to the showcased reviews, the writing is supposed to show how war affected these veterans but I did not get a feel of that at all. I felt the writing was too shallow to depict any of that. There just wasn't enough depth in the writing to portray that, which is why I gave it a 1 star.