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maddis_must_reads 's review for:
I have so many feelings about this book. Mostly, I was conflicted on how to rate it because I just never feel like memoirs should be rated on writing quality, because if someone is brave enough to be vulnerable and let strangers into their lives in any way, that is commendable and how well they tell the story shouldn’t detract from that.
This story is no different. It is one of the most gut wrenching war stories I’ve read, and I can only imagine the trauma and PTSD that Marcus Luttrell has and will have to cope with for the rest of his life as a result of these events. He goes into that trauma a little bit, but I’m sure writing it down tore open so many wounds. The process of writing this book may have been partly cathartic, but ultimately I’m sure it was a devastating process.
Where I’m conflicted, is that although I never want to judge the writing quality of memoirs, especially that of an American hero who likely never intended to write a book - especially of this magnitude - I had a really hard time with the writing for the first half of the book. The ordering of the events were not as cohesive as I would have liked. It was also largely tangential and repeated a lot of the same thoughts/events/jokes.
Once the story got into the actual battle itself, I was awestruck and I thought he did a very respectable job of retelling his horrifying experience losing his friends and teammates, his time missing in action, and some snippets at returning home after he was rescued. He honored his fallen brothers and I really appreciate how he touched on the families and his experience visiting with them at the end.
Overall, I am glad he got permission to write this book and that he was brave enough dig into those open wounds that will never fully heal in order to portray the truth of what happened during Operation Redwing. It could’ve been done with less opinionated moments (particularly about the media) but it was an important book nonetheless.
This story is no different. It is one of the most gut wrenching war stories I’ve read, and I can only imagine the trauma and PTSD that Marcus Luttrell has and will have to cope with for the rest of his life as a result of these events. He goes into that trauma a little bit, but I’m sure writing it down tore open so many wounds. The process of writing this book may have been partly cathartic, but ultimately I’m sure it was a devastating process.
Where I’m conflicted, is that although I never want to judge the writing quality of memoirs, especially that of an American hero who likely never intended to write a book - especially of this magnitude - I had a really hard time with the writing for the first half of the book. The ordering of the events were not as cohesive as I would have liked. It was also largely tangential and repeated a lot of the same thoughts/events/jokes.
Once the story got into the actual battle itself, I was awestruck and I thought he did a very respectable job of retelling his horrifying experience losing his friends and teammates, his time missing in action, and some snippets at returning home after he was rescued. He honored his fallen brothers and I really appreciate how he touched on the families and his experience visiting with them at the end.
Overall, I am glad he got permission to write this book and that he was brave enough dig into those open wounds that will never fully heal in order to portray the truth of what happened during Operation Redwing. It could’ve been done with less opinionated moments (particularly about the media) but it was an important book nonetheless.