A review by mary_soon_lee
Redeployment by Phil Klay

5.0

This is a collection of short stories. All but one of the stories are first-person accounts of a soldier's experience during or after deployment in Iraq. Every single story is good. Every single story made me think. They are quick to read, but not easy to read. There are accounts of retrieving bodies; of devising insults to shout at insurgents in order to get them to run out into the open; of killing; of casualties; of veterans struggling with civilian life. In fiction and movies, war often has an escapist, heroic, romantic aspect. In contrast, "Redeployment" shows war as grim rather than glorious. Both the narrators and the Iraq war are shown as flawed. Against that backdrop, there are moments when the bonds between soldiers stand out as redemptive. A very good book.