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paigelm 's review for:
Be Safe I Love You
by Cara Hoffman
Hoffman's second novel is a story of coming home, and what to do when home is not the safe place you thought it was going to be. Lauren returns from her tour of duty in Iraq to be on terminal leave from the military, safe, or so everyone thinks, maybe except for Lauren. In a great opening, Hoffman introduces the wonderful relationship between Lauren and her younger brother Danny, through letters that Danny writes to "Sistopher" about her great five-star vacation to an exotic resort land, always ending his heartfelt letters with, "Be Safe, I Love You."
Lauren comes from a town where fighting in the military is one of only ways to make an money and escape any kind of frustrating and seemingly endless monotony people feel in smaller, burn-out, and sad hometowns. there are flashbacks to when she is a teenager with her two best friends, the three of them dreaming of different lives, ready to explore the world. She grew up raising her little brother Danny, whom she cares the world for, and is the reason she enlists in the first place. Her sense of responsibility for him and her family lead her to take a life choice that ends up changing who she is and who she wants to be.
Through retelling Lauren's story through both past and present, dreamworld and real world, Hoffman presents a picture of someone just barely grasping reality at some moments. She presents a woman who is both undeniable strong and confident, while also terrified of her old friends, her old life. She feels trapped by her home community instead of feeling comforted. She is a hero, but her actions were far from heroic. No one will understand what she was forced to learn to do in service of her country, so she embarks upon her contingency plan.
Lauren comes from a town where fighting in the military is one of only ways to make an money and escape any kind of frustrating and seemingly endless monotony people feel in smaller, burn-out, and sad hometowns. there are flashbacks to when she is a teenager with her two best friends, the three of them dreaming of different lives, ready to explore the world. She grew up raising her little brother Danny, whom she cares the world for, and is the reason she enlists in the first place. Her sense of responsibility for him and her family lead her to take a life choice that ends up changing who she is and who she wants to be.
Through retelling Lauren's story through both past and present, dreamworld and real world, Hoffman presents a picture of someone just barely grasping reality at some moments. She presents a woman who is both undeniable strong and confident, while also terrified of her old friends, her old life. She feels trapped by her home community instead of feeling comforted. She is a hero, but her actions were far from heroic. No one will understand what she was forced to learn to do in service of her country, so she embarks upon her contingency plan.