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A review by ayaesther
Redeployment by Phil Klay
5.0
BookRiot 2015 #ReadHarder Challenge #14 - A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize, or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade
Redeployment by Phil Klay
I couldn't not read this book after seeing it plastered all over the Hunter College screens this past fall. (Klay is a graduate of Hunter's MFA program. The college was super proud of his National Book Award.) I've never read war fiction before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. This was wonderfully surprising.
Redeployment is a series of short stories about men (more on this later) in various roles in the armed forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. These stories were surprisingly informative and frequently poignant. I was particularly struck with this quote: "Everybody thanks you for your service, but nobody knows what they're thanking you for." Some told stories of soldiers dealing with combat and others from roles that few consider when they think of soldiers (a chaplain, a health clinic organizer, a psychological ops soldier, and Mortuary Affairs, to name a few). The story that shares the collection's title is heartbreaking as it deals with a man's struggle to re-assimilate into "normal life."
Klay not only writes from his experiences, but it's clear that he talked carefully with others whose experiences differed from his own. My only qualm is that I wished he had included a female perspective outside of the wives and other women left behind.
I realized after reading this that it's very easy to have a strong opinion over things you know nothing about - in this case, our country's most recent wars. There is such a huge disconnect between the people who send our soldiers off to war, the people who both support and protest the war, and the people actually fighting the war. This collection is well-worth your time. It's beautifully written, and hey, your perspective on all of this may change. Mine certainly did.
Redeployment by Phil Klay
I couldn't not read this book after seeing it plastered all over the Hunter College screens this past fall. (Klay is a graduate of Hunter's MFA program. The college was super proud of his National Book Award.) I've never read war fiction before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. This was wonderfully surprising.
Redeployment is a series of short stories about men (more on this later) in various roles in the armed forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. These stories were surprisingly informative and frequently poignant. I was particularly struck with this quote: "Everybody thanks you for your service, but nobody knows what they're thanking you for." Some told stories of soldiers dealing with combat and others from roles that few consider when they think of soldiers (a chaplain, a health clinic organizer, a psychological ops soldier, and Mortuary Affairs, to name a few). The story that shares the collection's title is heartbreaking as it deals with a man's struggle to re-assimilate into "normal life."
Klay not only writes from his experiences, but it's clear that he talked carefully with others whose experiences differed from his own. My only qualm is that I wished he had included a female perspective outside of the wives and other women left behind.
I realized after reading this that it's very easy to have a strong opinion over things you know nothing about - in this case, our country's most recent wars. There is such a huge disconnect between the people who send our soldiers off to war, the people who both support and protest the war, and the people actually fighting the war. This collection is well-worth your time. It's beautifully written, and hey, your perspective on all of this may change. Mine certainly did.