Reviews

Our Year of War by Daniel Bolger

Posted on by Jeff Grim / 0 Comment

Ever since I was a kid, the Vietnam War has fascinated me. I try to read as many of the new books on the war that come onto the market. Daniel Bolger recently wrote one on the future Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and his brother Tom in Our Year of War: Two Brothers, Vietnam, and a Nation Divided.

Bolger brings to the book his experience as an officer who served in the U.S. Army and commanded troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He retired as a Lieutenant General. His insight is invaluable when he examines the many faults with the U.S. approach to the Vietnam War – everything from the individual replacement system to the strategy and tactics used by the Americans.

The book is an awesome account of Chuck and Tom Hagel’s year in Vietnam (1968 – which covered the Tet Offensive and numerous large operations).  It not only recounts their exploits, but also their diverging views on the war. Chuck viewed the war more favorably than Tom. Their reasons were based on their temperaments and their experiences – Tom had a few more psychologically damaging experiences than Chuck.

Bolger goes beyond the standard chronological account of soldiers in combat. He includes the events that were occurring in the U.S. at the time the Hagels were there – including the assassination of Martin Luther King and some of the race riots that rocked the U.S. This inclusion helped put into context the feelings of the troops as they fought an unseen enemy while their home cities were burning.

The book is an excellent look at not only how two brothers coped with war, but also how the U.S. changed with the brothers as the Vietnam War dragged on.

 

Reviews

The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinborough

Posted on by Kevin Holtsberry / 0 Comment

I stumbled on The Language of Dying at Half Price Books and put it on a list of books I would like to read.  I was really taken by one particular blurb:

“A beautiful story, honestly told.”—Neil Gaiman

Isn’t that what every reader is looking for?

Well, I finally managed to request it from the library and read it.

It is an artful yet rather depressing novella about a family dealing with the pending death of their father. The grief brings out both love and a difficult past. The tension ratchets up the conflicts and relationships.

I felt like it was well done, but hard to say you “enjoy” a book like this.

The Kirkus review captures some of the problems:

Through flashbacks, Pinborough reveals important parts of the family’s history: the day their mother left, the day one of the twins began doing drugs, the abusive former marriage of the narrator. But this back story proves to be the book’s weakness; it offers little in terms of actual perspective on the characters and instead feels somewhat clichéd. Perhaps this is the point: this family could represent, and does represent, all of us as we deal with death. But at the same time the author has created these pasts for the characters for a reason, and they could have been more unusual. The other weakness is the writing itself: the sentences lack true lyricism, and the use of second-person narration is jarring. The one thing that elevates it is the strange and inexplicable vision that awaits the narrator at the moment of her father’s death. She waits to revisit something she has seen before at times of great emotional change, and the meaning of that vision, while ambiguous, is also full of life, violence, and wild beauty.

Moments of strange fantasy make this meditation on loss both unexpected and meaningful.

I found the writing moody and atmospheric but, yeah, there did seem to be an element of the cliche in there too. But the mix of fantasy and harsh reality, combined with family dynamics, makes it a worthwhile short read.

Reviews

To Die in Vienna by Kevin Wignall

Posted on by Kevin Holtsberry / 0 Comment

Like Nick Arvin, I am a fan of Kevin Wignall and have been a long time reader of his work (check out the archive for reviews and interviews).  So I was pleased to be able to get an ARC of his latest novel To Die in Vienna.

I found it be an interesting story from Wignall in that instead of an amoral or detached/closed off serial killer/spy we have a central character who is painfully aware of his own weakness and need for connection.

I really enjoyed the central character Freddie Makin. One of the antagonists (or perhaps she is a friend, or merely an interlocutor)  Marina, was another favorite.

The story is not particularly fast paced or intense but there is a building sense of time running out for Freddie and it communicates the tricky issue of loyalty in the world of espionage.  The hook, that Freddie is just a surveillance contractor caught in a deadly trap for a mysterious reason, was well done and helped build suspense.

An entertaining and enjoyable read from a favorite author.  Great for beach or vacation reading.

BTW, this novel is soon to be a major motion picture starring Jake Gyllenhaal.

 

Reviews

Mad Boy by Nick Arvin

Posted on by Kevin Holtsberry / 1 Comment

I’m a fan of Nick Arvin.  I have enjoyed his work including Articles of War and The Reconstructionist and have been lucky enough to have him do some Q&A’s for the site (see here and here).  So I was excited to learn he had a new novel coming out this month and was able to get a review copy from NetGalley.

Mad Boy, which was released on Tuesday, is a wild, at times hilarious, at times touching, romp set during the War of 1812. The central character, Henry Phipps, is great.  Despite possibly being “mad” he has a fierce determination but also a sense of duty and loyalty that carries him through some very difficult circumstances.  But he is also obviously a boy; unlike some fiction where the child acts and thinks in ways that are not particularly childlike. The are also many intriguing secondary characters that Henry interacts with along his journey; his mother (dead and alive), his addiction prone father whose luck is always just about to turn, his honor bound brother, an avaricious and traitorous Redcoat, and the wealthy and brutal man who may be his real father.

In the setting and dialog Arvin transport you to a different world. Redcoats and Bluecoats face off, slaves seek their freedom, looters and pirates hope to take advantage of the chaos of war, while many people are trying to survive. Henry just wants to honor his mother’s wishes but doing so, with her voice still in his head, is far from easy.

I found Mad Boy to be a very different book than Arvin’s previous work, but a creative and entertaining one for sure.

 

Reviews

Quick Take: The Map to Everywhere by Carrie Ryan & John Parke Davis

Posted on by Kevin Holtsberry / 0 Comment

I decided to listen to The Map to Everywhere because Gwenda Bond spoke highly of the series.  So I downloaded it using Libby and listened to it on the commute, dog walks, etc.

I found it to be an interesting start to a middle grade fantasy series. I love the hook for Fin, no one can remember who he is for more than a few minutes. He uses this to become a master thief but it keeps him from making human connections with anyone.

Starts a little slow but picks up by the end. It is middle grade so has a simplicity necessary for younger readers. I listened to it on audio so not sure if that impacted the way I engaged with it. I liked it but didn’t love it.

Maybe should have my kids read/listen and get their take …

 

Reviews

First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence by Harlow Giles Unger

Posted on by Jeff Grim / 0 Comment

I consider myself a fairly well-read person when it comes to the American Revolution – both its military and political history. So, it was with some surprise, that I recently discovered another of our country’s “founding fathers” – Richard Henry Lee. Harlow Giles Unger writes about Lee in his book First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence.

According to Unger, history has mainly forgotten Lee. It remembers some of his more famous relatives – Light Horse Harry Lee of Revolutionary War fame and General Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy – but nothing really on the first person to call for independence, for union, and for a bill of rights. Unger works to enlighten the reader on the man behind these firsts.

As with most biographers, Unger is partial to his subject – not necessarily a bad thing. This is especially true in Unger’s chapters on the true author of the Declaration of Independence and the Anti-Federalists. Regarding the former, although Thomas Jefferson is credited with writing the Declaration of Independence, the words and ideas came from the speeches and writings of Lee. Unger points to documents written by Lee that first attribute the idea of independence for the colonies.

Regarding the Anti-Federalists, Lee was a vehement supporter. Based on his experiences with the British government, he totally opposed a strong central government. Unger writes that Lee’s Letters from the Federal Farmer was just as important for the Anti-Federalists as Alexander Hamilton’s The Federalist was for the Federalists. Lee’s arguments were so sound that the Anti-Federalists almost forced another constitutional convention if a few moderates had not defected to the Federalists and the Constitution was ratified.

Unger writes passionately and clearly describing the life of Lee and why he should not be forgotten as one our country’s founding fathers.