Reviews

May 29 2011

Two Wars by Nate Self

Cover of "Two Wars: One Hero's Fight on T...

Cover via Amazon

Despite my history background, I am not one to read a lot of military history or focus on wars from the perspective of soldiers. My focus in graduate school was intellectual and diplomatic history. And when I read history now it is rarely focused on the military.

Two things prompted me to read Two Wars: One Hero’s Fight on Two Fronts–Abroad and Within by Nate Self: 1) it was available for free on the Kindle for a period of time and 2) once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down.

It was just one of those stories that grabs you and holds you until you finish. And what it does is give you a first person account of what it is like to train to be a solider, fight in far off places, even return a hero only to struggle with a psychological challenge that is as great a threat as any war or battle.

Here is the publishers descpription:

Former army ranger Nate Self, a hero from the Robert’s Ridge rescue in Afghanistan, tells his whole story—from the pulse-pounding battle in the mountains of Afghanistan to the high-stakes battle he has waged against post traumatic stress disorder. This book will become a go-to book for understanding the long-term effects of the war on terror. Thousands of families are fighting this battle, and Nate opens up his life—including his successes, tragedies, struggles with thoughts of suicide—to show how his faith and his family pulled him through.

I found the writing to be very well done. Self tells the story of how he was drawn to the military, how his career developed, the challenges and rewards of life in the army, all as a backdrop to that life changing battle on the mountain.

But the second half of the book is equally well done. The style changes but the simple and effective descriptions still tell a powerful story – this time about how he struggled to return to “normal” life and how it almost took his marriage and his life.

All of this as a faithful Christian seeking to serve God in every facet of his life. The result is a unique insight into the mind and experiences of a solider fighting on the front lines of the war on terror.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

May 27 2011

New York Times on Toward You by Jim Krusoe

Following in my footsteps the NYT has a review of Toward You by Jim Krusoe.  Sam Munson doesn’t care much for the parts of the story not in the narrator’s voice buy appreciates Krusoe’s talent and the voice of Bob:

That voice is the most powerful component of “Toward You” — when Bob speaks, we listen. Krusoe’s skill both in evoking Bob’s claustrophobic loneliness (he will address any being, animate or not, as though it were capable of conversation) and in endowing him with a rich but never writerly language (he recalls Yvonne preparing to eat a bowl of pea soup “as a few croutons floated on its quiet, green surface”) ensure that he has our attention.

[...]

Krusoe’s sure and subtle imaginings of such characters — yearning, isolated and finally enigmatic — place him among the foremost creators of surreal ­Americana.

I can agree with that last sentence but the novel as a whole didn’t quite work for me:

Krusoe is clearly a talented wordsmith with a witty eye for the lives and relationships of the socially challenged. But for me it seems the combination of lead character, plot and other elements have to come together just right for it to “work.”

 

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By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews, Views • 0 • Tags: , ,

May 27 2011

Black Ghosts by Victor Ostrovsky

I used to read a lot of espionage fiction. At its best it has a nice blend of action and intrigue with character depth and complex plots. But I haven’t been reading much of it lately.

When I was pitched on Black Ghosts by Victor Ostrovsky it seemed like a nice break and a quick entertaining read. That turned out to be true – to a degree – but it lacked the depth and complexity I was looking for.

Black Ghosts gets its name from an underground Russian group of ex-KGB operatives who secretly control large segments of the military and government in the former Soviet Union.

One of the leaders, Peter Ivanovitch Rogov,  manages to escape from prison in Siberia and plots to return Mother Russia to the glory of the Czars – powerful autocratic rule, not the weak corruption of democracy. Allies inside the US are manipulating the government to help him and thus return the money making conflict of the Cold War years.

A former elite US military and intelligence operative gets inadvertently sucked into the battle to stop this group when a friend shows up at his door shot and bleeding – actually a very attractive women shows up at his door and leads Edward to his friend.

As Edward slowly gets pulled in deeper and deeper, and as Rogov’s plan gets closer to completion, a show down is building. Can Edward save Russia and the United States at the same time? Can former enemies and mafia kingpins work with a makeshift army to defeat Rogov? Keep Reading

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

May 20 2011

Lucy and the Green Man by Linda Newbery

I saw Lucy and the Green Man at the public library while in the kids area with my, well, kids. I immediately thought of my wife as she loves gardening and the outdoors and, like me, loves well done illustrations to children’s and young adult literature.

I checked it out and gave it to her and she loved it and read it to the kids at bedtime a number of nights.  She finally gave it back and said I need it to read it as it was in her “top ten” favorites. So read it one night before bed too.

It really is a great little book. A touching and captivating story about life and death, about nature and belief, about how we react to the world around us. It has a classic tone and style – a sense of timelessness even as it is set clearly in modern times.

Here is the publishers blurb which will give you a sense of the story:

Lucy knew Lob was there, from the way she felt inside. There was a sparking of mischief in her head, a tingle of energy in her arms and legs. She wanted to run, jump, climb, be everywhere at once. You have to be a special person to see Lob, that’s what Lucy’s Grandpa Will says. Lucy’s parents don’t believe in him. But Lucy does. And then she finally catches sight of the Green Man in Grandpa’s garden. And then she knows. Lob is here, and he is real—now and forever and ever!

The story is short enough that I won’t give away anymore of the plot but it is an interesting take on this legendary character. It isn’t the fast paced action adventure of so much children’s and young adult books these days but if you like slower paced more “old-fashioned” style stories this one is worth checking out.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , ,

May 18 2011

Toward You by Jim Krusoe

It is interesting to me how sometimes an author’s style and approach can “work” while at other times – with almost the exact same ingredients – it falls flat. I was pondering this after having read Jim Krusoe‘s latest novel Toward You.

Krusoe spins what I would describe as tales of comic absurd-ism. Little lives not quite connected to reality tempered with a connection to, or a desperate need to connect to, the afterlife.

In this volume, a furniture upholsterer named Bob has been working his whole life on a “communicator” that would allow the living to hear from the dead. But the communicator seems instead to be taking the focus off  more important things in his life – like his work and relationships with the living. A dead dog and and encounter with an ex-girlfriend kick off the plot such as it is.

Krusoe has a way with sketching witty vignettes with these desperate characters – some goodhearted, others not – that makes the reading enjoyable. But the story in this and the previous novel  just don’t have the movement and zip of the first.

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By Kevin Holtsberry • Reviews • 0 • Tags: ,

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