Nat'l Book Award for REDEPLOYMENT-Battles for Redemption

The 2014 Nat'l Book Award for fiction was awarded to Phil Klay's short story collection of soldiers fighting in Iraq & their re-entry into civilian life.  Klay, a Dartmouth, graduate served as a Marine in Iraq 2007-08  in a non-combat position.  His experiences & observations are clearly told.  The horrors of war, the dissociation from civilian life & the inane bureaucracy of the military detonate off the pages.   Klay said his stories are intended for the "right audience for the kind of stories that matter to those who served."  The stories are omnipotent in their depictions of war's atrocities rendering them too much to take in & process; not unlike soldiers' deployment experiences.  Ultimately, as Americans, we're beholden to our commitments to our troops during their dangerous tours & their readjustments returning home.  The forcefulness of Klay's writing considers the moral considerations & consequences of killing.  REDEPLOYMENT should be deemed required reading;  their impacts blazed into our conscientiousness.    

THE SUNFLOWER by Simon Wiesenthal, To Forgive, That is the Question

Simon Wiesenthal (b. Austria 1908-2005) was a Holocaust survivor.  After WWII, Wiesenthal made it his life's mission to hunt down Nazi SS mass murderers and bring them to justice in the courts of law. Wiesenthal wanted the world to know of the atrocities they committed remind us of the mass genocide of 11.000,000 lives systematically killed.  In Wiesenthal's THE SUNFLOWER he shares with us his encounter with a Nazi soldier on his deathbed.  While a concentration camp internee, he is summoned as a Jew to the dying soldier who wishes to allay his conscience & ask forgiveness for the atrocities and murders he committed.  Wiesenthal listened in silence to his heinous actions and remained silent when asked forgiveness.  This experience continued to weigh heavily on Mr. Wiesenthal.  Wiesenthal's quandary is his most important legacy.  THE SUNFLOWER poses the question to the reader what would should he have done & what would you have done.  Wiesenthal shared his feelings with fellow prisoners.  He is chastened by an inmate "If we survive this camp-and I don't think we will-and the world comes to its sense again, inhabited by people who look on each other as human beings, then there will be plenty of time to discuss the question of forgiveness."  Wiesenthal seeks the counsel of a surfeit of theologians, experts on social ethics, religious leaders, Holocaust survivors and others wrongfully interned.  Their introspections are contained in his book.  I contend forgiveness would have trivialized the mass genocide.  Forgiveness must be preceded by atonement.  "The opposite of not forgiving is neither cruelty, nor wallowing.  It is a way of healing and honoring our pain and grief" (Andre Stein.)  Wiesenthal eternally reminds us there are no innocent bystanders and actions carry consequences.    

Stephen King's REVIVAL a Nightmare Redux of Frankenstein

Stephen King, the former emperor of the horror genre, has lost his luster.  Once the reigning contemporary writer of fear & fantasy, his writing skills have been eluding him since his terrible accident in 1999.  King was critically struck by a van while walking near his home.  His road to recovery has been painful & arduous.  In 2002, King announced his retirement from writing due to immense pain & reduced stamina.  King has received numerous honors for his literary works.  Many have been made into successful films:  The Shawkshank Redemption & Stand by Me {The Body.} However, King himself has admitted that "the force of my invention has slowed down."  King's dedication list to literary influences in Revival starts with Mary Shelly.  Shelly whose literary masterpiece Frankenstein is mangled terribly in this rip-off of her theological contemplation of creation & humanity.  King's mad scientist (Rev. Charles) tampers with creating life with the purpose of discovering what lies beyond death's door.  Charles is a satirical, snake oil evangelist who preys on human weaknesses.  His fascination with the omnipotent powers of electricity creates a feeble, formulaic story without suspense with an absurd payoff.  I admire & agree with King's religious heresy which gives meaningful relevance to Revival.  "Religion is the theological equivalent of a quick-buck insurance scam."  "Millions have been burned shot, hung, electrocuted & torn to pieces…all in God's name."  I revile REVIVAL's cheesy, plagiarized plot mired in an ephemeral web of family melodrama.

WE ARE NOT OURSELVES, Do Not Bother Yourselves

NY Times Bestseller, WE ARE NOT OURSELVES, by NY born Matthew Thomas is a novel to not trouble yourselves with reading.  Thomas' first novel has been listed for the Flaherty Dunchan Prize.  It is the story of a the Leary family, Ed & Eileen & their son Connell.  Eileen is the unlikeable heroine of the novel.   We disdain her racism & penchant for looking down on everyone.  Her  inappropriate behaviors & flawed decisions drive her family in a vortex of insanity.  At a young age, Ed suffers from Alzheimer's or more likely a nervous break down.  The reader gets mired in the ugliness of Ed's decline & its toil on Eileen.  All the sacrifices Eileen makes to provide Connell with the best opportunities are squandered & he proves feckless.  For all the novels' repugnance, there is a magnetism to Eileen's character that will drag you down with her.   I recommend NOT getting embroiled into the Leary's family dramas.  "Ed thought even minimal indulgences were best lived without." I think it best not to indulge yourself with this eerily crafted novel.  

WOLF in WHITE VAN - A World of Ugly Magic that is Spellbinding

American novelist & musician, John Darnielle received a Nat'l Book Award Nom. for his 1st novel, WOLF in WHITE VAN.  This haunting & melancholy novel delves into the mind of Sean, a high school student whose obsession with survivalist video games blurs the boundaries between reality & insanity.  The perceptive writing draws you into Sean's world.  It begins as a mystery how & why Sean become so hideously disfigured.  Sean becomes a recluse after the mulitation of his face.  He creates a popular,  apocalyptic survivalist video game that quenches "the adolescent brain with its permanent thirst for blood."  Two teens fall under the video's spell with tragic results. Where does the blame lay for these games' addictions & its carnage?  In hindsight, Sean comprehends the allure, "people underestimate just how starved everybody is for some magic pathway."  I empathized with Sean's loneliness coping with his catastrophic injury.  I felt compelled to follow the chain of events which led to his pitiable state.  Darnielle's hypnotic writing conveyed the need to achieve the next outcome.  It's no mystery why this spellbinding story must be finished once you've started.  "Why is a tricky question."