If you choose to spend your Memorial Day Weekend reading,
here are a few novels you might consider.
COLD MOUNTAIN
Charles Frazier's debut novel, set in the Civil War-era
rural South, follows the quest of wounded Confederate soldier Inman. Having seen
the horrors of battle, Inman leaves his post and begins a long walk home to the
Blue Ridge Mountains.
Ada, Inman’s love, struggles with war-time realities on the home
front as societal norms change with the destructions and hardships of war.
As the great conflict comes to an end, Inman and Ada, at
last, find each other, but the realities of war and violence promises to change
them both forever.
BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK
This 2012 book by Ben Fountain is a sharp satire that points
a harsh finger at the politicians and companies hoping to capitalize on the very
real people of our military forces.
Iraq war soldiers, home for a brief leave, are given a hero’s
welcome during the Super Bowl. Through the eyes of our main character, Billy
Lynn, we see the boisterous and the absurd as sincere feelings and emotions mix
with opportunism.
ALL QUIET on the WESTERN FRONT
Erich Maria Remarque, a veteran of WWI, wrote about the
brutal details of war. The story follows an ordinary man; a German soldier on
the Western front during WWI named Paul. The tale presents the ugly reality
soldiers faced every day. It also details the horrific toll war takes on both
the physical and mental.
We see Paul swing from enthusiastic and patriotic in the
face of coming war to broken and sad in the reality. This classic reflects on an entire generation,
once full of hope, beaten by conflict. This title is considered by many, a true
anti-war story.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE- FIVE
Slaughterhouse Five is Kurt Vonnegut’s 1969 anti-war novel. Though
we are presented with Vonnegut’s personal experiences as a prisoner of war
during the bombing of Dresden in World War II, this novel is largely told from
the perspective of fictional character, Billy Pilgrim. Billy bounces through
time and we see important moments in his life, however most of the book takes
place in Europe during WWII. Through the futility and brutality of his own imprisonment
and the characterizations of the people he confronted at the time, Vonnegut
clearly outlines the useless nature of war.
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