Fire and Forget

March 15, 2013

With wars come war stories and from those stories evolves literature. Leading this generation of war literature is this collection of short stories written by soldiers and a military spouse whose lives were directly affected by the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. As is to be expected, some stories, including Brian Turner's "The Wave That Takes Them Under," discuss life in foreign battles; many others, such as Jacob Siegel's "Smile, There Are IEDs Everywhere," reveal the various issues involved in deployment and returning home to people who are fully aware of the war experience. "Roll Call" by David Abrams is especially warming and heart-shattering as soldiers reflect on the good times at a fellow soldier's funeral. Perry O'Brien's "Poughkeepsie" likewise captures the confusion and pain of separation due to war. The encompassing and humanistic tone is the heart of this work. The language may occasionally be challenging for civilians, but the honesty and authenticity of the stories are universal. VERDICT Like Walter Dean Myers's Sunrise Over Fallujah, these tales will appeal to readers of war and historical fiction. --Ashanti White, Yelm, WA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2013
While the grand, noble causes of the past wars continue to capture our collective imaginations, the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have been treated with greater ambivalence. Fire and Forget, a collection of short stories by authors who are also military veterans (or, in one case, a family member), captures the messiness of soldiering when the mission and endgame are unclear. Though fiction, each work reads true, filled with tension, fear, and anger. Readers are transported to desert checkpoints, ride along with vehicle convoys, and return home from combat to face an uncertain future. Standouts include Andrew Slater's New Me, a sobering glimpse inside the mind of a soldier who has suffered a traumatic brain injury. In Tips for a Smooth Transition, Siobhan Fallon, an army wife, quotes from a manual that urges spouses to set up a security plan in the event that their husbands experience a vivid flashback. It's a stark reminder that war, for combatants and their families, never truly ends. Writes Gavin Ford Kovite: Heads they win, tails you lose. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)