Tuesday's Promise

April 15, 2017
Affecting memoir by wounded veteran and PTSD-treatment advocate Montalvan (Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him, 2011), well known for his public appearances with his service dog, Tuesday."I've never sat down and calculated the thousands and thousands of miles we've traveled together, but I do know this much: The longest journey of all was the one inside my head." So writes Purple Heart recipient Montalvan, whose body was shattered in combat in Iraq and who suffered the well-documented travails of stress upon his return. In the company of Tuesday, an affable golden retriever with dancing eyebrows, the author worked his way out of the solitude of an apartment and began to advocate for veterans' rights across the country. Montalvan's tone ranges from the affectionate to the aggrieved, just as his narrative ranges from an inspirational encounter with a withdrawn Tuskegee Airman to some difficult passages describing what it feels like to be blown up, to lose a limb--and, moreover, to be sculpted surgically to accommodate a prosthetic leg: "My leg--or where my leg had been that morning--felt weird and slightly indescribable. But it didn't hurt anymore, and I can't tell you what a relief that absence of pain felt like to me." It makes a sad denouement to know that the author, who writes hopefully of a continued life of advocacy and travel with Tuesday, committed suicide after finishing the book. His co-author offers the similarly hopeful thought that "Luis is waiting in a meadow somewhere for his beloved Tuesday," but the event should reinforce Montalvan's insistence that American combat veterans need more and better support from the government that sent them in harm's way. Speaking to both animal welfare and the well-being of wounded warriors, Montalvan's memoir is a testimonial to the "quest for wholeness" and the healing power of companionship.

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Starred review from March 15, 2017
With this compelling and ultimately heartbreaking title, Montalvan follows up his best-seller, Until Tuesday (2011), with the continuing story of his life as a veteran coping with PTSD. The sequel reveals the impact of his first book as he traveled the country with his popular service dog, Tuesday, and met veterans and their families facing the devastating long-term impacts of military service. On each page, it is obvious that the unique relationship he shared with Tuesday continued to anchor Montalvan's life and work, even as he began the task of planning for the future with his aging golden retriever. The stories shared here about other veterans are relevant, important, and powerful, and Montalvan's ability, with cowriter Henican, to present the ongoing personal and bureaucratic struggles suffered by so many will likely inspire readers to become more engaged with the veterans community. It is no spoiler to share that Montalvan lost his life to suicide in December, and Henican's brief afterword, with information about Tuesday's current home, is a fitting tribute to his friend. Tuesday's Promise and Montalvan's death are reminders of how much America still owes those who have served our country so faithfully. This powerful story has now become simply, and tragically, unforgettable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2017

As former U.S. Army captain Montalvan recounted in Until Tuesday, upon returning home from Iraq he was rescued from pain and post-traumatic stress disorder by golden retriever Tuesday. That memoir sold 300,000 copies, so expect good things from this account of how he and Tuesday take healing to the larger veteran community. With a 60,000-copy first printing.

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