Genre: YA, Historical Fiction
Published: 1997, 469 pgs.
Source: Personal library, (received in book swap at Utah Book Bloggers Party from Angie of Angieville)
Review: 4/5 stars
As I mentioned in my last post, I've been in a reading rut for a while. I just haven't had much desire to read. I'm hoping that this book has pulled me out of the rut. I believe it has.
Rebecca Phillips enlisted with the Army as a nurse to run away from some problems at home. She didn't know that going to Vietnam would make all her problems worse. The book is divided into two parts: the War and the World. The first half describes the horrors of war with honesty and feeling. In the second half Rebecca tries to recover from the experiences that she endured.
I quite enjoyed this book. I really liked Rebecca's character as well as the other supporting roles that make up the story. I must give a disclaimer though. Just because this site is called Good Clean Reads does not mean that all the books I review are "clean". This is definitely one to "read at your own risk". The subject matter is Vietnam and it's gritty. The language could be worse but it is definitely strong. The descriptions of wounded soldiers are done tastefully but there is a lot of it. I think White manages to describe the atrocities without being gratuitous but it is still not easy to read.
The Road Home is definitely not for everyone, especially those offended by profanity and vain references to Deity. I normally stay away from that myself. But in this case, I still really enjoyed this story of a young woman's experience in war and recovery from the horrors she faced.
Rating: 2.3.5 There were some sexual references but nothing explicit. Violence is plentiful due to the war setting. There were 3 or 4 f-words and lots of other profanity including vain references to Deity.
4 comments:
Yay! Kim, I'm utterly delighted to read your review. I worried when I gave it to you since I know it's a hard read and there is much of the roughness about it. But as it is historical fiction and the characters are so strong, I hoped you would enjoy it.
Rebecca and Michael's story always resonates with me and I love passing it on to others, particularly as it's out of print.
I will have to read this one. I'm in a Vietnam reading challenge right now and it's definitely not pleasure reading. The language and violence seem to go with the territory.
Love seeing a post! Hope you get out of your reading rut, but if not, that's life! You'll stay on my Google reader!
The premise of this book sounds good. But I always question why YA books contain profanity. I just finished The Hunger Games and was so pleased it didn't contain any profanity or excessive sexual references and it's a bestseller!
Thanks for your great blog - I'm glad you are back. I'm not huge fan of "blogger awards" but thought I'd pass this award on to you just so you know I enjoy your blog.
Kathy
http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com/2010/08/versatile-blogger.html
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