The Coldest Night

Finished January 2

The Coldest Night by Robert Olmstead

This novel is about a young man named Henry Childs. Henry and his mother Clemmie left their mountain home for the city of Charleston when he was young. Henry was athletic and liked nature. He began working at stables across the river after the owner met Clemmie at the veteran's hospital she worked at. 

Mercy, a girl a year older than him began coming to ride one of the horses in 1950, when she was in her senior year of high school. The two fall in love, but her wealthy family doesn't accept their relationship and despite their efforts, Henry finds himself alone. 

In his pain, he enlists and finds himself in Korea just as the battle for the Chosin Reservoir is starting, and the war scenes are brutally honest. In many ways, Henry is still a boy, but he finds himself taken under the wing of a man named Lew, also from Charleston, and the two stick together through the worst of it. 

We also see how Henry, broken in some ways, returns to Charleston, to find some things changed and some things the same as they were. He has trouble adjusting to civilian life, marked as he is by his wartime experiences. 

This is an emotional read, graphically violent at times, but so beautifully written that it captured me entirely. 

Give Me Tomorrow

Finished December 5
Give Me Tomorrow: The Korean War's Greatest Untold Story - The Epic Stand of the Marines of George Company by Patrick K. O'Donnell, read by Lloyd James

This book follows the men of George Company of the US Marines through their battles in Korea. From the sea landing at Inchon, through their fight to get to the Chosin Reservoir, and back to Inchon again.
The description of the battles they fought is matter of fact, graphic and brutal. The story isn't entirely linear, and some scenes appear more than once, almost as teasers to a more complete scene told later. We see the stories of individual men, and how they faced the challenges, and the losses that the battles brought to them. The words of the individual men are what add the immediacy that comes through here.
This isn't an easy book to read, and it shows the brutality and horrifying nature of war along with the courage and endurance that the men involved showed.

War Through The Generations 2014 Challenge

2014 War Challenge With a Twist

2014 is fast approaching. At War Through the Generations, they decided to mix things up a bit.

They will focus on 1 war for 2 months rather than a full or half year.

Every two months, they’ll post a new linky for a new war so everyone can share their review links.

In other words, read books from any of the listed wars during the entire year, then come back and post your reviews in the linky for the designated month.

Here’s the schedule:

• Jan./Feb.: Gulf Wars (Gulf War/Operation Desert Storm and Iraq War/Operation Iraqi Freedom)
• March/April: French and Indian War
• May/June: Korean War
• July/August: WWI (100th Anniversary)
• Sept./Oct.: WWII
• Nov./Dec.: Vietnam War

Level of Participation:

• Dip Your Toes: Read 1 book for any war
  
• Novice: Read 1 book per war throughout the year for a total of 6 books on 6 different wars
• Intermediate: Read 2+ books for 1 war, and 1 book for each of the others for a total of 7 books
• Expert: Read 2+ books for each war for a total of 12 books

I will be doing at least the Novice level for the year, but may do more for some of the wars. My plan for Jan/Feb will be for the Novice for sure as I will have to go searching for books for this group of wars. 

Interesting Fiction

Finished February 20
Lark & Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips
This novel takes us back and forth between Corporal Robert Leavitt in Korea in July 1950 and the town of Winfield, West Virginia in July 1959.
In West Virginia Lark, 17, and her brother Termite, 9, live with their aunt Noreen (Nonie). Termite is Leavitt's son, born hydrocephalic and unable to walk or talk. In the West Virginia portion of the story, we see things from the points of view of Lark, Nonie, and Termite. We see the children's mother Lola from many viewpoints, including Nonie's and Leavitt's, that let us understand her motivations and actions. Termite and Lark are very close and Termite communicates with sounds, sometimes parroting those around him, and very much in tune with the sounds of his environment, reacting to things before those around him hear them.
Leavitt is caught up in an action in South Korea involving refugees. Leavitt, injured, has taken shelter in a tunnel with many of the surviving refugees and is unable to contact the rest of the men in his unit.
Back in West Virginia, Lark and Termite like to watch the world from a tunnel near them. It took me a while to get drawn into this but once I was it fully engaged me. The characters are what drives this book for me. Although there are certainly major events that take place in both settings that change the course of lives and matter deeply, the characters are what makes this book come alive.