by Harry Parker, 2016, Alfred A. Knopf, New York

This is a novel about a soldier fighting in an unknown country who steps on an IED.  He almost dies as a result, but somehow survives and loses both of his legs.

There are multiple story lines in the book: the story of the soldier himself, the insurgents they were fighting, a family in the country that sided with the government and the foreign soldiers who came to fight the insurgents, and the children who were on each side.  The circumstances surrounding each of these groups is very interesting.

The book is unusual for a couple of reasons.  First is the use of inanimate objects, such as bullets, a helmet, a bicycle, a cot, etc., to tell the story.  Usually a story is told in either the first or third person.  In this case, it’s told from the standpoint of multiple third objects.  This took a bit of getting used to on my part and I think it actually detracted a bit from the book.  Since each chapter was told by a different “thing”, it took a bit to determine what the “thing” actually was.  I think the story could have been told just as well, or better, by either the person involved or a third person.  In the end, however, the story came together and it wasn’t as much of a detraction as it was when I first started reading.

The second reason this book was a bit different was that it wasn’t told chronologically.  The story started actually with the soldier being blown up and then backtracked and went forward from there.  This could be somewhat disconcerting, but I found that it actually made the story more interesting as the author could describe the same event from several different viewpoints.

I didn’t like the book at all in the beginning as it seemed to have too much detail and jargon about the patrols that the soldiers were involved in and it was hard to follow because of the inanimate object storytelling.  After finishing the book, however, I felt it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be.  The story about a soldier injured in this way and everything that lead up to it and the impact of the injury is compelling.  When most of us are going about our daily lives we don’t have to think about what is going on in a war zone and how it impacts those who are grievously injured.  This book vividly brings it all to mind.