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The Yellow Birds (Back Bay) is Kevin Powers's harrowing story of two young soldiers, Private Bartle and Private Murphy, trying to stay alive as their platoon launches a bloody battle for Al Tafar, Iraq. Bound together since basic training, the two have been dropped into a war neither is prepared for. Powers is a veteran of the war in Iraq, and his debut novel was a 2012 National Book Award finalist.
"The war tried to kill us in the spring." So begins this powerful account of friendship and loss. In Al Tafar, Iraq, twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighteen-year-old Private Murphy cling to life as their platoon launches a bloody battle for the city. Bound together since basic training when Bartle makes a promise to bring Murphy safely home, the two have been dropped into a war neither is prepared for.
In the endless days that follow, the two young soldiers do everything to protect each other from the forces that press in on every side: the insurgents, physical fatigue, and the mental stress that comes from constant danger. As reality begins to blur into a hazy nightmare, Murphy becomes increasingly unmoored from the world around him and Bartle takes actions he could never have imagined.
With profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on mothers and families at home, The Yellow Birds is a groundbreaking novel that is destined to become a classic.
Review:
"This moving debut from Powers (a former Army machine gunner) is a study of combat, guilt, and friendship forged under fire. Pvt. John Bartle, 21, and Pvt. Daniel Murphy, 18, meet at Fort Dix, N.J., where Bartle is assigned to watch over Murphy. The duo is deployed to Iraq, and the novel alternates between the men's war zone experiences and Bartle's life after returning home. Early on, it emerges that Murphy has been killed; Bartle is haunted by guilt, and the details of Murphy's death surface slowly. Powers writes gripping battle scenes, and his portrait of male friendship, while cheerless, is deeply felt. As a poet, the author's prose is ambitious, which sets his treatment of the theme apart — as in this musing from Bartle: 'though it's hard to get close to saying what the heart is, it must at least be that which rushes to spill out of those parentheses which were the beginning and end of my war.' The sparse scene where Bartle finally recounts Murphy's fate is masterful and Powers's style and story are haunting. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review:
"The All Quiet on the Western Front of America's Arab wars." Tom Wolfe
Kevin Powers was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University, and holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Michener Fellow in Poetry. He served in the US Army in 2004 and 2005 in Iraq, where he was deployed as a machine gunner in Mosul and Tal Afar. This is his first novel.
FortWorthReader, January 2, 2013 (view all comments by FortWorthReader)
I have looked at every soldier differently after reading this book. Well written, a stab in the heart to read, The Yellow Birds has changed me forever, as did Johnny Got His Gun years ago. An important book for everyone to read.
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bohola1959, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by bohola1959)
This debut novel captures the emotional turmoil suffered by soldiers in the Iraq War and their ongoing struggles when they come home. Kevin Powers' novel is beautifully written, even poetic. He shows what cameras cannot - the questions, the fears, the bravery, the uneasiness of being called heroes. Highly recommended.
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Product details
pages
Little Brown and Company -
English9780316219365
Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"This moving debut from Powers (a former Army machine gunner) is a study of combat, guilt, and friendship forged under fire. Pvt. John Bartle, 21, and Pvt. Daniel Murphy, 18, meet at Fort Dix, N.J., where Bartle is assigned to watch over Murphy. The duo is deployed to Iraq, and the novel alternates between the men's war zone experiences and Bartle's life after returning home. Early on, it emerges that Murphy has been killed; Bartle is haunted by guilt, and the details of Murphy's death surface slowly. Powers writes gripping battle scenes, and his portrait of male friendship, while cheerless, is deeply felt. As a poet, the author's prose is ambitious, which sets his treatment of the theme apart — as in this musing from Bartle: 'though it's hard to get close to saying what the heart is, it must at least be that which rushes to spill out of those parentheses which were the beginning and end of my war.' The sparse scene where Bartle finally recounts Murphy's fate is masterful and Powers's style and story are haunting. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
"Review"
by Tom Wolfe,
"The All Quiet on the Western Front of America's Arab wars."
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