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solange26's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kwilson271's review
4.0
A short story collection written by veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, the long, long, forgotten wars. Most deal with problematic homecomings, non glorify war or service.
My favorites? "Poughkeepsie", which depicts a broken down vet obsessed with a fresh faced college student who wrote to him at random during his deployment. He fantasizes about ridding her campus of rabbits. Then there's the dramatic "Roll Call", with dialogue straight out of Baghdad."When Engaging targets, Remember" gets the prize for most inventive use of bureaucratese.
My favorites? "Poughkeepsie", which depicts a broken down vet obsessed with a fresh faced college student who wrote to him at random during his deployment. He fantasizes about ridding her campus of rabbits. Then there's the dramatic "Roll Call", with dialogue straight out of Baghdad."When Engaging targets, Remember" gets the prize for most inventive use of bureaucratese.
beccalostinbooks's review
4.0
If you want to know what it is really like for soldiers and their families, then read the experiences presented in this short story collection. I had to read it slowly because I was blown away (hmm bad choice of phrase) by just about every story. Recommended.
timshel's review
4.0
I have yet to read the themed anthology that wasn't a little good, a little bad and a lot of in between. It's something I just expect now. After the last couple I read, I thought I was done with them, but here comes another one that catches my attention: Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War. I'm not sure why I wanted to read this. I hoped I could get something out of it, maybe a sense of great humanity. But really, another themed anthology, and one written entirely by soldiers? I don't know why, but it seemed a recipe for subpar writing.
I was wrong. Yes, Fire and Forget shares some commonalities with other anthologies of its class, and there are definitely works in here that I myself would've never included, but as a whole, this collection is above average. There are some really powerful and wonderfully written stories here. The authors of these tales give such a clear picture of the desperation and confusion that can cloud a person when returning from military service. Most of these stories are not so much about what happened “over there,” but about what happens after all that. A common element in many of these is a loss or gain of specific senses. It's done so well that I did not doubt the veracity of many of these author's stories, the things they have seen, and the world they have entered. Their stories contain more truths that I personally I know as a human being than any other report out of Afghanistan and Iraq has shown me, and therefore I believe them.
Particularly stellar stories were written by Andrew Slater, Colby Buzzell, Mariette Kalinowski, Phil Klay, and Siobhan Fallon. There were several other well-written pieces as well, and for a themed anthology of only fifteen stories, Fire and Forget is by far the best of its kind I've read to date.
I was wrong. Yes, Fire and Forget shares some commonalities with other anthologies of its class, and there are definitely works in here that I myself would've never included, but as a whole, this collection is above average. There are some really powerful and wonderfully written stories here. The authors of these tales give such a clear picture of the desperation and confusion that can cloud a person when returning from military service. Most of these stories are not so much about what happened “over there,” but about what happens after all that. A common element in many of these is a loss or gain of specific senses. It's done so well that I did not doubt the veracity of many of these author's stories, the things they have seen, and the world they have entered. Their stories contain more truths that I personally I know as a human being than any other report out of Afghanistan and Iraq has shown me, and therefore I believe them.
Particularly stellar stories were written by Andrew Slater, Colby Buzzell, Mariette Kalinowski, Phil Klay, and Siobhan Fallon. There were several other well-written pieces as well, and for a themed anthology of only fifteen stories, Fire and Forget is by far the best of its kind I've read to date.
li3an1na4's review
4.0
An anthology of stories written by people who were either in Afghanistan, Iraq, or their spouses. Like all anthology collections, some stories are better than other, but I don't think any story received lower than 3 stars from me. The stories are raw, gritty, and honest - some take place while the character is deployed, while others deal with the after effects of their deployment while back in the US. Everything from Rules of Engagement to PTSD to families trying their best to understand what happened to their loved one to the mundane everyday of guard duty. Even with the topical and emotional scope the anthology never loses sight of the heart of the book - brutally honest stories that delve deep into the psyches of soldiers and a system that is failing them.
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