reader_cheryl's review against another edition
5.0
Kevin Powers's "The Yellow Birds" is about two young soldiers--Private John Bartle, twenty-one, and Private Daniel Murphy, eighteen. In the novel's opening, both are in Al Tafar, Iraq, and about to take part in a bloody battle to re-take the city--September 2004.
The book then flips back to December 2003, at Fort Dix, New Jersey, before they ship out to Iraq. Private Murphy's mother comes to visit and the fulcrom that this novel pivots on takes place during a conversation between Bartle, and Murphy's mother Donna before they ship out to Iraq.
"And you're gonna look out for him, right?" she asked.
"Um, yes, ma'am."
"And Daniel, he's doing a good job?"
"Yes, ma'am, very good. How the hell should I know, lady? I wanted to say. I barely knew the guy. Stop. Stop asking me questions. I don't want to be accountable. I don't know anything about this.
"John, promise me you'll take care of him."
"Of course." Sure, sure I thought. Now you reassure me and I'll go back and go to bed.
"Nothings gonna happen to him, right? Promise that you'll bring him back home to me."
"I promise," I said. "I promise I'll bring him back home to you."
Private John Bartle has just a made a promise you know he won't be able to keep. I kept reading, waiting for the moment when Bartle's promise would be permanently broken and then read the rest of the novel to see how Bartle dealt with the ramifications of his broken promise.
Powers's is a strong, lyrical writer. He has an MFA in poetry and it shows in his writing. His writing places you where Private Bartle is: a battle, the desert, Europe after he leaves Iraq, back in the States where his actions in Iraq catch up to him.
The novel moves between 2004--when the two are stationed in Iraq--and 2005--after Iraq. Moving between the two time periods tends to keep the reader a bit off balance, but it works, keeping the reader not quite sure of what is going to happen next, much like the feelings of the two soldiers.
I don't usually read war novels--the exception being Tim O'Brien's work. Kevin Powers's debut novel is as powerful as O'Brien's works, and I'm hoping to read more of Powers's work.
The book then flips back to December 2003, at Fort Dix, New Jersey, before they ship out to Iraq. Private Murphy's mother comes to visit and the fulcrom that this novel pivots on takes place during a conversation between Bartle, and Murphy's mother Donna before they ship out to Iraq.
"And you're gonna look out for him, right?" she asked.
"Um, yes, ma'am."
"And Daniel, he's doing a good job?"
"Yes, ma'am, very good. How the hell should I know, lady? I wanted to say. I barely knew the guy. Stop. Stop asking me questions. I don't want to be accountable. I don't know anything about this.
"John, promise me you'll take care of him."
"Of course." Sure, sure I thought. Now you reassure me and I'll go back and go to bed.
"Nothings gonna happen to him, right? Promise that you'll bring him back home to me."
"I promise," I said. "I promise I'll bring him back home to you."
Private John Bartle has just a made a promise you know he won't be able to keep. I kept reading, waiting for the moment when Bartle's promise would be permanently broken and then read the rest of the novel to see how Bartle dealt with the ramifications of his broken promise.
Powers's is a strong, lyrical writer. He has an MFA in poetry and it shows in his writing. His writing places you where Private Bartle is: a battle, the desert, Europe after he leaves Iraq, back in the States where his actions in Iraq catch up to him.
The novel moves between 2004--when the two are stationed in Iraq--and 2005--after Iraq. Moving between the two time periods tends to keep the reader a bit off balance, but it works, keeping the reader not quite sure of what is going to happen next, much like the feelings of the two soldiers.
I don't usually read war novels--the exception being Tim O'Brien's work. Kevin Powers's debut novel is as powerful as O'Brien's works, and I'm hoping to read more of Powers's work.
tomwyllie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
angiebks's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
fayesparallelstories's review against another edition
5.0
Such beautiful prose on a horrible topic. I was sceptical to pick this up, for fear of it being overly patriotic or flowery in the language used, but I am glad I gave it a chance.
mark_lm's review against another edition
3.0
Written in a somewhat poetic style where the sentences may be like this one: "But home, too, was hard to get an image of, harder still to think beyond the last curved enclosure of the desert, where it seemed I had left the better portion of myself as one among innumerable grains of sand, how in the end the weather-beaten stone is not one stone but only that which has been weathered, a result, an example of slow erosion on a thing by wind or waves that break against it, so that the else of anyone involved ends up deposited like silt spilling out into an estuary, or gathered at the bottom of a river in a city that is all you can remember."
The erosion "on" a thing and the "else" of anyone are quite characteristic.
The erosion "on" a thing and the "else" of anyone are quite characteristic.
jrmama42's review against another edition
5.0
I admit that I had trouble getting started on this book because of the grim subject-matter. But I'm thankful my book club selected it because it really was a memorable and worthwhile read. I will never view a soldier the same way again after reading this fictionalized account of a soldier's experience before, during and after serving in the Iraq war. Parts of it were quite gritty, and all of it was very thought-provoking. I think it should be required reading in high school, hopefully causing kids to think twice before enlisting in what might seem to them the glamorous call of military service.
Once I got started on this book, it was hard to put it down. The writing is like poetry (the author was a prize-winning poet before writing this book) and the story moves along very quickly despite going back and forth in time between chapters. I highly recommend reading this book and discussing it with others. It's not entertaining, but I feel it is a "necessary" read.
Once I got started on this book, it was hard to put it down. The writing is like poetry (the author was a prize-winning poet before writing this book) and the story moves along very quickly despite going back and forth in time between chapters. I highly recommend reading this book and discussing it with others. It's not entertaining, but I feel it is a "necessary" read.
sheila_p's review against another edition
4.0
I feel like there is this expectation of what a war story should be and yet this war these boys are fighting, seems to defy expectation. Is that my naïveté or the fact that these boys are just that, boys, and how could either of us possibly know what to expect of an un-winnable war? I loved this book and its mumbled, disjointed storytelling. The characters were rich and yet blurred, the way boys fighting a war, and those who love them, must be to survive. I am never able to read stories like these without thinking of my son and he sat next to me, watching football, as I read the second half of this book. This book is ultimately about what war does to a person and the choices you make to survive. I am grateful there are books that make me think deeply about the questions, as this one will, and more grateful that I am among the lucky that am able to see, hear, smell and touch my child as I think.