#Memoir
#BookReview
The Long Walk
By Brian Castner
#Memoir
#BookReview
I’ll start
with the first thought, well really a question, which I had after I finished
reading this wonderfully written memoir.
How can we ever fully understand what other people have gone through? The
answer of course is-we can’t. That’s why we read memoirs, to learn about another
person’s life. To, maybe, understand the human experience better.
I love it
when I find a book like this. A book that the publisher has moved on from, as
far as promotion is concerned and the author has moved onto another project as
well. It’s up to the rest of us to keep the story alive. It’s still available. This isn’t the first book that I’ve read
written by a former soldier, it’s the second. The first one was Soft Spots
, which
I also recommend.
, which
I also recommend.
Mr Castner starts at the beginning with a
memory of friends, then takes us into the world of an EOD technician. EOD, Explosives Ordinance
Disposal, is not everyone’s first choice in life, but it’s what the author
chose.
You will be with him, as an insubordinate officer, as a tech at night on a bridge defusing a bomb while being shot at,
and a husband who becomes distant from his family. You feel the first steps at
trying to recapture a mind lost to shock-wave after shock-wave from explosions.
Memoirs
written by soldiers are among the most important books for us to read, as we-as
a nation-move on from the war.
A soldier’s
memoir is important because it can shape us. It’s not acceptable to be ignorant
of a life that accepted a command to fight or defend. Reading a soldier’s story
is not commending or condoning, it’s taking the steps to understand. As a reader
you become better informed about decisions our politicians make that ultimately
have an effect on all our lives. Our
lives are affected when they come home. Can they handle it? Are they safe? Are
we safe being around them? Can we help them?
All of these questions enter the public arena and require understanding.
Reading-The Long Walk, will get you closer to being in another person’s
footsteps, as they struggle on a sand hill, work a thirty-six hour EOD call and
then rest for one hour before going back on another call. To see through their eyes: losing a friend, a brother
in arms, and their mind. Walking with them, step by step, in the supermarket
with a sense of readiness to pull the trigger on their weapon—tense; wound-up,
wound-down, judgment lost, but not forgotten. Then judgement regained, slowly
in Yoga Class, slowly pushing the mind to work correctly, though much slower,
back to a place of understanding oneself, and struggling to understand their new
reality.
This book is
Five Full Sails, and it is still available through the link provided here. The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life That Follows
Note: Image in post is of a hard cover, that is what I read. Image on order my differ, but it's the same book.
Note: Image in post is of a hard cover, that is what I read. Image on order my differ, but it's the same book.
Comment, share this post, then let me know. I have two free copies to send out to a reader.
Place this
book on your TBR list.
© Copyright
2016 , book reviews Artemis J Jones
