Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "taliban"

Blindsided by the Taliban: A Journalist’s Story of War, Trauma, Love, and Loss by Carmen Gentile

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In September 2010, a freelance journalist accompanies soldiers on patrol in eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar Province. He’s scared – after all, this is Taliban territory – but showing that fear will just aggravate the tense situation. He’s well aware of the dangers, since he’s been embedded before, yet listeners of CBS Radio and readers of USA Today need to know what’s happening in a war zone, the dangers soldiers face, and the conditions they endure. His greatest fear? Surviving a bomb blast and losing his legs. On this particular day, however, it’s not a bomb he faces, but a man holding a rocket launcher aimed directly at him. The projectile slams into his face. He should be dead; instead, he sustains a ruptured eyeball and a shattered orbital socket.

This is Carmen Gentile’s firsthand account of his life, the attack, and the aftermath of that attack, as well as the psychological trauma it caused. In the preface, he mentions that his saving grace was the birth of his daughter. Although he shares many personal snapshots of his life, he remains relatively silent about her and her mother. The book is rather a gritty, no-holds-barred examination laced with candid honesty, dark humor, and explicit language. Be forewarned: Some readers will hate this book; others will admire it as a stunning, vivid, at times shocking, and insightful journey into how Gentile comes to terms with what happened and refinds purpose in his life.




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