Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.
I wish I had eloquent words that I could use to describe the emotions I felt while reading this book. I cannot and will never be able to truly understand the hell that war is and the experience of a soldier at war. Wallter Dean Meyers has given me better insight on this. I also read all of the "Connections," which I think did provide additional context.
I read this as part of our high school's book club. It will be interesting to see what the kids think, kids whose parents were born years after the end of the Vietnam War.
This was an amazing book. Perhaps it was because I was thinking of my family, mainly my dad, who fought in this war that it captured my attention. A must read for anyone who has had family or friends in the war.
It is told through the eyes of a solider and shows his experiences in the war - sometimes very graphically.