Lori Anketell > Recent Status Updates

This book reminds me of Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds. Really interesting so far!!

"We must remember in order to live, but we must also forget."

"Being a writer is one way the refugee sheds his/her inhumanity---the degraded "toll"----and becomes human, the higher graded "stuff of life."

As a work of non-fiction, the author is very detailed in her research/descriptions of the war and how the soldiers struggle with its aftermath. "Children playing soldier may fantasize about glorious death, but probably not dismemberment, amputation, shellshock, inexplicable and debilitating illness, homelessness, psychosis, or suicide, all of which are not unusual experiences for soldiers and veterans."

"We must remember in order to live, but we must also forget."

I did not realize this book was a collection of short stories.....therefore, I am skipping around. The chapter I am reading, "On True War Stories," is very similar to the chapter, "How To Tell a True War Story" from The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien! Seeing the connections!!

I reread this every year with my sophomores. One of my all time favorites.

"It was like training yourself to live on the smell of an apple alone, when what you really wanted was to devour it, to sink your teeth into it and consume it, seeds, core, and all."