Second Book Club, Book #4
This book was beautifully written. Whether or not you like novels within the military genre (I usually don't,) this is a must-read for the way the author weaves language together to create the perfect flow.
Poignant words and powerful stories create a snapshot of the Vietnam War. Life over there, loss over there, survival over there. The emotional overload of war for any one person. A complete journey into war, from this most unique perspective. The realities of Vietnam aren't necessarily within the stories shared here, but the real feelings and fears, ups and downs are conveyed. You see into the puzzling experience war was for a young man, forced into a situation where the art of survival vastly changes.
As a collection of stories, The Things They Carried isn't about what actually happens to this one troop of soldiers, but rather what feelings evoked in you as the reader through your experience. O'Brien even goes so far to question the truthfulness of his own stories while he's telling them. What's true is of so little importance when compared with what was felt, what feelings never go away.
I think the point of this book is the same point that all war stories should have -- there's no moral. There's nothing to learn here about history or the human experience within war. We already know wars are horrible, and that Vietnam was a particular kind of harsh. We know soldiers came back traumatized and damaged in ways that an entire lifetime may not repair. What we're given here is what's often missing during war -- the connection between those really experiencing it and those continuing to live at home. Reaching out through the emotional baggage they're forced to carry into war and then bring home, we're given unique insight into this experience. It almost puts the residual effect of war, from a soldier's perspective, on a level, emotional playing field.
O'Brien's beautiful language and expertly composed stories didn't help me understand war, instead it opened the tiniest window into what it felt like to be there. That level of access, even through fiction, made such an impression and brought together an amazing read.
Masada is a powerful place because it has a powerful story, and the magnitude of what happened there so long ago eloquently comes through in Alice Hoffman's The Dovekeepers. Told through four, first-person accounts, we re-live not only the trials on Masada itself, but the invasion of Jerusalem and the flight of the Jews from the holiest of cities.
Each narrator has a different piece of the story to tell, sharing their own struggles and sorrows even as they guide you up to the tragedy which forever marks Masada. Yael is only a child when she's forced to leave her home with a father who doesn't love her. She grows into a determined and resourceful young woman over the course of her journey. Revka is a fighter amidst all the horror and tragedy she witnesses. She's fiercely loyal to her family and friends. Aziza is trapped between genders, happiest as a warrior navigating the uncertain times by taking action. Shirah is known as the "Witch of Moab," and possess more passion and intelligence than one would imagine for a woman forced to survive on her own. All four women come together inside the dovecote as they care for the Masada doves who help sustain the community, for a time, in more ways than one.
What struck me most about this story was how unique each character was, even beyond the four, central storytellers. When you hear about Masada, from a historical perspective, the community of Jews who lived out there are just that, a big group. Because individual stories would have to be primarily fictionalized, that personal element was always missing. It never detracted from the impact of the story. It didn't stop the tears in my eyes as I watched the sun come up standing on the mountain where my ancestors gave their lives. But, I'm glad Hoffman made character development such a critical part of her story.
This really is a beautiful book, full of hope and sadness that mirrors the environment Masada was -- a temporary oasis in an unforgiving desert. Hoffman builds such complete characters into this hopeless tale, giving them so much life, that it is painful to read the inevitable as the book concludes. She makes her women smart and strong, resilient and defiant in ways that make them all survivors regardless of how the story ends. Never once did anything feel out of place in the narrative; it's a perfect combination of history and imagination.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Dovekeepers and highly recommend it. Hoffman is a favorite author of mine in general, but this departure from the relative present, so far into the past, is really something special.
Other Alice Hoffman books reviewed on this site:
