Gustavo Corona Corona itibaren Samli, Gujarat 363330, Hindistan
Fabulous. I flew and sank with the author's highs and lows. I related to some of her experiences, and respectfully observed the others. The author's style of writing is intelligent, witty and fast-paced. I couldn't put the book down, but forced myself to read more slowly, to prolong the experience. I would gladly read anything else by Stacy Pershall! I highly recommend this book (and I typically don't choose memoirs!)
Hmmm...I seriously just finished this book so I haven't fully digested the content, but, I will say I was hooked all the way to last page. It definitely held my attention and made me question EVERYTHING in the novel. Very interesting and twisted...I need more time to think everything out, and discuss w/ my book club :)
Something Like Normal is a wonderful novel about a soldier on leave from Afghanistan and his struggles when he returns home to his family. It's written in first person (Travis's point of view), present tense and it's very short. Only 219 pages. It's a bit too short, in my opinion, and I considered rating it only 4 stars because I felt Travis's struggles with his family deserved more exploring, as well as his relationship with Harper. And though we didn't really need more with Ellen, I felt there could be more and would have only made the book better. We really do learn what we need to about Travis's relationships and struggles, but I liked him so very much that I felt cheated out of more time with him. When I knew I had about 5 pages left I was disappointed because I knew I wasn't going to feel satisfied. But Travis's voice was perfect, so I settled on 5 stars because I could have read about him for another 200+ pages. Travis's father and ex-girlfriend bordered on ridiculous and I wanted their characters to be less stock-character and more three-dimensional. Because how heinous do you have to be to treat a just-back-from-a-war Marine the way they did? I'm not implying people aren't insanely awful to our women and men in service when they come home, but I wanted more context, I wanted to understand where that behavior was coming from. Travis's brother Ryan was equally awful, but I didn't think he came off as one-note ridiculous as the ex-girlfriend or father. Travis's mother was heartbreaking and I think I could have used a little more time with her, too, just to know she's going to be okay. Love Travis and Harper as a couple. Wished they could have had more build up and more "after". And without knowing anyone who has recently returned from our current war, I still feel like Trish Doller portrayed Travis and his fellow Marines accurately and with much respect. I've always had little interest in reading fiction about teens and war for various reasons, but Something Like Normal was a pleasure to read. I regret the cover since I think it will make male readers shy away from the novel, but I hope people encourage boys to read it.
** spoiler alert ** This book is a beautiful children's story that I read after seeing the film and falling in love with the characters. As far as book-to-film translations go I think the film did a good job of representing the overall themes of the book, which is a rare thing in my own experience with others like it. There's something I adore about a story that manages to put into words the mixed feelings and confusion that all of us wrestle with in our youth - especially when it comes to heavier concepts like a boy wondering why his father treats him differently to his four sisters and how his own grieving process works when coping with death. Perhaps I personally loved this book because I could relate to it, often directly, and I wish that I could explain some things to my ten-year-old self with as much care as this book. I guess that's why we love books anyway isn't it? The only criticism I have is that I wonder whether or not a child would have the same experience reading this book as I did. Something tells me that I wouldn't have appreciated the point of view and themes used if I weren't able to use the benefit of hindsight. However, I guess that's the way with a lot of so-called "children's books" that actually have much more depth than only pure entertainment. Don't read this if you're only interested in literary brilliance, but give it a go if you want to read an easy, but infinitely touching story. Besides, any book that has me bawling like crazy has got to have something strong going on.
very funny intresting book!:P
Faced with unsuccessful military interventions in several conflicts, some of our own making, the U.S. military leadership seconded Lt. Col. David Kilcullen of the Australian Army to work with them on devising a and testing a new strategy that might allow them to withdraw from their engagements without complete failure. Kilcullen is a military officer, but also an anthropologist. This book is his attempt to explain his thinking on the worldwide Islamic insurgency and the best methods to try and counter it successfully. Kilcullen thought the U.S. intervention in Iraq was an extremely serious strategic error, but tried, as assistant to General Petraeus in 2007, to devise a method to stabilize the population, reduce violence, and establish governance so that U.S. troops could effectively withdraw and leave Iraq to the Iraqis. Kilcullen thinks globalization and anti-globilization, and overwhelming U.S. military dominance are drivers to conflict in the 21st century—that citizens of countries around the world become involved in conflicts not of their making when warring groups enter their “space.” They choose the least foreign “side” and fight for their group. In this book, Kilcullen first introduces successful attempts to reduce violence and increase local participation in governance and stabilization in Afghanistan, then sheds light on the conflicts in Iraq, and then discusses East Timor, where he earned his credentials as part of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the 1999. He then discusses Thailand, Europe and Pakistan. Trying to understand an ongoing conflict is extraordinarily difficult, but Kilcullen draws on his experience, research, and natural bent to establish a framework he insists can, will, and is working in various conflict theatres around the world. I instinctively like what Kilcullen is saying and have an affinity for his natural respect for cultures living out their lives in remote areas of the world. He and I would agree that globalization and U.S. cultural dominance is not only unappealing to much of the world, it is central to many conflicts we become involved in. He suggests that American military power is so out of proportion to every other nations’ military expenditures and capabilities that an American military presence creates its own weather: it creates resistance and backlash because it gets in the space of other groups, cultures, nationalities. He suggests there may be times when we might even eschew overt military retaliation to a direct attack when the target is difficult to eliminate without killing innocents or involving a massive military presence, which would increase local distaste, distrust, and hatred. He instead suggests relying on generous aid and assistance, developing a relationship of trust and cooperation, working through local tribal leaders, deferring to local customs and keeping a small footprint so as not to create a larger backlash than necessary. This line of thought is already central to our military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has proponents, and detractors. In important ways, it is still theoretical, and needs to be discussed and tested over and over because each conflict and set of objective circumstances is so different. But it is a remarkable change of mindset for military men and women, and places value and weight on different skill sets than has traditionally been recognized in our bureaucratic corps. It almost seems as though I can actually see a generational changing of the guard with the ascendancy of Kilcullen’s theories on counterinsurgency. Perhaps we are actually evolving as a species. I listened to the audio--twice--after trying to read this years ago. I knew then it was important, I just couldn't concentrate on the reading. The audio was so much easier for me to get the main points, I went back for the details.