War memoir powerful and poignant story
Published on Wed, May 6, 2009 by Mary Burns (by T.l. Muench)Read More Arts & Entertainment
Soft Spots: A Memoir of Combat and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
By: Clint Van Winkle
($24.95, St. Martin's Press)
Reviewed By: T. L. Muench
I suppose my interest in war was triggered in high school while reading the exquisitely written Civil War novel "Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane. It wasn't really the war itself that captivated me but the way the author transported me inside the mind of a single "everyman" soldier.
I was draft-age for Vietnam but never served. However, Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" still haunts me with its superbly lyrical collection of very personal short stories about the soldiers who fought that divisive war.
It is the soldier's intimate perspective that propels Clint Van Winkle's memoir of serving as a Marine in Iraq:
None of us were the best and the brightest-at least not in the traditional sense. . .we were the kind of guys who took wood shop when we were in high school. . .street fighters, thugs, drunks, and red-necks. . .those are the kinds of people that enlist in the Marines.
But "those kinds of people" form a profound brotherhood in the alternate universe of war that exists nowhere else. War also provides a freedom that "comes from knowing...you are the entire legal system behind the sights of your weapon." While that rationale serves Van Winkle well during combat, it also holds a Pandora's Box of demons which are savagely unleashed in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder when he finally returns home.
The reader is captivated by "Soft Spots" because the author is unflinching in his very personal appraisal of himself as he tries valiantly (with continuously frustrating "help" from the Veteran's Administration) to construct a new life and identity on his return to civilian life.
Clint Van Winkle has written a sparse book (213 pages) but, like all good poetry which conveys a world of imagery in few words, the emotional impact of this memoir will reside with you long after the final page is turned.
T.L. Muench is an occasional reviewer for The BookWORKS, located at 1510 Third Street in historic downtown Marysville, 360.659.4997, or online at www.marysvillebookworks.com. Comments or requests are welcome at [email protected]
By: Clint Van Winkle
($24.95, St. Martin's Press)
Reviewed By: T. L. Muench
I suppose my interest in war was triggered in high school while reading the exquisitely written Civil War novel "Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane. It wasn't really the war itself that captivated me but the way the author transported me inside the mind of a single "everyman" soldier.I was draft-age for Vietnam but never served. However, Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" still haunts me with its superbly lyrical collection of very personal short stories about the soldiers who fought that divisive war.
It is the soldier's intimate perspective that propels Clint Van Winkle's memoir of serving as a Marine in Iraq:
None of us were the best and the brightest-at least not in the traditional sense. . .we were the kind of guys who took wood shop when we were in high school. . .street fighters, thugs, drunks, and red-necks. . .those are the kinds of people that enlist in the Marines.
But "those kinds of people" form a profound brotherhood in the alternate universe of war that exists nowhere else. War also provides a freedom that "comes from knowing...you are the entire legal system behind the sights of your weapon." While that rationale serves Van Winkle well during combat, it also holds a Pandora's Box of demons which are savagely unleashed in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder when he finally returns home.
The reader is captivated by "Soft Spots" because the author is unflinching in his very personal appraisal of himself as he tries valiantly (with continuously frustrating "help" from the Veteran's Administration) to construct a new life and identity on his return to civilian life.
Clint Van Winkle has written a sparse book (213 pages) but, like all good poetry which conveys a world of imagery in few words, the emotional impact of this memoir will reside with you long after the final page is turned.
T.L. Muench is an occasional reviewer for The BookWORKS, located at 1510 Third Street in historic downtown Marysville, 360.659.4997, or online at www.marysvillebookworks.com. Comments or requests are welcome at [email protected]
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