he's an exceptionally gifted writer. he's got amazing depths of insight and introspection and is very honest about not only what he went through but what went through his head as it happened, and what he thinks of it all now. he puts it all out there, and completely bares his heart. and, he's very forthright about his struggles with PTSD [which tore me to pieces to read]!
beautifully written, it's full of vivid imagery of both the events and the people around him. it's also emotionally gut wrenching - he had me crying like a baby one minute, smiling and laughing another, and then full of rage and fury then next. the writing is smooth and very fluid, but also very spare and clean, as you'd expect of a Marine and highly evocative of the classical martial literature he studied. it also evolves as he moves from the peacetime description of his mostly training expereinces to the more fenetic experiences of combat. the 'feeling' of the read kind of matches the escalation in danger he and his men face as they push further and further into iraq.
i absolutely loved this book, it completely blew me away!
michelle g