The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

I wanted to like this book more. All the jacket blurbs led me to believe that I would be overwhelmed with its power, comparing it to Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, which to my mind is one of the best war novels ever. I tried very hard to like it more, because I am sympathetic to its message. But I just couldn't.

Don't get me wrong, I would consider it one of the better books published in 2012, better than The Round House, which topped it in the National Book Award competition. But I don't believe it lives up to its hype at all.

This is the story of Private Bartle's experience as a soldier in Iraq and as a damaged civilian back at home. He has unthinkingly promised the mother of one of his fellow soldiers that he will see her son safely home, and he fails. The entire novel has a nightmare-like quality, which seems to me to be most fitting for such an account.

Some good things:

The first sentence is perfection: "The War tried to kill us in the spring."

The structure is effective, with alternate, non-linear chapters telling of Private Bartle's past and preparation for deployment, of his experiences in Iraq, and of his lack of adjustment back at home. All along we have hints about a crucial war incident, the secret of which is not revealed until near the end.

Sometimes it seems spot-on perfect in its descriptions of combat experience. When a reporter says, "Tell me the essence guys, I want to know what kind of rush you get," a solder answers, "It's like a car accident, you know. That instant between knowing that it's gonna happen and actually slamming into the other car. Feels pretty helpless actually, like you've been riding along, same as always, then it's there staring you in the face and you don't have the power to do shit about it. And know it. Death, or whatever, it's either coming or it's not. It's kind of like that...like the split second in the car wreck, except here it can last for goddamn days."

Some negative things:

Alongside such concrete material as that above, which gives immediacy to the experience, are paragraphs and paragraphs of very well-done poetic descriptions, which unfortunately actually detract from the narrative. They just don't fit, somehow. And these parts are overwritten, I feel, to the point of meaninglessness, almost. But they sound good.

The revealed secret is overly melodramatic, and detracts from the message about the effects of war on its fighters. I don't think it is necessary for a soldier to have one dramatic incident to cause him to come home and suffer PTSD. It seems to me that
the "normal" waging of war is cause enough.

The author Kevin Powers actually fought in Iraq for two years, and that certainly imparts an authenticity to this account. After his return to the US, he completed the MFA at The University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Michener Fellow in Poetry. Brazenly enough, I credit all the good parts of this novel to his first-hand experiences and his native talent (which is considerable), and all the negative parts to his MFA.

Still and all, recommended. But even more recommended in the war novel category are The Things They Carried, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, A Long Long Way, Dirty Work, and Johnny Got His Gun. Yes, and going far back, The Red Badge of Courage. Wars differ in the way they are fought, but they don't really differ in the effects on the fighters.