Our Brother's Keeper: My Family's Journey through Vietnam to Hell and Back
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.88 (810 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0471467596 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-11-24 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
James D. Smith said Vietnam: One family's war. Jedwin Smith (no relation, but I was once his boss at the Atlanta newspaper where we both worked) has written a spellbinding account of how his brother's death in Vietnam (remember that war?) impacted his family and fueled his own decline into alcohol and depression. Without bitterness or animosity, he relates the unraveling of his family and eventually tells of how he and his siblings came to cope with their brother's death, and to mend their lives and relationships with each other. Part and parcel of the story is his climb from the depth. Our Brother'sKeeper: My Family's Journey through Vietnam to Nicole Scourtis About six weeks ago I was told I HAD to read this book for a book club that I am in. I am a romance/mystery junkie and put off reading what I felt would be a depressing WAR bookHow wrong was I? This book, which reads like a great story instead of nonfiction, was riveting and inspiring with as much to say about family and interpersonal relations as it does about the Vietnam war. I laughed at Mr. Smith's memories of a very human warrior as well as cried at the manifestations of sorrow and guilt. I am a 31 year old woman who is as far removed. Gut-wrenching yet remarkable book This is the kind of well-written book you'll read in 2Gut-wrenching yet remarkable book Michael Luck This is the kind of well-written book you'll read in 24 hours but think about for weeks. Its the gut-wrenching story of a family suffering through the loss of a beloved son/brother to the Vietnam War. The author, Jedwin Smith, gives us a rare insight into the long-term effects a family endures and also allows us to go along on his painful and emotional journey toward some sense of healing. Without disclosing elements of the book, be advised there is a reconciliation late in the book that is unique, remarkable and inspirational. We must nev. hours but think about for weeks. Its the gut-wrenching story of a family suffering through the loss of a beloved son/brother to the Vietnam War. The author, Jedwin Smith, gives us a rare insight into the long-term effects a family endures and also allows us to go along on his painful and emotional journey toward some sense of healing. Without disclosing elements of the book, be advised there is a reconciliation late in the book that is unique, remarkable and inspirational. We must nev
Magnificent." --Jack Kerley, author of The Hundredth Man. I love Jedwin Smith's Fatal Treasure; Our Brother's Keeper is even closer to the heart." -- Jeff Long, New York Times bestselling author of The Descent and The Reckoning "Our experience in Vietnam has been searingly recorded in both fiction and nonfiction, but no book about those years is quite like this one. The ghosts of Vietnam are finally starting to circle home, and this remarkable writer has given them voice with passion and resonance. Jedwin Smith's Our Brother's Keeper tells the story of one family that has lived with death by remembrance, and of a man who found redemption when he wanted revenge. It will break your heart, but change it, too." -- Michael Skube, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in criticism "I read Our Brother's Keeper in the span of an evening and found it deeply affecting and totally enthralling. This book is a haunting, gut-wrenching, and ultimately redemptive journey through time and the human heart. Advance Praise for Our Brother's Keeper "Beautifully written and extraordinarily poignant, Our Brother's Keeper is a Vietnam book like none other
Smith's other brothers and sisters suffered severe and lasting psychological problems, and Smith himself - while outwardly coping well by marrying, having children and working his way up the journalism ladder - became an emotional cripple bent on self-destruction: "Not only did I thoroughly embrace alcohol, but I also became kind of psychotic." Smith tells his story with bluntness and conviction, including what becomes a cathartic happy ending when he and two of his brother's fellow Marines make a journey to Vietnam in 2001 to visit the spot where Jeff died. This muscularly written, starkly honest memoir fills a significant gap. Jeff's death tore the fragile family apart: their mother retreated into severe alcoholism and an all-encompassing fixation on Jeff (who had been her favorite); their emotionally distant father - a WWII Marine beset by postwar demons - left the family for anothe