- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: HarperPerennial; Reissue edition (Sep 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060913509
- ISBN-13: 978-0060913502
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.5 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 288,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Synopsis
Vietnam's moral fallout is revealed to "Sam" Hughes, an eighteen-year-old Kentucky girl whose father was killed in the war and whose Uncle Emmett may be suffering from Agent Orange.
From the Back Cover
Seventeen-year-old Sam Hughes lives in a small town in Kentucky. Her father was killed in Vietnam and her gentle, traumatized Uncle Emmett is suffering with her from delayed acne or the effects of the dreaded Agent Orange.
Sam's growing awareness of the reality of the war, of the scars and the guilt, becomes an obsession when she falls in love with Tom at a Veteran's dance. Through her father's letters home and the journal he kept 'in country', Sam begins a journey of exploration that takes her across America and helps her to come to terms with the past.
"I am still under the spell of 'In Country'. It really is a wonderful experience, starting right on the first page."
ANNE TYLER
"Brilliantly assured… an eloquent and moving statement about the bigotry, paranoia and eccentricity of small-town America, infused with perfectly judged levels of sympathy, humour and shrewdness. Exceptional."
TIME OUT
"Bobbie Ann Mason's theme is an explosive one. A courageous and poignant novel."
LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS
"'In Country' is a very funny book. Bobbie Ann Mason has an unerring ear for dialogue and a quick eye for the small, foolish detail that makes her characters completely real."
DAILY TELEGRAPH
"An exceptional achievement, at once humane and moving… sharp and brilliant."
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
"I have to stop again, hon," Sam'grandmother says, tapping her on the shoulder. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
"I have to stop again, hon," Sam'grandmother says, tapping her on the shoulder. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Behind its postmodern facade of M.A.S.H. episodes and Bruce Springsteen lyrics In Country is a detective story in which Mason's teenage narrator seeks the truth about the father she has never known (he was killed in Vietnam). However, as she puts the pieces of her father's past together, she learns not only about him but about her whole family, the vietnam war and its consequences, but most of all she learns about herself, and as such In Country becomes a rite-of-passage into adulthood.
In this novel as in her other works Mason continues to explore the meaning of the past, the present, and the continuity of time.
A great read which will grow on you for a long time after you have finished it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In Country is not only a very pleasant book but it has a magic power and manages to turn the reader into a character. It also concerns a wide range of public from Vietnam veterans to anyone who lost a relative in a war. The language used by the characters is quite interesting and real!!! It is a great book and B.A. Mason is one of the best contemporary American Writers.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"In Country," by Bobbie Anne Mason is a great story about a girl that lost her father in the Vietnam War. She lived a wild life without a father. Her mother living nearby, but her, in her late teens, lives with her uncle. She has no discipline, yet gets along well. Her main strugle throughout the book is finding out what Vietnam was really like. She also wants to know what her father was like, since she never even met him. Her uncle, was in the war, but he made it home alive. Sam, the young girl, is worried about her uncle, scared that he has Agent Orange. All she has is him, and she doesn't want to lose him to the war too. All of this takes place in the early 80's. She is dealing with the past, in the future. Some things just never go away. There is so much more to this book, and if you love to read books about Vietnam or even just like to read, then I would recomend this story. It's not too long, and wouldn't take up too much time. Sometimes the book moves rather slowly, and you must be patient with it. The main theme from the book is that things in the past, really do still effect us today.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
made me cry
This was a fantastic read.. I cried at the end ..so poignant... and I have been so privileged to visit the Vietnam Memorial in Washington.
Published 7 months ago by ucsb mom
This book was way to drawn out and boring!
I my opinion, this book could have been done and over with in under 150 pages. It was so repetitive. I couldn't help but get bored by it. And the characters. Read more
Published on 11 Aug 1999
This book was way to drawn out and boring!
I my opinion, this book could have been done and over with in under 150 pages. It was so repetitive. I couldn't help but get bored by it. And the characters. Read more
Published on 11 Aug 1999
An excellent, entertaining work of literature
With so many bad contemporary novels hitting the best seller lists these days reading In Country was a breath of fresh air. Mason creates well-rounded, unique characters. Read more
Published on 11 Jun 1999
It had a good effect on me.
I read In Country in 1992. It was an engaging book that treated the characters honestly. The main character Sam is begining to blossom as a person and wants to finally find out... Read more
Published on 7 Jun 1999
This book makes no sense!
Bobbie Ann Mason creates characters with which most people cannot identify. This gives little insight (although it claims to give much) into the real Vietnam. Read more
Published on 20 Mar 1999
A wonderful book from start to finish!
I thought that In Country was very well written. I especially loved that fact that Mason told the story through Sam's point of view. Read more
Published on 2 Mar 1999
It's 1984 all over again
It's hard for me to believe that a book written in 1985 is a period piece, but that's how I reacted to it. It seems so removed from today. Read more
Published on 30 Jan 1999
A teenagers discoveries about Vietnam
Sam is a girl who is torn between her mother and her uncle. Throughtout the book Sam makes a lot of discoveries about herself, her family, and about Vietnam. Read more
Published on 5 Jan 1999
This was a nice story about finding yourself
In this book by Bobbie Ann Mason, a young girl named Sam Hughes struggles in life to find out about her father,and the history of the Vietnam War. Read more
Published on 5 Jan 1999
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