- Paperback: 390 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Books; 1st Vintage Contemporaries Ed edition (31 Aug 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679752536
- ISBN-13: 978-0679752530
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13 x 2.5 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,044,181 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Synopsis
A decorated Air Force officer and former POW returns from Vietnam alive, but faces a dishonorable discharge and a two-year prison term.
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2 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
An unknown gem - male tragedy
30 July 1998
Format:Paperback
This sensitive story about an adolescent's surprising, unfolding discovery of his father's motivation in a semmingly sordid past will leave the patient reader with one of the last quarter century's more moving-insight experiences. Clearly written, observant, fully believable, a must for Americans interested in truth..
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
An American family in chaos
26 May 2011
Format:Paperback
It was not the best of times but it was very nearly the worst of times. It was 1968: the year of assasinations, urban riots, and the war in Vietnam. It was also a presidential election year. Lyndon Johnson, partially because of the deep divisions in the country had decided to pull out of his race for reelection. Robert Kennedy, along with Senator Eugene McCarthy before him, had entered the Democratic Party primaries to compete for the Democratic party nomination. Robert Kennedy had just been shot to death after having won the California Democratic Party primary.
These incidents form the backdrop of this wonderful and sensitively written character study of a family about to be torn asunder. Daniel Boudreaux, the head of this family, was about to be released from Wilson Creek Prison where he was incarcerated for theft of a typewriter. Daniel was a highly decorated Air Force sergeant who had previously served time as a prisoner of war in the Vietnam conflict. Connie, Daniel's wife and mother of their two children, Thomas and Lisa, has been having recurring thoughts of leaving Daniel. Author Richard Bausch designs an accurate portrayal of comparing the chaotic situations of 1968 America with the crisis within this family.
Thomas, 17 years old when the novel starts, keeps a diary of the relationships within this family. Thomas's love-hate relationship with 9 year old sister, Lisa, appears to be right on target. He is both very protective of her while their sibling rivalry is also quite apparent. I felt very badly for Daniel, who endeavors to adjust to life on the outside, but fails miserably. Most interesting is Connie's relationship with Penny, a young woman that the family meets on their train trip to Wyoming. Thomas falls in love with Penny, yet it appears unrequitted. Connie and Penny, who moves into the boarding house where the family is staying near Wilson Creek Prison, become very close. Daniel unwittingly becomes Penny's rival. It is even intimated that Connie and Penny were lovers, although Connie denies this. At the end, Thomas, while contemplating his family's past, says that "it was somehow as though we had been involved in a kind of game, an acting out. And it had gone its own way in spite of us."
These incidents form the backdrop of this wonderful and sensitively written character study of a family about to be torn asunder. Daniel Boudreaux, the head of this family, was about to be released from Wilson Creek Prison where he was incarcerated for theft of a typewriter. Daniel was a highly decorated Air Force sergeant who had previously served time as a prisoner of war in the Vietnam conflict. Connie, Daniel's wife and mother of their two children, Thomas and Lisa, has been having recurring thoughts of leaving Daniel. Author Richard Bausch designs an accurate portrayal of comparing the chaotic situations of 1968 America with the crisis within this family.
Thomas, 17 years old when the novel starts, keeps a diary of the relationships within this family. Thomas's love-hate relationship with 9 year old sister, Lisa, appears to be right on target. He is both very protective of her while their sibling rivalry is also quite apparent. I felt very badly for Daniel, who endeavors to adjust to life on the outside, but fails miserably. Most interesting is Connie's relationship with Penny, a young woman that the family meets on their train trip to Wyoming. Thomas falls in love with Penny, yet it appears unrequitted. Connie and Penny, who moves into the boarding house where the family is staying near Wilson Creek Prison, become very close. Daniel unwittingly becomes Penny's rival. It is even intimated that Connie and Penny were lovers, although Connie denies this. At the end, Thomas, while contemplating his family's past, says that "it was somehow as though we had been involved in a kind of game, an acting out. And it had gone its own way in spite of us."
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