Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Short story collection
Approximate word count: 25-30,000 words
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Author:
A. McLean
Swanson is a veteran of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Married, with three
children, Swanson is currently at work on his debut novel.
Description:
A short
story collection with a common theme of war and its aftermath.
Appraisal:
In the
preface, the author puts forward a theory that “if there is to be [a] unifying
theme about the Global War on Terror, it should not be about the loss of
innocence and redemption,” as was the case with much literature surrounding
both World Wars and, to a somewhat lesser degree, the wars in Korea and
Vietnam. Instead, he says it should be “about trauma and recovery (or an
attempt towards).”
These short
stories broke out of the patterns I’ve seen in war stories in other ways as
well. Some weave a war story with another non-war story of crisis in a way that
was at first disorienting, but once I adapted helped illustrate how the effects
of war linger on long after the soldiers have returned, which goes to Swanson’s
theme of trauma and recovery. While Swanson’s approach isn’t without happy
moments (the recovery portion of his theme), his break from previous formulas
is both more realistic and more disconcerting. Worth a read, although it
suffers from insufficient copyediting and proofing.
FYI:
Some adult
language.
Format/Typo Issues:
A large
number of proofing errors. The majority I spotted were extra or missing words,
with some homophone and verb tense errors and the occasional typo.
Rating: *** Three stars
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