Karen heard the war stories growing up. She soon grew tired of them and tended to roll her eyes when her father, Murray, would start one again. He downplayed his part in the war because he said he just sat behind a desk. She never asked any questions. At a birthday party celebrating his 81st birthday her father handed her some old notebooks. She was told she could keep them or throw them away - it didn't matter to him. What Karen received were hundreds of letters written by Murray to his parents during the war. Eventually she transcribes them just for the family but they ended up the basis of this book. This is not just a book about Murray. It is a book about what war does to people. It is about a thing called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome -that's the modern name. Back in the 40's I don't think there really was a name for it. Murray and many (or maybe most?) of his comrades who were lucky enough to come home just tried to pick up their lives where they had left off years ago. They didn't talk about what had happened. They had jobs to do and families to take care of. But 'war' doesn't go away because you stop talking about it or because decades have passed. In Murray's case there were things he couldn't remember - and things he remembered but wasn't totally sure that they really happened. It is a very moving and important story if you have loved someone that was in a war. This book won't be for everyone, but it is an excellent book.
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