Redeployment by Phil Klay is a collection of short stories about US armymen fighting or recovering from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I picked this book up on an Afghan war buying binge and Klay entertained me enough not to regret the purchase. The stories are heartfelt and breezy reads; however, most of them do not really give you a twist/ pang at the end like classic short stories do. Neither is Klay at the level of say a Jhumpa Lahiri to get away with a meandering story that ends without really ending.
Even so, this is an important book for depicting the lives of men caught in a war they did not start. I particularly liked the story about the water treatment plant in Iraq and of a US bureaucrat trying to fix it battling Iraqi culture and Sunni-Shia rivarlries.
Not a must-read, but a can-be-read.
Even so, this is an important book for depicting the lives of men caught in a war they did not start. I particularly liked the story about the water treatment plant in Iraq and of a US bureaucrat trying to fix it battling Iraqi culture and Sunni-Shia rivarlries.
Not a must-read, but a can-be-read.
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