Monday, September 3, 2012

Introducing Our New VIB:


"The war tried to kill us in the spring," begins this breathtaking account of friendship and loss. In Al Tafar, Iraq, twenty-one-year old Private Bartle and eighteen-year-old Private Murphy cling to life as their platoon launches a bloody battle for the city. In the endless days that follow, the two young soldiers do everything to protect each other from the forces that press in on every side: the insurgents, physical fatigue, and the mental stress that comes from constant danger.

Bound together since basic training when their tough-as-nails Sergeant ordered Bartle to watch over Murphy, the two have been dropped into a war neither is prepared for. As reality begins to blur into a hazy nightmare, Murphy becomes increasingly unmoored from the world around him and Bartle takes impossible actions.

With profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on mothers and families at home, The Yellow Birds is a groundbreaking novel about the costs of war that is destined to become a classic.

Cathy says:
"Kevin Powers' The Yellow Birds takes the reader deep into the minds and lives of 2 young soldiers fighting in Iraq.  Private Bartle and Private Murphy experience dread and boredom, heart pounding fear and utter horror as Power's beautiful prose unfolds a heartbreaking tale of war.  Amidst the chaos and gore, though, there is still beauty.  Birds and trees, mothers' love and deep comradery affirm life in this novel of war and death.

I was deeply, deeply moved by The Yellow Birds."

Mark L. says
"I finished it earlier this week and was similarly floored by it.  The way he began the novel with each sentence and paragraph as thoroughly gem-like as possible seduced me in and then the emotions, perceptions, and his inducementto caring about B and Murph sealed the deal."

Every now and then we encounter a new book that we’re so excited about we want to shout it from the rooftops, so we've created a special tag to distinguish it from the rest: TC V.I.B. (very impressive book)! That means it’s a true stand-out in a season of many excellent and compelling new books.

Save the Date!!!
Thursday, September 20, 2012, at 7:30 pm at our Colfax Avenue Store:
Kevin Powers served as a machine gunner in Iraq, and after his honorable discharge, enrolled in Virginia Commonwealth University, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English. He is currently a Michener Fellow in Poetry at the University of Texas at Austin, working towards his M.F.A. Powers will read from and sign his critically acclaimed debut novel The Yellow Birds, a groundbreaking book about the costs of war.

“Reading The Yellow Birds I became certain that I was in the presence of a text that will win plaudits, become a classic, and hold future narratives of the (Iraq) war to a higher standard. Impeccably structured and told with the poetry of a master, I often had to put the book down, close my eyes and savor the depth of the writing. This is a superb literary achievement. I urge everyone to read it.” —Chris Cleave, author of Little Bee

No comments: