By: Joyce Faulkner Publisher: Red Engine Press Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Red Engine Press Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 224 Publication Date: September 30, 2005 Release Date: August 01, 2005
Product Description: Through 7 fictional characters, Faulkner tells the story of the Battle of Iwo Jima. The characters, based loosely on stories told by her father and other veterans she has met, are each introduced to the reader before the war. They come from various backgrounds and geographic locations across the US. The young men come together on the shores of Iwo Jima and face a horrific fight in one of WWII's most famous battles. Faulkner successfully captures the chaos, terror, grief, pain and heart of the battlefield.
Not really a novel about war This is definitely a different breed of cat. Ostensibly it is about Marines at war, specifically on Iwo Jima. But it is really about the aftereffects of being in such a hellhole and surviving, burdened with the memories from youth. For some unknown reason (I must not get the symbollism) the author spends the first half of the book showing a vignette from each Marine's past which in my small mind has no connection with the combat scenes. For example, one boy is at a circus fire. Another, steals a car. There is no character development once the Marine half of the book starts. Written by the daughter of a Marine haunted with memories of the horrors of Iwo, I can see the point she is trying to make but if you are looking for great firefights and lots of action, this is not the book for you.
Not to Be Missed In this beautifully written story of the men who fought at Iwo Jima, Faulkner introduces us to the varied and innocent lives of the men whose paths would soon cross on the beaches below Mount Suribachi. In a terrible and traumatic way, these young men grew up in the instant their boots met the shores. Faulkner finds a way to describe the horrors of lying pinned down in hastily dug foxholes while machine guns spatter the beach and Marines with deadly fire that leaves many dead before they even hit the sand. But this is not a novel just about war. It is also about the aftermath of war and the ways men are ever after so deeply affected by the experience. This is also book not to be missed by those who love great writing and the tales of our heroes who fought so valiantly against desperate odds.
War is Hell! You have to believe that author Joyce Faulkner was an old warrior from some previous lifetime - if you believed in reincarnation at all. She gives you such an honest and intimate portrayal of men who are in combat - that one would think that she was actually there. Her WWII novel about the battle on Iwo Jima "In the Shadow of Suribachi" is compelling, intense, and realistic. She writes with a male energy unbeknownst to most female authors. She will draw you into her storyline and into the people she writes about.
Faulkner allows you to meet and get to know the main characters prior to the battle and this makes the story more emotional and gripping. She uses her words like precious ammo and delivers her story with emotionally deadly accuracy. As a combat veteran, I felt the author was telling it like it was. Her obviously gifted writing skills make this literary journey through her book a pleasure. It is at all times entertaining, as well as insightful.
I think the word "authentic" applies to this accounting of the battle of Iwo Jima even though it is a fictionalize portrait of that event. This is destined to become a classic WWII book. My guess is that the author did a lot of research on this subject before undertaking the story itself. It just feels like it is so right!
I enthusiastically give this book the MWSA's Highest Rating of FIVE STARS! A must read book for all fans of this genre.
Unique fictional story about Iwo Jima The story details certain events in the lives of a number of young men before fate brings them together on the island of Iwo Jima during WWII. The reader already knows the character of each as they are pitched into battle together. It's a heart wrenching story. Though I found it riveting, ironically, I had to keep putting it down at parts in order to recover before continuing. It is well-told. Though the characters are fictional, the backdrop is historically accurate. Everyone who thinks war is the answer to our problems should read this. You may feel differently afterwards. I highly recommend it.
Understand and identify "In the Shadow of Suribachi" The chosen few that live to tell about the gore of battle usually don't mention it, yet they carry the effects each instant of every day. Vividly portrayed "In the Shadow of Suribachi," Joyce Faulkner provides a ride through history to meet simple men that become fate's chosen warriors. Ms. Faulkner accurately creates the brutality and complications of intense warfare through characters from the thirties and beyond the Vietnam War. She craftily reveal's the War Veteran's shared dilemna from the first instant of battle - that dark permanence felt as the warrior gets blind-sided with loss of innocence and becomes chained silently to guilt FOREVER!
I was moved to tears as the characters developed, and as a future generation grew up to face similar complexities. I felt healed from situational conversations between "The Greatest Generation" and mine from the Vietnam era in Suribachi, with hopes that heart to heart talks between the old and new might happen more often. If we could only be understood and identify, huh?
"In the Shadow of Suribachi" is must read about those that gave all that won't fade from memory as the cover closes.
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