Saturday,
May 17, 2008
"Peace"- Story of
The
ANNOTICO Report
What
"Peace" makes stunningly clear, though, is that -- stripped of talk
of honor, duty and a clash of civilizations -- death in war has no point,
War and
Star
Tribune
Minneapolis-
St Paul. Minnesota
By
John Freeman, Special to the Star Tribune
May
16, 2008
This riveting new novel by
Richard Bausch is a timely tale in this season of war. It tells the story of a
company of
What "Peace"
makes stunningly clear, though, is that -- stripped of talk of honor, duty and
a clash of civilizations -- death in war has no point, indeed, no value. The
book begins in the aftermath of one horrifically illustrative event. Nine
soldiers had come upon a cart full of wet straw that concealed an escaping
German and a woman. The German had sprung from hiding and killed two Americans
before he was shot and killed by a corporal. When the woman began screaming, a
sergeant walked over and shot her in the head.
This death
overshadows every scene in "Peace," lending the soldiers
Bausch is best
known as a short-story writer, and his skills at compressive drama are on full
display here. In a very short time a reader comes to know these soldiers well: Marson, the former baseball star turned infantry captain;
Joyner, the bigoted, paranoid, expletive-spewing teetotaller;
Asch, a young Jewish man from Boston who responds to the stress of constant
vigilance by summoning up bleak trivia: "Between 1600 and 1865 you know
how many years of collective peace there were? Years where nobody was killing
anybody in armies anywhere in the world? Eleven."
In moments like
this, Bausch
These
interactions -- coupled with flashbacks of a relationship the soldiers enjoyed
with a young Italian boy who brought them wine -- conjures the vast, unspooling chaos of war. All the rules of normal conduct
have been suspended. Generosity can be lethal; sleep will get you killed.
Through much of the novel Bausch
John Freeman of
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed (With Archives*) on:
Blog: www.AnnoticoReport.com
Italia
Italia Mia: www.ItaliaMia.com *
Topix.net:
www.topix.net/world/italy
Annotico
Email: annotico@earthlink.net