Brave Deeds by David Abrams

Everything was going fine. Smooth as a baby's shaved ass. Park at the wheel, Arrow riding shotgun, the rest of us crammed in the back: O sitting on Fish's lap, Cheever digging into his second bag of Doritos for the day, Drew sandwiched somewhere in the middle. Early morning locals in fluttering robes swished past the Humvee's small windows. Burnt shells of cars lined the curb, lingering memories of bombs. Billboards with soccer players saying things we couldn't understand, but offering us a Coke and a smile. Everything good and fine and then bang! It's like the Humvee decided it had had enough. Sorry, guys, I'm calling it quits. You're on your own from here. 

~from p. 3 of ARC, Brave Deeds: Some changes may have been made to the final print version

Man . . . this just keeps happening. Three fabulous books in a row and every single time I'm frozen, thinking, "I'm not worthy to write about this." Let me just say the usual . . . I'll do my best.

Brave Deeds is set during the Iraq War and tells the story of six men whose Sergeant has been killed in an explosion. When they find out his memorial service is being held at a different Forward Operating Base than the one where they're stationed and that they're not allowed to attend, they steal a Humvee and set off for FOB Saro in defiance of their orders. Barely into their journey, the Humvee breaks down. They're in Baghdad, a dangerous place for American soldiers, so they quickly exit the vehicle. And, then -- too late -- they realize they've left behind both the radio and their maps. Brave Deeds is the story of their journey across Baghdad to honor the fallen hero they've come to admire and respect.

Much like the most recent addition to my all-time favorite war books list, A Walk in the Sun by Harry Brown, Brave Deeds is a compact gem that takes place in a short span of time (less than a day) during which you slowly become acquainted with a band of protagonists who are taking a long, uncertain walk, through both their current actions and flashbacks. In spite of the short time span that's covered, a lot happens. The 6 men are in a dangerous city, surrounded by potential hazards that include the heat, hunger, uncertainty about the correct direction in which to head, pain, fatigue, and frequent errors in judgment. Without a map to guide them or a radio to call for help, will they remember their training and find both their destination and the cunning to survive? If they make it to FOB Saro, will they arrive in time to attend the memorial service?

Highly recommended but not for the faint of heart - Brave Deeds is gritty and raw with the ring of truth, that "you were there," sensation that makes a story hit you right in the gut. I don't mind the violence and gore, the crude language (it's worth mentioning that Brave Deeds contains the two words I currently consider the most vile modern obscenities), the talk about sex and bodily functions, all because they're authentic. When people are in the worst possible situation, their thoughts go to the basics -- hunger, thirst, desire, love, hate, and the singular goal to reach their objective. Most importantly, though, the ending quite simply took my breath away. A deeply meaningful book about modern-day heroes, for better or worse, doing what they feel is right in order to show respect to one of their own. Brave Deeds is a 5-star, tightly-written, deeply meaningful story that will stick with me for a long time.

~~~~~

Oops! I just accidentally posted and then reverted to draft form because I completely forgot to mention that this will be my last post till sometime in September. As always, I plan to shut down Facebook and reduce my internet time to next to nothing, but I'll occasionally check my email. I can't say whether or not I'll manage to step away from Twitter, since I've recently become a Twitter addict. It's likely I'll mention what I'm reading, there. At any rate, I'll be back to blogging in roughly 5-6 weeks.

You've probably already seen this photo if you follow me elsewhere, but Izzy very helpfully posed with Brave Deeds while I was reading it and I'm crazy about this photo so I figure it's worth adding for posterity. Happy summer, everyone!

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Lotería by Mario Alberto Zambrano

Lotería by Mario Alberto Zambrano
Copyright 2013
Harper - Fiction
272 pp.

Brief note before review:  I've fallen so far behind on reviews that I decided it would be best to stop trying to first hit the fabulous titles that have been haunting me for a while, instead moving backward from my most recent reads.  The idea is to get myself back in the swing of things.  Hopefully, this will help stop fearing the blog.

What it's about:

Luz is in the custody of the state of Texas, her sister Estrella in a coma, her father has been arrested and her aunt Tencha has encouraged Luz to write her thoughts in a journal.  Luz has not spoken since her father was arrested.  The chapters in Lotería are very short, each a journal entry in which each memory is prompted by a card from the Lotería game.  Her thoughts are directed to God. What prompted Luz to cease speaking? Why is she in a state-run facility? What happened to Estrella and what has become of their mother?

As Luz recalls her life, she slowly reveals her experiences as the child of a jealous, abusive father whose fights with her mother spilled over, endangering everyone in the family -- a dysfunctional immigrant family from Mexico fighting poverty and language barriers.

Some thoughts:

When I wrote my review at Goodreads, I explained the depth of the family's dysfunction but then I decided I may have revealed too much and I hid the review due to potential spoilers.  The trouble runs deep and wide, that much I will say: Luz often behaves in strange and shocking ways.  The children are not just exposed to violence; there are other factors that make their lives far from normal.  You quickly realize, though, that Luz loves her family and doesn't understand that the way they behave is not typical or normal.

What I loved about Lotería:

Lotería is raw and horrifying but the story is also beautifully paced and the pages fly; it's a quick afternoon or evening's read.  I loved the use of Lotería cards to prompt memories. I'd never heard of the game and it was fun learning a little about it.  There is an illustration of a card at the beginning of each chapter.  From these illustrations and a great deal of Spanish peppered within the narrative and dialogue -- some translated immediately, some intuitive, some completely incomprehensible if you don't know Spanish -- you may learn a tiny bit of the language.

The author also totally surprised me.  I loved that.

What I disliked about Lotería:

Because I whipped through the book quickly and didn't have my iPad handy, I may have missed some subtleties to the story.  I doubt I missed anything crucial, but occasionally I did feel a tad irritated by the sheer quantity of Spanish phrases. And, yet, their presence was overwhelmingly a good thing because I felt challenged to try to figure them out and often did succeed.

The only thing I really disliked about Lotería was the fact that I came out of the reading not knowing what happened to Luz and Estrella's mother.  I really wanted to know.  But, maybe the point was that even her family had no idea what happened.  If Luz doesn't know and Luz is narrating, she can't tell you what became of her mother.

The bottom line:

Recommended with warnings that the book includes some crude language and (of course) violence - Excellent pacing and characterization, a unique device and solid storytelling make Lotería an unusual and very good read.  While I felt the lack of explanation about what happened to Luz's mother left me feeling the book was incomplete, a day of thinking about the book led me to the conclusion that not knowing is an important part of the experience. Lotería is a powerful story of abuse and its aftermath.  I also really enjoyed learning about the Lotería game, as well.  I'd never heard of it.

Added note:  There are some brief scenes with sexuality but they're very important to the plot as they help to explore the depth of Luz's dysfunctional world.

Cover thoughts:  Beautiful and very eye-catching!  The cover is a brightly-colored version of one of the Lotería cards.

An excellent interview of the author:  Daniel Olivas interviews Mario Alberto Zambrano at Los Angeles Review of Books Source:  I received an advance reader copy of Lotería from HarperCollins.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.