Home Front [Hardcover]

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Home Front [Hardcover]

Product Details

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (January 31, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312577206
ISBN-13: 978-0312577209
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

By : Kristin Hannah
Price : $17.36
You Save : $10.63 (38%)

Customer Reviews

Ahhhh --- the newest Kristin Hannah book. Perfect for the day it came in the mail - a windy, rainy autumn day. I snuggled in knowing full well that once I got started reading, I wouldn't budge until I finished. The only negative thing about reading a Kristin Hannah book is knowing I'll have to wait a year until the next one. I have come to expect not only a quality read, but one in which I will be emotionally involved. As a reader I don't feel like I'm merely a spectator to the drama in a Kristin Hannah book. I become part of it. HOME FRONT was all I expected--and more.
After a tough childhood and the death of her parents, Jolene enrolled in the "high school to flight school" program. Now, 23 years later, she's a Blackhawk pilot with the National Guard. Married to Michael Zarkades, they are the parents of 12-year-old and four-year-old daughters, Betsy and Lulu and lead an idyllic life on the shores of Liberty Bay in Poulsbo, Washington.
Michael, who recently lost his father and business partner, is a workaholic. He has been getting home later and later each night, leaving a resentful Jolene to make excuses for his multiple absences from family and children's activities. Things escalate until, in midst of a heated argument, Michael tells Jolene he no longer loves her. It's like a slap in the face.
The two are unable to reconcile before Jolene and her best friend and neighbor, Tami, are deployed to Iraq. Now Michael (with help from his insightful mother, Mila) is left to assume a role he has no experience in, with daughters he barely knows. When the unthinkable happens, will Michael swallow his pride and let Jolene know how he really feels before it's too late?
Hannah excels in the women's fiction subgenre of domestic drama; in fact, I don't know of anyone who does it better. Added in is the subject of PTSD and the commentary on how the VA in particular, and government in general dismisses the critical condition of the brave men and women who have served their country until many times it's too late. The lives of both Michael and Jolene finally come together when his client, an ex-marine accused of killing his wife is able to provide assistance neither one of them saw coming. Hannah is able to address the issues here without becoming political, something that could push many readers' buttons.
Hannah's keen observations of the human condition and family life along with her spot-on descriptions of the landscape further makes the reader one with the story. The mist on Liberty Bay is as keenly felt as the heat and sand in Iraq. Kristin Hannah is simply one of the best, if not THE best writer of women's fiction today. Read HOME FRONT and see why she is beloved by so many readers. I can't recommend a book more highly than to say I will be buying copies for my daughter and her daughter-in-law, whose husband (my grandson) has just recently returned from Iraq.

When Jolene was almost eighteen, her alcoholic parents were killed in an auto accident on their way to a local bar. Never having felt part of a family, she found one on her own with the Army's "high school to flight school" program. She became a helicopter pilot together with her best friend Tami. Twenty two years later they are both in the National Guard - and flying Blackhawk helicopters.
Her husband Michael is anti-war, anti-military, and increasingly anti-marriage - at least his own. When Jolene's Guard Company is called up for deployment, Michael and their children Betsy and Lulu virtually demand that she not go. On the day of her departure, he tells her "I don't love you anymore."
Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is most often thought of in terms of our soldiers returning from combat. Ms. Hannah makes PTSD real for the whole family. She discloses how the absence of a mother from her family stresses everyone. When CNN reports a helicopter with a female pilot down in Iraq, it brings home the reality that they may never see her again.
Michael receives another jolt when he takes on the case of a young Marine charged with first degree murder in the accidental killing of his wife. As he prepares his defense, he must learn about PTSD in great detail. And then Jolene's helicopter is hit by an RPG and crashes.
One of the most important paragraphs in the book to me is ""We come home broken, she thought. No matter how strong we are... The military should have prepared her for it. There was so much training before one goes to war, and so little for one's return."
I couldn't put this book down. It is superbly researched - I'm pretty sure it is not autobiographical - and very well written. The lack of support for our returning heroes with PTSD should make us ashamed of ourselves.
SUPPLEMENT 01/09/2012: I have been listening to this audio in my car on the single-disc CD player that came with it. I find that while the story is identical to the book, listening in snatches whenever I'm driving leaves me less able to appreciate the story. I also find that I draw pictures in my mind when reading the story, but less so with the audio.
Fortunately, the audio system in my car will start where it left off if I turn the car off then come bakc to it. That is a definite plus. Conversely, there is no idnication when you reach the end of each of the 12 GDs, so you suddenly find yourself listening to the current disc from the beginning again. I found this annoying.
The audio version would be great if I were taking long trips, which would allow listening to more of it at one time. That would provide more continuity. When not taking such trips, I prefer reading the book.