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REVIEWS
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Congratulations! It is my complete pleasure to be able to share this special news with you. Your work has been chosen to receive one of our 2006 awards! The complete list of all our winners for this year is up and available on our website right now! http://www.militarywriters.com/awards.htm As we continue to grow in membership, we are also structuring our awards more. Way back in the early days, we only offered the virtual awards - if you wanted a physical trophy or certificate, it was up to you to provide. As a not-for-profit organization, MWSA did not have the funding to purchase physical awards. Although we remain a not-for-profit organization, we now accept support through donations or sponsorship. This has allowed us to slowly begin structuring all of our awards. Last year, we were able to implement physical awards for our highest categories. This year we've added even more to our compliment of standards. We have awards for all levels. Some categories will receive a certificate suitable for framing, while others will receive plaques or statuettes. We will be presenting our awards at the "Salute to the Military" dinner on Saturday, October 14th at 6 p.m. The dinner is casual and open to members and their guests. (Each person is responsible for their own dinner ticket.) Members who cannot attend, will receive their award by mail after the event. I do have a key note speaker scheduled to attend, but received word this weekend that his schedule may be changing with little notice. Such is the life of our military! I will start seeking a back up speaker just in case. Please find attached, a special letter from the president of Military Writers Society of America. As you know, Bill personally reads every book, listens to every cd, watches every dvd/video that comes in. Due to continued health concerns, this will probably be the last year he is able to do that. Knowing that makes this year's awards even much more special. In closing, let me congratulate you once again on your success!
Respectfully, Maria Edwards
ECHOES FROM THE INFANTRY
Copyright 2005 Kirkus Reviews
--------------------------------- "A powerful first novel, written by an outstanding Long Island teacher, whose absorbing narrative demonstrates the true craft of storytelling and a genuine empathy for the lives of those who have suffered and sacrificed to protect our freedoms... Nappi moves artfully between the present and past, weaving a fictionalized tale of one Long Islander's struggle to reconcile with the demons from long ago and his family's neverending battle with many of the intangible burdens caused by the private life of man they never really knew. He touches our hearts with a story of courage and perseverance...a story of men who faced the greatest challenge of their generation. Because of these men and this haunting novel, their memory will never be forgotten... ECHOES FROM THE INFANTRY is truly a song of redemption and a triumph of the human spirit." --Father Tom Hartman, host of the nationally televised show "The God Squad" and author of several books, including Just A Moment: Life Matters With Father Tom. --------------------------------- "ECHOES FROM THE INFANTRY" by Frank Nappi St. Martin's Press, New York 242 pages. Published November 1, 2005. ISBN 0-312-33272-6 $23.95 US $31.95 Can. Review by John F. Baltes Captain USMN (Ret) Stoughton, WI 53589 "Echoes From The Infantry" is a work of fiction relating the story of a World War II veteran's youth, his combat experiences and his post World War II attempt to adjust back to the normal routine of being just a civilian. Frank Nappi, the author, has masterfully woven James McCleary's past with comparisons between his youth and that of his sons during a final family gathering after the death of the wife/mother. The pangs of home-sickness experienced by those in the military are brought to light in a way seldom expressed, such as in a package James receives from his girlfriend which contains sand, seaweed, and a sea shell from their special secret "cave" at Rockaway Beach. There are other meaningful episodes written with an insight reflecting a good understanding of the interactions between soldiers who have shared the realities of war. The rough humor and banter between the participants is presented with an accuracy that is knowing and lends a light-hearted atmosphere to an otherwise somber tale of awakening. The author alos presents an on-going attitude that we all can and should make the best of situations either good or bad. The novel contains an included tale of McCleary's son, John, who in his youth tries and wants to understand his father, but is rebuffed to the point John comes to believe his father is something less than human. John also questions his mother's normality as she continuously supports the father/husband. In the final day before he returns to his life in California, John hasn't gained an understanding of his father, but he is shocked to learn that his father is human and had/has a deep, lasting love for his wife that transcends McClearly's moods and odd ways. John's rude awakening to the realities of life is mindful of the vast knowledge fathers seemingly gain when sons and daughters grow up. This book should also be considered a "non-fiction" story held by vast numbers of veterans of all wars that is not being told by a veteran. The "non-fiction" story can be shared between veterans because they understand each other. This untold story is generally misunderstood by parents, wives, siblings children and others. The veteran is reluctant to relate because he feels his story will be considered bravado (telling of tall tales) and/or the deep feeling that those who have not experienced war will not understand no matter how the story is explained or told. Frank Nappi's first novel deserves to be added to your "must read" pile of books. ------------------------------------------ REVIEW OF ECHOES FROM THE INFANTRY (Review by Linda Sittler) Frank Nappi's new book, Echoes From The Infantry , might have been aptly named "Echoes From the Human Heart;" it delves into the meaning of life from inside the heart and mind of a sensitive young soldier caught in the midst of World War II. More than just another war story, this brilliantly constructed book illustrates how the human condition is universal, how life is precious, and how, in the end, we are all the same. Inside the head of James Mc Cleary, the reader is transported to war-torn Europe with vivid descriptions of a crying German child, compassionate and fearful young soldiers, calloused, seasoned troops, cramped quarters in makeshift foxholes, final moments of prayerful desperation, and heart-wrenching pictures of suffering and fallen soldiers on both sides of battle. On another level the book is about an eldest son's struggle to understand his strange and emotionally-absent father at the time of his mother's death. The now elderly dad, a World War II veteran, has spent all of his post-war years detached from the rest of his family, lost in an unspeakable malaise of horrid memories. Eldest son, John McCleary, comes home to his childhood house in Long Island to clean it out in preparation for sale after his mother's death. In the attic he finds his "old man's" war pack and a series of letters that he had written to his girlfriend, Maddie, John's mother, during the war. These letters form the crucial pieces of the elusive puzzle that had been his father; they enable John to "know" the man and finally forgive the strained relationship between them. As the son continues to uncover clues about the mystery of his father, the remarkable book weaves a compassionate tale that jumps skillfully between present and past with compelling, vivid incite into one man's perspective in war, so that the reader becomes as thoroughly engaged as is the curious son and must keep turning pages to find out "who James McCleary really is." The book is a meaningful tribute to the traits that we call human-love, fear, hurt, compassion, hope, anger, and despair-no matter what uniform we wear in battle. It is a tribute to the power of the printed word-James McCleary's letters written in combat were a link to his beloved Maddie and, years later, the key to a reconciliation between father and son; a young, captured German soldier's last written words were empathetic with his captors and become crucial to a final cleansing for the elderly James McCleary. It is also a tribute to the many other things that human beings share in common-dead German and American soldiers both carried pictures of their loved ones, religious medals, letters from home, and silly keepsakes that reminded them of the life they once knew. Families universally can relate to a parent's dying or growing old, to the family's accumulating a lifetime of "stuff," and to the feeling of loss when there is finally a need to dispose of that "stuff" and sell the family homestead once and for all. Echoes From The Infantry is a book that both men and women will find compelling and that baby boomers, who are beginning to lose parents, sell the family home, or finalize a relationship with an elderly parent, will intimately understand and appreciate.
------------------------------------------ Military Writers of America Book Review
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