Connect
Sponsors
Currently Reading
-
Terms
The Book Lady's Blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Reviews and articles posted here are property of The Book Lady's Blog and are not to be posted elsewhere without permission. Please contact me if you wish to post any of my work, or any excerpt thereof, in any other location or format.
Miscellaneous
Meet Bookrageous!
Technical Stuff
Design Credits
Jan
21
Book Review: You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon
2011 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
Published January 20, 2011 by Amy Einhorn Books
Without the men, there is a sense of muted silence, a sense of muted life.
Siobhan Fallon’s You Know When the Men are Gone chronicles life on military bases in Fort Hood, Texas and Baghdad, Iraq in a series of eight linked stories filled with emotion and unforgettable, heartrending detail.
There was such unreality to the waiting, such limbo.
Fallon provides a full three-sixty on military life, taking readers into the daily existences of both the women left behind to manage the mundane details and minor crises of domestic life and the loud-talking, cursing, dreaming-of-home men who, knowing that they cannot control what happens while they’re away, grapple with the undeniable possibility that when they do finally return to home and family, they won’t find the same home and family they left.
In “Camp Liberty,” a soldier who “threw away a stable, ordinary American life of freedom and money, stirred by waving flags and the elusive vocabulary of an older nation: duty, honor, country” in the aftermath of September 11th goes home on long-awaited leave only to discover that he wishes he were back in Baghad. Fallon depicts several men going home on leave and at the end of their tours of duty, and she explores the complexities of the transition with remarkable nuance and sympathy for her characters, illuminating the ways in which soldiers become accustomed to their wartime ways of life and may resemble prisoners who become too comfortable with life “on the inside.”
The theme of infidelity—and the ever-present fear of being betrayed by one’s spouse—permeates You Know When the Men Are Gone, and Fallon explores both sides of loneliness and temptation, presenting characters who cheat and are cheated on, those who leave and those who are left. And then there are those who do nothing, who choose the path of willful ignorance rather than confront what could be the undoing of their relationships. In “Inside the Break,” a woman finds reason to believe her husband has cheated but chooses to accept his flimsy explanation, and in “Leave,” a soldier sneaks home from Iraq in an attempt to catch his wife in the act, all the while considering that he, too, might be willing to overlook it “if it meant keeping the life they had.”
In “The Last Stand,” a young soldier is forced to accept that, no matter how badly he wants to, he cannot return to the life he had. And though he has few things in common with his army friends, they are the ones he turns to in his moment of crises.
They’d trained, bitched, slept, and pissed together for the past two and a half years: it was the equivalent of knowing each other for about a decade in the civilian world.
And the military wives come together in a similar fashion, stepping in to offer emotional support, babysitting, advice, and the unspoken comfort that comes from knowing that another person really does understand what you are experiencing.
The characters in Fallon’s collection are linked in much the same way her stories are; characters who play central roles in one story appear—often with the loved ones they left behind—on the periphery of others. She weaves them together to illustrate the connectedness of interdependence of military life, and she acknowledges that it is not just soldiers, but their spouses and children, too, who make sacrifices to serve their country. And the “gold star” parking spot at the base grocery store is poor consolation for losing a spouse at age twenty-six.
Fallon skillfully creates a community in which every detail and decision is centered on the enlisted men. On keeping them happy. Keeping them healthy. Keeping them from having to experience any undue stress. Just keeping them. And while it is likely an accurate reflection of reality, too many of the women within these pages take the path of least resistance and opt for the easy, “happy” ending instead of confronting the problems in their marriages, because they tell themselves that the men have already been through so much they can “never know or understand.” These are women who seem to value their comfort and maintaining the status quo more than the assurance of their spouses’ fidelity, and if Fallon goes astray in this collection, it is not in presenting them this way but in doing so without providing enough context for readers who haven’t lived the experience themselves.
Like the best inside stories, You Know When the Men Are Gone is told with the kind of details and authenticity that only an insider can access, and Fallon’s debut reveals talent that promises a bright career indeed.
Related posts:
This looks like a must read, especially for people like me who have family in the military.
Thanks for the review – will definitely chase it up!
Terri´s last [type] ..Planning for the Future Starts with Celebrating the Past
Wonderful review! I can’t wait to read this book.
Thanks for this review. Can’t wait for my copy of Fallon’s book to arrive from Amazon.
David Abrams´s last [type] ..Friday Freebie- The History of History by Ida Hattemer-Higgins
This is an amazing review. I just added this to my To Read list, and can’t wait to dive into the stories.
meg´s last [type] ..On the Kindle Bandwagon
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jennsbookshelf, Rebecca Schinsky. Rebecca Schinsky said: Book Review: You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon http://goo.gl/fb/fFhXT [...]
I know what you mean about the women; I read Siobhan’s lovely collection as an ARC (she’s a friend of mine) and at first I had a difficult time understanding why the women seemed to entirely live for their men, etc. and take the sometimes easier, blinder route in their marriages instead of standing up for themselves. But then I thought about how many women I know that are non-military that do this in their marriages, too (not me!)….and it became very interesting to think about….
This book looks wonderful! Living so close to Ft Hood I would love to read it!
Michelle V´s last [type] ..Its Here!!
My initial response was much more critical, but then I thought about that as well. I still think the work is a little too “Inside Baseball” (to borrow a friend’s phrase), but it doesn’t really harm the collection because the rest of it is so fantastic.
Great review! I have heard so many good things about this book, and knowing soldiers who have gone through some of these topics you just briefly mentioned I can see where it would be a heartfelt collection of stories. Would love to know the authors background in order to write these stories.
Suzanne (Chick with Books)´s last [type] ..Bloggiesta Has Started!
Ah, should have mentioned that Fallon lived on Fort Hood for several years with her husband.
A really good review. Thank you!
Very good book review.
If you want rent a book visit here http://www.penpee.com/
[...] review of You Know When The Men Are Gone from Jenn's Bookshelves, Jen at Devourer of Books, and The Book Lady's Blog. Here also is a Q&A with Siobhan Fallon on her [...]