Sparta: A Novel

 

 

 

I am left in awe of this book. It was not what I had expected, but in the best way possible. Conrad has just returned home to New York, after serving four years and two deployments in Iraq, as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. The years he had spent in Iraq left him longing for the luxuries of home, but when he actually gets back he is surprised by what he encounters. He struggles daily with adjusting back into civilian life, and as the days go by it only gets worse. Thankfully for Conrad he has the support of his family to see him through the dark days.

 

 

This book is so raw. It is honestly like reading from a veteran's journal. You would never know it was a work of fiction. It brings up so many valid points. Our young men and women are returning home from "war" and they are not met with the ticker tape parades of World War II. It is a constant struggle for a lot of them to enter back in to society as a civilian. It is even harder when they feel isolated from the world, their family, and friends. They come back changed and it is hard for them to adjust.

 

 

"Fear. You didn't call it fear, but that's what it was. All that was over now, but the habit was hard to break. Was it a habit or a way of life?"

 

 

It was very disheartening to see Conrad finally go to the VA to seek help, and have to wait months, counting down the days, and get shrugged off with medication. While I am not sure that every veteran has had this experience, it is disgraceful for even one to have to go through that. It takes a lot of courage to admit that you need help and to be so easily dismissed can be earth shattering.

 

 

I think this is must read for everyone. I think that it gives readers a perspective they don't often see from soldiers or war. When people think of the cost of war they count death tolls. No one thinks of the soldiers who lost years (or more) of their lives to post traumatic stress disorder. I commend Roxana Robinson for touching on this issue in such an eloquent, raw way.

 

 

"Sparta made young boys into warriors; it was left to the warriors to restore themselves to men."