I can count on a hand and a half the number of books I have reread (Brideshead Revisited, The Good Soldier, The Regeneration Trilogy, So Long See You Tomorrow, The Custom of the Country, Narrow Road to the Deep North, etc). I can peer over the dusky hills to the end of my reading adventure, and well, time's just too short.
So, when I come across a book that I immediately want to read again, I pay attention. Recently that book was Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss, and Occasional Wars. This memoir by journalist Peter Godwin just grabbed me by my non-existent lapels and won't let go. Godwin, a former war correspondent with the PTSD that occupation induces, grew up in Zimbabwe, and at a young age was conscripted into the then-Rhodesian army. He also lost a sister to the conflict there. His mother, who is the keystone of this remarkable book, was a doctor in Zimbabwe. A true character, she is dying but going out with a bang, or, rather, several of them. She adopts a haughty accent, recites poetry from her bed, repeatedly uses words Godwin doesn't know, and corrects her children's grammar (why stop now?). Her slow demise prompts Godwin to reckon with his upbringing and the stoicism required to simply survive. Plus, his marriage is deteriorating, and he is forced to contend with the consequences of his PTSD.
This perfect storm is the impetus for the book. Is there a more difficult task than honestly recounting the vicissitudes of a somewhat messy life? Perhaps, but Godwin does it superbly, and with a modicum of self-pity and a lot of humor.
This book is brilliant, and I'm going to read it again.
Carin Pratt is one of the remarkably knowledgeable crew at the Norwich Bookstore—and an ardent recommender of books. Before she landed in these parts, she spent 27 years at CBS News, including two decades as the executive producer of Face the Nation.