Review: Compelling
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2012
I finished reading "The Return: A Novel of Vietnam" several days ago and in the interim have finished two other shorter books but the characters and the story of this one stay in my mind.I had no problem getting into the narrative within the first couple chapters but then it bogged down for me in the military details of the past -- my problem, not the author's.  That only lasted for a few chapters in which I skimmed through parts that I couldn't or didn't care to understand.  After those parts I couldn't put the book down and resisted the urge to click to the last chapter to see the ending.  I stayed up reading far into the night then most of the next morning to finish the story.The character development and the location descriptions put me right there as the author alternated between the past and the present with the story being told in flashbacks.  At several points I felt myself tearing up over the death of one of the characters that I felt I had come to know.  I was very happy to see some of the characters from the past making it to the present and helping to bring the story to conclusion.  Although this is a work of fiction, the names of places and battles are real and will be familiar to anyone who has lived through the Vietnam era.I haven't read any of this author's other books but will definitely look for them.  Aside from some editing problems mentioned by other readers which were not terribly distracting for me, I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a hard-to-put down story.