Review: The Human Costs of War
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 17, 2012
You don't have to be a war veteran yourself to fall under the spell of this elegiac novella by Bert Carson. I'm the proof of it. Carson is a southern storyteller par excellence whose previous books Fourth and Forever and Another Place, Another Time, already hooked me. Maddog and Miss Kitty continued the series and fully lived up to my high expectations.This is the story of a helicopter door gunner named Gerald who fought in Vietnam, then came home to find the world had changed. If you've ever wondered what it is that troubles our returned soldiers, what really goes on in their minds, and why they are so troubled, you will understand it much better when you have read Gerald's story. Gerald earns the moniker Maddog on his first day in Vietnam because of his grit and determination.The novella alternates between Maddog's point of view and that of one Katherine Timmons, who has been christened Miss Kitty during her years as a medic saving lives in Vietnam as soldiers are helicoptered back from bloody battles. Like Maddog, Miss Kitty is no perfect person with no flaws; the author puts the spotlight on both characters' flaws, and they become real.Our country has been at war in faraway countries for the last ten years, and has been almost continuously at war for the last 70 years, if you consider our declared and undeclared engagements in Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Iraq (twice), Afghanistan and Libya. There is no more topical issue for modern fiction than the issue Bert Carson is exploring in Maddog and Miss Kitty and his other books: the human costs of war. I can think of no better way to begin your own exploration of this theme by spending a few hours reading this book.