Sparta; A Novel

By Roxana Robinson

Going from peace to war can make a young man into a warrior. Going from war to peace can destroy him. Conrad Farrell has no family military heritage, but as a classics major at Williams College, he has encountered the powerful appeal of the Marine Corps ethic. “Semper Fidelis” comes straight from the ancient world, from Sparta, where every citizen doubled as a full-time soldier. When Conrad graduates, he joins the Marines to continue a long tradition of honor, courage, and commitment.As Roxana Robinson’s new novel, Sparta, begins, Conrad has just returned home to Katonah, New York, after four years in Iraq, and he’s beginning to learn that something has changed in his landscape. Something has gone wrong, though things should be fine: he hasn’t been shot or wounded; he’s never had psychological troubles. But as he attempts to reconnect with his family and his girlfriend and to find his footing in the civilian world, he learns how hard it is to return to the people and places he used to love. His life becomes increasingly difficult to negotiate: he can’t imagine his future, can’t recover his past, and can’t bring himself to occupy his present. As weeks turn into months, Conrad feels himself trapped in a life that’s constrictive and incomprehensible, and he fears that his growing rage will have irreparable consequences.Suspenseful, compassionate, and perceptive, Sparta captures the nuances of the unique estrangement that modern soldiers face as they attempt to rejoin the society they’ve fought for. Billy Collins writes that Roxana Robinson is “a master at . . . the work of excavating the truths about ourselves”; The Washington Post’s Jonathan Yardley calls her “one of our best writers.” In Sparta, with the powerful insight and acuity that marked her earlier books (Cost, Sweetwater, and A Perfect Stranger, among others), Robinson delivers her best book yet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Jun 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9780374267704

Roxana Robinson

Roxana Robinson is the author of more than ten books, including the novels Sparta and Cost; short story collections; and the biography Georgia O'Keeffe: A Life. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Vogue, among other publications. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, and she was president of the Authors Guild from 2014 to 2017. She teaches in the Hunter College MFA program and divides her time among New York, Connecticut, and Maine.

Reviews for Sparta; A Novel

[sraelling · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Conrad Farrell returns from a tour of duty in Afghanistan and is no longer a Marine but finds life as a civilian difficult to live. The Conrad who joined the Marines is not the same person who returned. 375 pages of his angst, not being able to concentrate on tests, unable to behave "normally", unable to have personal relationships with family members/girlfriend. Finally decides to commit suicide - but younger brother talks him out of it. He gets better in the final TWO PAGES. Aargh!

[timbazzett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Roxana Robinson's SPARTA is gut-wrenching, heartbreaking literary fiction that kept me reading late into the night, And as I got closer and closer to the book's end, I began to dread what would come, was actually afraid for this young man, protagonist Conrad Farrell, and what he might do. Because he had become that real to me. Not a fictional character, but a real-life, flesh and blood human being, and one who was in deep trouble, tortured by unbearable "storms of anguish and grief and despair ... of guilt and shame."With Marine Corps LT Conrad Farrell, a returning Iraq War veteran, Roxana Robinson has created a character who, while real enough as an individual - and vividly so - could also be construed as a composite of thousands of veterans irreparably damaged by the war. And so many of them, like Farrell, fail to seek help because they are still governed by the "suck it up" and "be a man" mindset drilled into them by their training.Farrell comes from a comfortably upper-class background in Westchester County, and is a graduate of Williams College, where he studied the classics. His father is a professor, his mother a licensed social worker and therapist. It seems an unlikely background for a Marine officer, in this era of no draft and a professional military which comprises barely one percent of the population. But Conrad was drawn by that age old pull of wanting to test himself, and there was also some idealism, wanting to do something for his country. The Iraq War was not yet a reality when he signed up, but came soon after, and his long nightmare of combat, casualties, and his subsequent return to an uncaring general populace is documented here in a narrative so compelling and real that it will not just draw you in; it will break your heart. It doesn't take Conrad long, upon his return home, to realize that he doesn't fit in, not with his loving family, not with his girl friend. Not anywhere. A veteran of numerous firefights and victim of IEDs, he is plagued by crippling headaches, bloody memories and horrifying flashbacks, and forced to admit, "The stuff in my head is permanent. It can't be erased." And only when thoughts of suicide become more frequent does he seek help, through an overburdened and indifferent VA Hospital system. Robinson compares the rigid warrior codes and training of Sparta, the ancient Greek city-state, to those of the Marine Corps, and tells us - "Sparta failed, in the end, because the energies of the state were directed only toward war ... The costs of war were great, both to the nation and to the soldiers. Sparta made young boys into warriors; it was left to the warriors to restore themselves to men."Conrad Farrell's story is grim proof of the difficulty of effecting such a restoration.Roxana Robinson's previous novel, which I have not read, is called COST. She could have easily used the same title for this book, with its heart wrenching descriptions of the human cost of our current wars. Robinson is a marvelous writer, and SPARTA is a book which cries out to be read. My highest recommendation.- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA

[jimnicol-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliantly told, heartbreaking without being hopeless...enlightening if you know someone fighting this same PTSD fight.

[shazjhb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As I work with vets this was an extremely realistic presentation especially in 2006. We at the VA have become much more aware of the multiple issues. We are hoping that by treating the vets early we can impact their lives.

[eheinlen_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was wonderful. This subject needs to be discussed more openly and the author provided a story that was extremely realistic. I recommend that everyone read this book. I especially think it would be important to high school students to read this book as they may have friends or older relatives going through this same issue.

[tututhefirst_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This one BLEW. ME. AWAY. I did not want to read another book about the Iraq war. I did not want to read anything else grim, dark, or depressing but I couldn't put it down.I can't begin to get my thoughts ordered enough to write this one the review it deserves, but I can sing its praises to the heavens. Have no doubt-- this is a meaty book, with a subject matter that many of us find distasteful, but it is an exquisite piece of writing...no extra words, no fluff, but bold, brazen, heart-wrenching; it's a panic attack-producing introspective look at what is happening to an entire generation of this country's (and maybe the world's?) young military aged people who have gone off to serve their country with high hopes of changing the world, only to return to a world they don't know, don't understand, and a world that doesn't seem able to understand them or help them cope with the traumas they've endured. They may come home in pieces physically, or they may return looking intact, but they are all fractured indelibly from what they've done, what they've endured, what they've seen and heard and smelt and experienced.The story is about Conrad Farrell - New England upper middle class classics major in college, enamored of the ancient Spartans and the purity of their thoughts, who decides after graduation to do "something real.. something that will make a difference" by accepting a commission in the US Marines. As a Marine leader, he is responsible for his men, and goes off to Iraq to watch and engage in the carnage that was Fallujah and surrounding area battles. When he returns after four years, he is irrevocably changed and unable to settle back into a world he no longer recognizes."You don't get it. I'd love to do this....Change. I can't. Something's not working. All you do is tear me apart. I'd like to be back here with you all, but I'm not. You don't get it. I'm not here. I'm not home. I'm still there." p. 348His family (parents, brother, sister and girl-friend) are devastated when their efforts to understand are scorned, all offers of help are ignored or rejected, when they see him sinking further and deeper into non-functioning desperation and are forced to stand by helplessly. His inability to articulate his problems compounds the tragedy. The VA is not much help. (The book is set in 2006). His mother, a professional therapist, is particularly upset:"I know what I'm supposed to do....I do it all the time as a therapist...but I can't do it with Con. I can't do it.....I'm not supposed to reach out to him. He doesn't like it. I can see that. If he were a client, I'd tell myself to stop....I'm too afraid. I can't leave him alone....What kind of a therapist! What kind of a mother! I can't stop." p. 340It should be required reading in high school, in college, at our military's officer training academies and War Colleges, and by all who are in the unenviable position of treating these returning veterans both physically and mentally. Ultimately, it's not only an indictment of our mental health care system, but of our national caring system, our national conscience, and the conflicted values of leadership theory.Ultimately it's also a book about hope, and love and caring, and never giving up.Definitely going to be on my top 5 of the year list. GO GET IT. GO READ IT.

[stevejm51 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well written book about a returning Iraq veteran. Author gets inside his head and makes it believable. I really cared about what would happen to this guy.