The Heart You Carry Home: A Novel
3/5
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About this ebook
Becca Keller is no stranger to the way war can change a man. Her Vietnam veteran father, King, suffered after his service, and as a result played only a limited role in his daughter’s life. Now Becca is marrying Ben, who is also just back from battle—and her mother, convinced that Becca is making the same mistakes she did, boycotts the wedding.
Ben does indeed seem different after his second tour, and only days after she marries him, he turns dangerous. Desperate, Becca turns to her father for help. But he is heading west with his motorcycle buddies—out to a place they call Kleos, a mysterious desert compound ruled over by a guru-like commanding officer. It serves as a refuge for some soldiers, but it might be the death of others.
There, Becca will be faced with the possibility that she may not know the real damage in her loved ones’ hearts. In finally seeing her father’s demons, she might just be able to start a journey back to peace with her husband.
Jennifer Miller
Jennifer Miller is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University where she teaches postgraduate TESOL courses. Her research and publications are in the areas of language acquisition and identity, the sociocultural framing of language pedagogy, and teacherâs work. Her book, Audible Difference: ESL and social identity (Multilingual Matters, 2003) explores the politics of speaking and identity for immigrant students in Australian high schools. Her current research concerns low literacy refugee students in the high school mainstream, and preservice teachers from non-English speaking backgrounds.
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Reviews for The Heart You Carry Home
9 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's always hard for me to read books that deal with suffering. PTSD is hard to deal with for anyone. Although this is a work of fiction, it was still hard to deal with for me. I believe that is a credit to the author to make me feel so deeply.She did extensive research and it shows in her writing. Terrific, but painful read. I received this book free for an honest review.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I read this for a bookclub and was somewhat disappointed. The character development was weak and the book went off in too many directions. The author came to our bookclub and we did have a very interesting discussion -- two members have spouses who are veterans of the Vietnam and Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts and another member works for the USO. I think I would appreciate reading the author's nonfiction articles about the journey she took back in 2007 more than I did this fictional account of those with whom she rode across the country.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I liked the premise of the book - Becca has trouble in her marriage to Iraq war veteran Ben who is suffering from PTSD. She finds her estranged father who also struggles with PTSD from Vietnam war. However, the books off into too many unrelated paths. There is one portion in particular that totally derailed the book for me.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Putting my finger on the exact genre of this book is not possible. The one thing I do know, though, is that I didn't really enjoy this story. I thought I had it figured out as a story about a young wife who was beaten by her PTSD-suffering war veteran husband and has fled the marriage with her oft-absent PTSD-suffering war veteran father and his veteran brotherhood of bikers on a cross-country trip, but then the story took a turn towards a grown-up version of the Hunger Games and it completely lost my interest/train of thought/any sort of believability.When college students Becca and Ben meet, Becca is instantly drawn to his military recruiter status, as her father, whom she would have liked to have had around more as she was growing up is a military vet. Ben likes Becca because she is not one to follow the crowd and her independence is attractive to him. Their relationship is fast-tracked after Ben is called to take a tour in Iraq. Getting married just a few months after meeting, with Ben shipping out shortly after hasn't given their marriage much of a chance. When Ben returns from his tour he is very different. His violent rages scare Becca and when he beats her out of a deep sleep one night she flees to her father's house for sanctuary.Becca's father, King, however isn't keen to have her around as he isn't used to being a father so he trusts his best friend Reno to help take care of Becca. Reno and King are getting ready to head out on a cross-country motorcycle trip with a number of their veteran buddies and end up taking Becca with them. Becca finds out that King's desire to head West is so he can take over leadership of an isolated commune where war vets go to live and apparently die. Meanwhile, Ben finds out where Becca is headed and he decides to go after her. Eventually all parties meet up at the commune and ridiculousness begins. The leader of the commune is ready to die and hand down his leadership role to whomever he deems most worthy though a series of deadly trials he puts each challenger through until he is dead and only one challenger remains. I was completely lost by the commune part of the book. I was barely interested by the lead-up part of the book, but this ending story completely was off-putting to me. I appreciate that the writing in this book isn't untalented or unintelligent so I gave it 3 stars instead of 2, but this story was really just not for me. I won this copy via Library Thing.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a very entertaining take on PTSD and the family dynamics of dealing with it. What happens when a soldier returns in body, but not quite in spirit? He still loves, fears, raves, and just like the rest of us, searches for the meaning of life. Miller has spun a strange yet wonderful tale of how to deal with someone that is not all there. Or worse, has brought home more than when he left. A little Heart of Darkness, a little Hell’s Angels and a whole lot of life in-between. How can you not be a little damaged when those you love are practically broken? Somehow, Becca manages to be true to herself while wrangling back the two most important men in her life. This story moves quickly and doesn’t stint on characters with soul. I was provided The Heart You Carry HomeAuthor: Jennifer MillerThis was a very entertaining take on PTSD and the family dynamics of dealing with it. What happens when a soldier returns in body, but not quite in spirit? He still loves, fears, raves, and just like the rest of us, searches for the meaning of life. Miller has spun a strange yet wonderful tale of how to deal with someone that is not all there. Or worse, has brought home more than when he left. A little Heart of Darkness, a little Hell’s Angels and a whole lot of life in-between. How can you not be a little damaged when those you love are practically broken? Somehow, Becca manages to be true to herself while wrangling back the two most important men in her life. This story moves quickly and doesn’t stint on characters with soul. A free ARC was provided for an honest review.
Book preview
The Heart You Carry Home - Jennifer Miller
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