The Yellow Birds

I read this book shortly after returning home from Iraq and remained haunted for months. Despite the novel being a work of fiction, it details the modern veteran's struggle to find his place in society and his unadulterated embrace of violence and camaraderie that permeates each corner of his life. Powers’ explanation of combat is similar to the suspended moment before a car crash is told in prose that sings, and probably why he won the PEN/Hemingway Award for this work of art. 

Himself an Iraq War veteran, Powers writes with the same detachment that many soldiers feel upon returning home—that you’re a different version of yourself, in the same skin as before, and no one quite recognizes you, even yourself. It’s a haunting, weird place to be, and Powers’ lyrical cadence and clear-cut, minimalist narration paint each paragraph with this dualistic feeling. The Army trains soldiers to be automatic, to not have to think, which is necessary in war. However, most soldiers are not properly de-processed out of this mindset, and Powers’ powerful novel shows us that. By bouncing back and forth… show more.