All the Ruined Men
Stories
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
For readers of Phil Klay, Kevin Powers, and Tim O'Brien: Dramatic, powerful, authentic short stories of soldiers fighting a "forever war," in combat and back home, and the 2023 winner of the Library of Virginia Award for Fiction.
Combat takes a different toll on each soldier; so does coming home. All the Ruined Men by Bill Glose comprises linked stories that show veterans struggling for normalcy as they grapple with flashbacks, injuries (both physical and psychological), damaged relationships, loss of faith, and loss of memory. Beginning in 2003, All the Ruined Men spans ten years, from the confident beginning of America’s “forever war” to the confusion and disillusionment that followed.
As a former paratrooper and Gulf War veteran, author Bill Glose is closely bound to these stories. Drawing from his own experiences and military knowledge, Glose presents a cast of complex and sympathetic characters: young men who embraced what seemed like a war of just cause, who trained and fought and lived and died together, and who have returned to families, wives, children, civilian life, and an America that has lost its way.
Unforgettable, moving, filled with moments of anguish, doubt, love, hope, and other emotions, All the Ruined Men is a singular debut collection.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Combat veteran Glose debuts with an emotionally charged linked collection about a squad of American soldiers trying to survive combat and its aftermath after tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. "In the Early Cocksure Days" sees a sergeant trying to resolve a quarrel between two squadmates in Iraq using improvised lances and camels. A soldier who was wounded by an IED finds that his facial disfigurement in civilian life is actually an advantage while playing high stakes poker in "Dead Man's Hand." In "The Dead Aren't Allowed to Walk," set in Virginia Beach, Va., Curtis Bradshaw sees the officer responsible for a friendly fire incident that killed his friend, and now Curtis contemplates revenge. In the best story, "Penultimate Dad," a man tries to use his military training to make contact with his estranged teenage daughter. The closer, "Words Outlive the Tongue," in which all the squad members' voices are heard, offers a devastating summation of everything. Glose writes knowingly about the emotions that assault soldiers coming home from a combat zone and confronting a world that no longer makes sense to them, making for a powerful statement on the war that is waged once soldiers return home. This sterling collection stands with Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried.
