The Things We Do to Make it Home, A Novel - Beverly Gologorsky

Beverly Gologorsky's novel proves once again that good fiction is the truest telling of the history of our times.ￂﾠￂﾠThe Things We Do to Make It Home uses the power of story to illuminate an untold tragedy.ￂﾠￂﾠIt goes beyond the terrible effects of Vietnam on its veterans to the widening devastation on the lives of their lovers, wives, and children. Rendered with vivid immediacy, this first novel is a work of rare, revelatory impact.'ￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠ--Helen Yglesiasￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠ The Things We Do to Make It Home captures, in clear, unadorned prose, the legacy the Vietnam War left to the wives and children of the men who fought in it.ￂﾠￂﾠBeverly Gologorsky's brilliantly constructed, deeply human novel charts the fates of six couples--the men who came home profoundly altered and the women who strove to create for them a safe haven yet in the end could do little more than bear witness to their pain.ￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠIn 1973, stateside and seemingly whole,Rooster, Frankie, Jason, and the other vets begin getting on with their lives.ￂﾠￂﾠSome marry, find jobs, buy houses. But beneath the surface activity, there's a dangerous fault line.ￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠTwenty years later, the war is still with them: Rod and Emma face the loss of their house and everything they have worked for; Rooster lives on the street, alienated from his wife, Millie, and their rebellious daughter, Sara-Jo; Frankie returns to Vietnam to put his ghosts to rest. ￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠￂﾠThe Things We Do to Make It Home invites comparison with the work of Tim O'Brien and Bobbie Ann Mason, but its 1990s setting completes the literature for our time. Told in a spare yet evocative, absolutely original voice, this is a story of deep hungers, the brevity of solace, and the limits of devotion to help those we love. The Things We Do to Make it Home, A Novel - Beverly Gologorsky. Random House 1998. ISBN 9780375502019