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“Extraordinary…[Thank You for Your Service] will bend your mind to the reality of an American war that is now well into its second decade.”
— Ben Fountain, New York Times bestselling author
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“I’m urging everyone I know to give Thank You for Your Service just a few pages, a few minutes out of their busy lives. The families honored in this urgent, important book will take it from there.”
— Katherine Boo, New York Times bestselling author
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“This is a
heartbreaking book powered by the candor with which these veterans and their
families have told their stories, the intimate access they have given Mr.
Finkel…into their daily lives, and their own eloquence in speaking about their
experiences…The stories of the soldiers and their families portrayed in Thank You for Your Service possess a
visceral and deeply affecting power.”
— New York Times
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“Finkel
absents himself from the narrative, immersing the reader in the quotidian life
of soldiers and their families. Thank You
for Your Service is elegantly reported, free of the entanglements of
crusading self-aggrandizement on the one hand and, on the other, an overidentification
with its subjects.”
— New York Times Book Review
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“Accents
the disparity between the life-endangering combat commitment of these brave men
and women and their intense difficulties reintegrating into ‘normal’ American
life. One of the most powerful books of 2013.”
— Barnes & Noble, editorial review
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“Incredibly moving…Told in crisp, unsentimental prose and supplemented with excerpts from soldiers’ diaries, medical reports, e-mails, and text messages, their stories give new meaning to the costs of service—and to giving thanks.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“The author gives a clear-eyed, frightening portrayal of precisely what it is like to suffer with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury and what it is like to have the specter of suicide whispering into your ear every day.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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“If Finkel
weren’t such a vivid, compelling, heartrending writer, you’d never get through
his agonizing weave of battles, from the bomb-strewn highways of Iraq to the
psycho clinics of VA hospitals, and many ruined homes in between.”
— Bookforum
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“Finkel’s plain-spoken clarity
is ably voiced by narrator Arhut Bishop. A story so moving, and so vital, has
no need of pyrotechnics. Highly recommended for all listeners.”
— Library Journal
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“Narrator
Arthur Bishop is more than up to the task of recounting these lives in a way
that will make listeners pause and consider their sacrifices…His unadorned
style fits the book and allows the words to take center stage. He alters his
voice slightly for characters, but no more than is enough to set them apart
from the narrative. The result is an emotional experience, as some passages are
quite graphic, that listeners are unlikely to forget quickly.”
— AudioFile
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“Bishops straightforward, unadorned narration matches Finkel's style. He reads briskly in a soft, slightly raspy voice that establishes an emotional connection and effectively communicates facts as well as the physical, mental, and emotional toll of war.
— Booklist
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This is not--nor should it be--an easy book. But it is an essential one.
— Elizabeth D. Samet, The New York Times Book Review
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Together with its masterful prequel The Good Soldiers, [Thank You for Your Service] measures the wages of the war in Iraq--the wages of war, period--as well as anything I've read . . . [Finkel] atones for our scant attention by paying meticulous heed.
— Frank Bruni, The New York Times
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I'm urging everyone I know to give Thank You for Your Service just a few pages, a few minutes out of their busy lives. The families honored in this urgent, important book will take it from there.
— Katherine Boo, National Book Award–winning author of Behind the Beautiful Forevers
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In this incredibly moving sequel, Finkel reconnects with some of the men of the 2-16--now home on American soil--and brings their struggles powerfully to life . . . Told in crisp, unsentimental prose and supplemented with excerpts from soldiers' diaries, medical reports, e-mails, and text messages, their stories give new meaning to the costs of service--and to giving thanks.
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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In a series of interconnected stories, Finkel follows a handful of soldiers and their spouses through the painful, sometimes-fatal process of reintegration into American society. The author gives a clear-eyed, frightening portrayal of precisely what it is like to suffer with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury and what it is like to have the specter of suicide whispering into your ear every day.
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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Finkel has made art out of a defining moment in history.
— Doug Stanton, The New York Times Book Review on The Good Soldiers
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The Good Soldiers by David Finkel is the most honest, most painful, and most brilliantly rendered account of modern war I've ever read.
— Daniel Okrent, Fortune on The Good Soldiers
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Embedded with the veterans, their families, their friends, and their counselors, Finkel lights up the lives of these struggling souls, who often compound their real problems by convincing themselves they're 'weak' for 'abandoning' their buddies and seeking treatment... Vivid, compelling, heartrending.
— Jeff Stein, Bookforum