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Book Review of In Country

In Country
In Country
Author: Bobbie Ann Mason
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Hardcover


I enjoyed this story even though it was sad to think of this young girl who never knew her father. I have tried to imagine what it was like at war myself but she also wanted to be able to picture what her father experienced. Sam (Samantha) is 17 and she has been asking everyone about Vietnam but no one wants to tell her anything. She gets books from the library but with all the technical language and confusing names she doesn't learn much and still cant picture it. She wants to know about Agent Orange and wonders if her uncle Emmett was exposed to it. He has bad pimples on his face and neck and she wants him to see a doctor. She worries he might have cancer from it. He wont get a job or a girlfriend and Sam wants him to live more. Eventually she learns more about the war and her father but she doesn't like what she learned.

Some parts of the book were a bit funny and some where pretty strange, like the dream she had about having a baby. I'm glad I decided to read this even though it is not my usual type of book. I only wish the book told whether Emmett ever did get tested for Agent Orange and the result. Now I'm going to wonder forever.