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Since it is a fiction book, only historical informations in the book are real, other events and characters are made up by the writer himself. What is great about the book is you can learn things you did not know before and see how they perfectly evolved in the story.
The story includes so many themes in it. War, racism, commitment, God and fate… It is about what wars turn people into, how racism differs in the other parts of the world, what is religions’ place in a little child’s life. But the most evident theme of the story was ‘’Fate’’. Whatever happens in the story, our main character always thinks it is fate that what makes him go through what he goes through.
It is not only about a man who’s looking for his parents, but it is also about a man who discovers new things in his life. Corporal Chauncy T. McClarren comes back from war in one piece, however his friend Harrold returns disabled. War changes all of them, Harrold returns as a paranoid, fat guy who drinks all the time. Chauncy wants to go find his real parents. After a little help from a gypsy our character starts a search to find them. He has a fugitive girlfriend out of nowhere and more and more characters add to the story. That actually makes this story better, with rich characters and rich themes, it becomes a very enjoyable adventure.
My favorite character of the story is Lizzy Spaarkes, whom I hated at the beginning. I think she uses Chauncy to get away with what she has done in the past. Then, she becomes a different person, still herself but improved. I also loved her because she seems to be a tough woman who knows how to stand on her feet. In fact, Michael P Amram puts many strong women in his book which makes me enjoy it more. He does not depict women as vulnerable creatures, but strong ones.
I give this book 3 out of 4 stars. I love the characters, I love the story, I love how writer puts many meanings under the story. The only thing that bugs me is that it feels like the most important thing in the book is not the story. I got distracted when there was other irrelevant stories in the book. I thought ‘’Why did he write that?’’ and could not connect it with the general point.
After all, it is a perfect book if you would enjoy going to America, Germany, France, the Bahamas in 1980’s without even getting up from your chair!
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