Myers writes mostly teen lit. This is a war story about a group of guys in Vietnam during a twelve month period in the late 60’s. It’s told from the first person perspective by a young soldier named Richie Perry. It’s a horrors-of-war story for the most part but with some hopefulness.
As far as teen lit goes, Myers doesn’t sugar coat much in this book. I think Myers wants to paint a realistic picture so there is plenty of swearing and a fair amount of graphic violence, including some intense scenes involving civilians. I don’t mention this to suggest that you shouldn’t let your teen read it, and I certainly can’t claim any knowledge of parenting, but I just thought you should know.
The violence is not depicted like action/adventure style violence. There is definitely no glorification of war in this book. I didn’t really expect that. I figured since it was teen lit that Myers would make it more of an adventure to hold the attention of young readers. But it’s more of a slog, which is probably the point.
I don’t read enough teen lit to know what to expect but I’m consuming more of it, so I’ll get there. When my nieces and nephews start hammering through books I want to be able to relate in some form.