October 08, 2009
Book Review: “Back Home”
by Julia Keller
Published Sept. 2009 by Egmont USA
$15.99
Recommended for ages 10 and up
By Rebekah Sanderlin
Julia Keller is an amazing writer. Amazing. It easy to see why she won a Pulitizer Prize for feature writing. She writes powerfully, sparing her words so that her punches won’t be lost in flourish. In her young adult novel “Back Home,” about a National Guard family that is coping with a father who returns from Iraq with very serious injuries, she is able to channel the thoughts and attitudes of Rachel, a 13-year-old girl, with painful clarity and realism. She takes readers inside Rachel’s head – and it’s not a pleasant place to be. Anyone who has ever been a teenage girl will recognize the self-doubt and insecurity that go with the age and instantly empathize with Rachel, who is struggling through an unthinkable situation at such a vulnerable time in her life.
Keller uses Rachel’s 13-year-old voice to express the fears and doubts of a family enduring a nightmare. By narrating the story from the perspective of someone already on shaky ground, Keller is able to stare down the questions swirling around the family without blinking and she does not attempt to gloss over the difficulties that accompany life when a family member is seriously and permanently disabled.
This book that would likely be hugely helpful for the families of injured servicemembers, as well as for anyone who has a loved one who is seriously disabled. The book would also be useful for people without a connection to the military as it shows the enormity of sacrifice undertaken by our nation’s military families, especially those of the “citizen soldiers” in the National Guard. Rachel’s family, like thousands of other National Guard and Reservist families, must endure all of these struggles without the benefit of a having other military families around. No one in their world can relate to their experiences and Rachel finds her closest ally in a boy whose brother was disabled in a car wreck.
It is impossible to not feel empathy for each member of Rachel’s family in the story: Her father – trapped in his damaged body with a mind that limits his ability to communicate; her mother – struggling to care for a needy husband and three young children while having to be the sole breadwinner; and the children – confused, scared and missing the family they used to have. Perhaps young adults who do not have a connection to the military will find this glimpse into a family’s sacrifice to be informative and riveting.
Keller is to be commended for keeping her novel tightly tethered to reality – her book is not a fairy tale. That same strength, however, could mean that she has a hard time finding readers. She very clearly details reality for this family and it’s a reality most people will not want to know. It is also more than most military families need to know.
This is not a book anyone in the military community should read unless they are already dealing with a similar situation. A teenage child of a deployed member of the military should be actively discouraged from reading this book as it could raise unnecessary fears during an already uncertain time.
Parents, educators and members of the military community should be very aware of an individual military teenager’s mental state before recommending this book. For a teen who has a parent or other loved one with similar injuries this could be an invaluable resource, but for a teen with a deployed loved one who has not been injured this book could have devastating effects.