Copyright Date:
2016
Edition Date:
2016
Release Date:
04/05/16
Pages:
157 pages
ISBN:
0-375-71516-9
ISBN 13:
978-0-375-71516-7
Dewey:
Fic
LCCN:
2015023578
Dimensions:
23 cm.
Language:
English
Reviews:
School Library Journal
(Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)
Using the classic tale of Odysseus's journey home from the Trojan War as a metaphor, Sgt. Jack Brennan mandates storytelling for the last night of his Marines' deployment in Afghanistan. Each of Odysseus's adventures is paired with a modern struggle faced by returning soldiers. For example, after Brennan tells the story of Odysseus's men being trapped by the Lotus Eaters, one of his soldiers relates how his recovery from shrapnel led to Oxycontin abuse, a DUI, and stripped rank. The theme of soldiers helping one another through post-traumatic stress disorder runs through the work, which was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Five different artists illustrated the book, and their sections are scattered, which makes for minor character inconsistencies. Containing no graphic language or sex, this title can be easily paired with Homer's The Odyssey in a classroom setting. VERDICT Perfect for school libraries in military communities or where The Odyssey is part of the curriculum. Sarah Hill, Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL
Tragic, poignant, and at times funny and hopeful, this graphic novel brilliantly conveys the profound challenges that many of today’s veterans face upon returning to civilian life, even as it tells “the oldest war story of all time.”
Jack Brennan is a Marine Corps sergeant whose infantry squad has been cleared to return home from a grueling deployment to Afghanistan. A few years prior, Sergeant Brennan lost one of his closest friends—a young combat veteran—to suicide and has vowed to do everything in his power to keep his Marines from a similar fate. On their last night in-country, Brennan, who has long kept a tattered copy of the Odyssey with him on deployment, shares his version of Homer’s classic with his fellow soldiers to help prepare them for the transition back home.
Brennan plunges into a rich retelling of Odysseus’s long journey home from the battlefield at Troy, during which Odysseus and his men confront numerous obstacles—from the lure of a psychedelic lotus plant to ghoulish shades in the Land of the Dead to the seductive songs of the deadly Sirens—as they try to make it back to Greece. Along the way, Brennan and his fellow Marines map the struggles faced by Odysseus and his men onto their own—isolation, addiction, guilt, depression, and loss. Through his retelling, Brennan reminds his squad that the gulf separating the battlefield from the home front is deep, wide, and sometimes hard to cross—that it is possible to travel all the way home and, like the characters in the Odyssey, still feel lost at sea.
Common Core
STEAM
High/Low
Chapter
Book
Large
Print
Series Tracker
Manga
Big
Book
Board
Book
Hot
Title
Adult
Language
Mature
Content
Ebook
Ebook
MUA (Multi User Access)
Light Novel
