LitPick Review
Ryan Smithson was impacted by the event of 911. He was impacted so much that he joined the Army Reserve at seventeen years old. "If I don't do something, who will?" was his belief. Basic training is a time when the fresh recruits go through a process that Ryan describes in three phases: the red phase, then the white phase, and lastly the blue phase. The Army tears recruits down, builds them up, and tears them down again to transform them into strong people. When Ryan turned nineteen, he was deployed to Iraq. His experiences have the power of changing the heart of anyone who reads them. "Only after we have been completely destroyed can we begin to find ourselves."
Opinion:
Whenever I find a book and think it is the best one out there, I am always proven wrong. Ghosts of War is perhaps one of the most influential, important, and humane stories that I will ever read. Rather than a "war story" and death-filled novel, it is about life. Sure it is riddled with blood and gore, but Smithson wrote in a way that forces the reader to see past the obvious points of war. The most amazing part of this book was how in each chapter there was a main idea, or lesson, to be learned. The word choice, the dialogue, the details, and the tone are incredibly strong. There is no comparison to his novel. I recommend it to every American because it teaches many life lessons, including faith. "And without faith we are nothing."
