Hello Beautiful People,
When the folks at Argo Navis Author Services email you asking if you’d consider covering Three War Stories, by David Mamet, you say yes.
When anyone asks you to cover anything related to David Mamet, well, you say yes.
Why?
Because it’s David Mamet.
David Mamet is a stage and film director as well as the author of acclaimed plays, books, and screenplays. His play Glengarry Glen Ross won a Pulitzer Prize and was a Tony Award Nominee, and his screenplays for The Verdict and Wag the Dog were both Oscar nominees. For me, he is one of the great writers of our time.
And so, when he decided to self publish this trio of short novellas, Three War Stories, I was intrigued.
A bit about the stories –
The Redwing – A 19th Century Secret Service naval officer turned prisoner, then novelist and finally memoirist recounts his own transformations during the course of his service and imprisonment.
Notes on Plain Warfare – Examines religion through the prism of the American Indian Wars.
The Handle and the Hold – a vivid, dialogue-driven tale of two ex-military men who steal a plane in the month before the Israeli War of Independence.
This is what I will say about these stories – it reminded me of talking to my grandfather, who was a Chief Naval Engineer during World War II. I have memories of sitting at the kitchen table, completely enraptured by his colorful and intense stories – and there were often times when I couldn’t connect some of the pieces of the puzzle. He’d leave out details that he thought we knew already, or perhaps he’d just leave them out because they were too painful to talk about.
See, when I think of war, that’s what I think of – the tiny bits of humanity that are somehow left out the equation when we read the FOX news ticker and the front page of the New York Times. I think of the moments that have no glory. The moments of sadness. Of longing. Of trying to shut your eyes so tight as to remember your loved ones kiss, his or her touch, the sound of his or her voice. I think of the moments when soldiers go to sleep, wondering if that will be the last time they lay their head down on a pillow. I think of the moments of regret.
I think of the moments unspoken.
And those moments come alive in these novellas.
David himself talks about these novellas more here.
But honestly, as always, I encourage you all to read it and make up your own minds.
Live, Love, Learn,