Criss Errol Errol itibaren Akhai, Madhya Pradesh, India itibaren Akhai, Madhya Pradesh, India

Cry. Fest. I have never in my life cried so much while reading a book. I'm not even completely sure that I cried so much when watching Titanic for the first time. Every kind of tears: sad tears, happy tears, bittersweet tears, spiritual tears, this-resonates-so-deep-it-hurts-a-little tears. Considering the story was about a group of women bound together only by the fact that their husbands were in the same deployment to Afghanistan, it's not surprising that the story caused a lot of tears, nor that the story was difficult to read at times. What is surprising (to me, at least) was that the difficult parts had nothing to do with the deployment. The hardest things to read were the inner monologue moments, early on, before the women got to know each other. Their heads were full of the self-deprecating thoughts we all have, and it was very hard to read. (think of hanging around a Debbie Downer for the first half of the book... kind of like that) Granted, these thoughts are true-to-life, and that is part of what made it so hard to read. But once the women started to open up to each other and really lean on one another, they grew in personal strength and the inner monologues were no longer so irritating. In fact, if I had to pinpoint one major complaint about the book, it would be that I wish there had been more in between the big emotional wallop (about three quarters of the way in) and the end. I wanted to see more development from Brenda and from Jessie; while I did get the feeling that they were heading in certain direction, some confirmation of that would have been nice. Though I do appreciate how difficult it must be to juggle five main characters, and I can understand why she pared it down to three main characters and two supporting. The characters were so very, very real. I saw pieces of myself, or my sister, or my mother, or my friends in every one of them. Nothing was a caricature, but there were pieces of real life everywhere. The things we all struggle with, the concerns and insecurities we all have were there, but so were the strengths and the will to do right. This is the kind of story that pushes you to action, even if the action is as simple as a prayer or hugging your kids a little tighter. I was reminded of all that I have, and all that I still have to work towards. It was a beautiful tribute to the families of our troops and a deeply stirring reminder of what they are protecting with their lives. I do feel the need to mention that if you are not LDS, or are not very familiar with the LDS culture and lifestyle, you very well may not understand most of this book. The very essence of the story relies on the spirituality, faith and lifestyles of LDS women, and if you aren't familiar with our methods of prayer or our belief system, much of the book will seem foreign. If you are LDS, the spirituality is so seamlessly and beautifully woven into the narrative that you will find your faith strengthened just by reading this. Parental Advisories Sex 0/5: Since the men are all overseas, and all the women remain faithful, there's no sex at all Language 0/5: Though some funny Utah euphemisms are used :) Violence 2/5: The constant threat of war hangs over the story, and several conversations turn to the violence that the men are facing. One character battles severe depression, including a suicide attempt and some self-mutilation. Substance Abuses 2/5: A teen sneaks out and comes home with alcohol on her breath more than once. A character is found to be in possession of street drugs. A character attempts suicide by deliberately overdosing on pain pills. While the book is quite clean, the overall tone is extremely intense, and not something I recommend for children who cannot handle a mature and frank discussion about life and death.

Review to follow.