Luke Mogelson

I don't have much to say about this book, to be honest. Mogelson doesn't seem to have actually attended an MFA program, but he has the kind of spare, observational, undistinctive style I associate with MFA programs. The stories are all war stories, but they focus on the people affected by war, not the fighting: damaged vets, family of veterans, people in combat. Too many are about men who become abusive toward their family. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but in Mogelson's hands these don't really rise above the level of cliché; they don't have much interesting to say about these kind of men. The mean thing to say would be that Luke Mogelson is no Tim O'Brien.

Still, there are a couple stories that stick in the mind a couple months later. I liked "New Guidance," about a translator assigned to a military unit whose always at a distance from everyone else, and "Kids," about a military base's strange relationship with local kids who might be working with terrorists. The best was "Visitors," about a woman whose veteran husband is in prison for killing a man, and who must navigate the weird terrain of her new life.

The back cover trumpets that characters recur between stories at different stages of their lives; I have seen this done well elsewhere, but I assume the back cover flags it up because the links are so slight, and add so little, that you wouldn't notice unless someone told you. There are probably people who will really like this book, but I just was not among them.… (more)

I received an advance reader's uncorrected proof of THESE HEROIC, HAPPY DEAD as a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway Winner and in exchange for writing and posting my honest review of the book.

As a civilian with little to no exposure or education as to the myriad of alterations - involuntary, intentional, voluntary, intended, predicted, potential, probable, unknown, and expected - the human psyche undergoes when directly involved and indirectly affected by war, I am filled with sincere gratitude to Luke Mogelson, His courageous act of service as an Army Infantry medic throughout several combat tours in Afghanistan coupled with his uniquely skilled observation, recording and sharing of stories that demonstrate the severe, profuse, and lasting consequences for all people, soldiers and civilians alike, of wars conceived and fought as part of a planned destruction of countries, cities, homes, and land, and all the while set on destroying the very belief systems and rights that protect and separate humanity from other life forms. Any intelligent person knows that in order to make it home from the battlefield, one is forced to undergo transformations in thought processes and value systems. once you have looked into the pit, you can never undo the damage or remove that part of you that enabled you to cause the damage. The acknowledgment of the consequences without whitewash, sugarcoat or hero announcements provides a spectacular window of respect for the battle scars that will never fully heal. I cannot be more resolute in my belief and desire for the American civilian population to educate itself and expend more energy and attention into greater awareness and stronger support to the troops that served America in its wars.

The book's title is a line from the e.e. cummings poem "next to of course god america i." Further display of the breadth and scope of Luke Mogelson's character..… (more)