When All the World Was Young

A Baptist farmboy, Porter feels out of place amid the Methodist country-club set at Emory University Medical School. He deliberately flunks out so he can enlist in the Army, becoming a surgical technician with a mobile hospital unit that takes part in the invasion of Normandy. Quoting Kipling and Millay, obsessed with sex and dating, he and his Army buddies engage in boyish high jinks, but the grim realities of war inevitably intrude. Porter ultimately learns to heed his grandmother's dictum, "Remember who you are." Long and somewhat self-indulgent, this spirited coming-of-age novel is also ruefully funny, tinged with the wisdom (courtesy of Amazon.com

This is the third in a series of three on the life of Porter Osborne Jr. The second ended with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This one picks up a few Months later with Porter Osborne starting Medical School at Emory University. It tells of his personal struggles of being at Med School while there is a war going on. Eventaully he makes an effort to deliberatly flunk out and then goes on to boot camp and then over to France. The Stroy is based on the primise that Porter Osborne is trying to find out who he is. Wheter the author is able to anser that or not I do not know since these works are semi autobiographical. The main character himself is never able to answer the question, even though it is often staring him in the face. He is a show more sinner. He is a man in need of forgiveness and grace as thouse around him are also in need. He is somone who needs to depend upon Christ and when he tries to depend upon himelf and his own strength and wisdom, his world comes tumbling down. When he tries to depend upon his onw moral compass he fails. While I enjoyed the book and all three books in the series, this one was somewhat disapointing as you saw Porters down hill slide. Toward the end when confronted with a beliver, Porter has turned into what he used to oppose. I could have still given this book a five but the ending did not end anything it just stopped. show less

Book 3 of Sams' epic southern trilogy. Little Porter is all grown up. He chafes at the restrictions of medical school when everyone else is going off to war. In a supremely boneheaded move, he flunks himself out of medical school and joins the army. Here are his adventures.