Lizzie's War: A Novel

War is hell, not just for the soldiers but also for their families back home. This point is driven home by Tim Farrington in his excellent 2005 novel “Lizzie’s War.”

Mike O’Reilly served first in the Korean War. Now a decade and a half later and promoted to captain, he’s in Vietnam fighting another hopeless Asian war. We get glimpses of him in action there, but Farrington’s focus falls mostly on his pregnant wife, Liz, who already has four children to raise alone. They are a good Catholic family, a fact that is key to the plot at several points, such as when a young priest falls in love with Liz.

Mike may place fighting a war ahead of his family and spend most of the novel on the opposite side of the world, yet this is show more essentially a love story. We read their tender letters to each other, although neither is candid about what they are going through, him with the full extent of his injuries, she with the difficulties of her pregnancy. Sometimes love means not telling the whole truth.

Farrington, as in his bestseller “The Monk Downstairs,” has a gift for writing sentences that one wants to reread, then reread again. Here’s a sample in a passage about the priest and a dying man: “He gave his wife a glance, lingering and tender, almost apologetic, then closed his eyes ad sank into his suffering.”

If you've read “The Monk Downstairs” and are looking for another novel with the same blend of spirituality and romance, give “Lizzie's War” a try. show less

I read Lizzie's War a few years back now and thought I'd reviewed it then, but I guess I didn't. It is perhaps one of the few novels about the Vietnam War that shows both sides of a marriage affected by the war. Lizzie was the wife of a Marine officer deployed to Vietnam and the narrative has a kind of variable viewpoint. First you see what the husband is doing and enduring and then what the wife is doing and enduring. Their letters play a big role too, but not because of what they say, but rather what they don't say. You'll also see how the war and the split family affects the children. I can't remember for sure now, but I think there were four or five kids and Mom Lizzie was pregnant again. And oh yeah, they were Catholics, so her show more faith was being sorely tested with this pregnancy, which she was facing alone for the most part. She sought advice from the local priest who was quite taken with Lizzie. It gets a bit complicated in that area actually. Farrington's dad was a Marine in Vietnam, and he based much of his novel on stories he'd heard growing up from his father's marine friends. If there is an autobiographical element here it probably would lie in the portrayal of the 12-13 year-old son, an altar boy who tries his best to be "the man of the family" while wrestling with all the normal pangs of sexual awakening and growing up. Suffice it to say that this is a very moving and eloquently told story of how military families all face their own kinds of personal hell, whether in combat or on the homefront. If you like a good story, then I guarantee you'll like Lizzie's War. show less

(8.5) I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. This is one of the few novels I have read on the Vietnam War and it's impact on not only the soldier but the wife and family waiting at home. It seemed very authentic and was written with compassion and without condemnation. I note that the dedication is to the author's father, whom I suspect fought in this war.

Such an interesting story about those fighting in Vietnam and those left behind to carry on in their absence. Liz is left to take care of her four children while her husband is off fighting the war. This story portrays the struggles of war not only in the trenches but on the home front.

A wonderful wonderful book, about a wife at home with four kids and pregnant; her husband in Vietnam; and a priest. All the issues of today, so thoughtfully and compellingly written.

In de annotatie van het door mij gelezen exemplaar (openbare bibliotheek) was alleen vermeld dat het de belevenissen beschreef van een vrouw wier man in Vietnam moet vechten; het viel me erg tegen dat dit maar voor 50% opgaat, want de overige 50% van het boek beschrijft de oorlogservaringen van de man.
De ervaringen en het karakter van Lizzie worden teder, begripvol en ook geestig beschreven; de omgang met en het gedrag van de kinderen lijken me heel levensecht. Toch is mijn eindoordeel negatief, waarschijnlijk door de vaagblijvende houding ten aanzien van oorlog en politiek. Het is niet waarschijnlijk dat zulke goed-opgeleide en integere mensen zo onberedeneerd en naïef met hun leven en liefde omgaan.