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    Redeployment
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    Redeployment
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    Redeployment
    Audiobook7 hours

    Redeployment

    Written by Phil Klay

    Narrated by Craig Klein

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Phil Klay's Redeployment takes readers to the frontlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking us to understand what happened there, and what happened to the soldiers who returned.  Interwoven with themes of brutality and faith, guilt and fear, helplessness and survival, the characters in these stories struggle to make meaning out of chaos.

    In "Redeployment", a soldier who has had to shoot dogs because they were eating human corpses must learn what it is like to return to domestic life in suburbia, surrounded by people "who have no idea where Fallujah is, where three members of your platoon died."  In "After Action Report", a Lance Corporal seeks expiation for a killing he didn't commit, in order that his best friend will be unburdened.  A Morturary Affairs Marine tells about his experiences collecting remains-of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers both.  A chaplain sees his understanding of Christianity, and his ability to provide solace through religion, tested by the actions of a ferocious Colonel.  And in the darkly comic "Money as a Weapons System", a young Foreign Service Officer is given the absurd task of helping Iraqis improve their lives by teaching them to play baseball.  These stories reveal the intricate combination of monotony, bureaucracy, comradeship and violence that make up a soldier's daily life at war, and the isolation, remorse, and despair that can accompany a soldier's homecoming.

    Redeployment is poised to become a classic in the tradition of war writing.  Across nations and continents, Klay sets in devastating relief the two worlds a soldier inhabits: one of extremes and one of loss.  Written with a hard-eyed realism and stunning emotional depth, this work marks Phil Klay as one of the most talented new voices of his generation.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMar 4, 2014
    ISBN9780698149540
    Unavailable
    Redeployment
    Author

    Phil Klay

    Phil Klay is a Dartmouth grad and a veteran of the US Marine Corps.  He served in Iraq during the Surge and subsequently received an MFA from Hunter College, where he studied with Colum McCann and Peter Carey, and worked as Richard Ford’s research assistant.  His first published story, “Redeployment”, appeared in Granta’s Summer 2011 issue.  That story led to the sale of his forthcoming collection, which will be published in seven countries.  His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the New York Daily News, Tin House, and in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012.

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    Reviews for Redeployment

    4/5

    380 ratings49 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A nice collection. Some serious content. I found the different perspective on every story a little distancing. It made it harder to get a handle on be author's own perspective. Still it was impressive enough.
    • 4/5
      An fascinating novel reads like non-fiction. Very thought provoking.
    • 4/5
      If there were a reader’s version of post-traumatic stress disorder (let’s call it print-traumatic stress disorder), Phil Klay’s collection of short stories, titled Redeployment, could bring it on. I advise you take the risk. This is a tough depiction of war, mortality, and the struggle to keep one’s soul in place.Also, if you love acronyms, well, have at it. For the confirmed civilian, cryptic military jargon abounds with which you can idle away time doing Google searches.
    • 4/5
      This was so very hard for me to read. Half the time it was like Kevin Flatley (1986-2012) was speaking from the pages.
    • 5/5
      I read a lot of military fiction and non-fiction so when I saw this book, I had to check it out. It was pretty good. A few of the stories will stay with me. Some of the stories made me wonder what would have happened if they were longer. Our servicemen and women go through so much and I'm grateful for their service.
    • 5/5
      A collection of stories centered around Marines serving or who have served in the Iraq War. This is a powerful collection, well and thoughtfully written. They're not easy stories to read, but I do feel that this is an important collection and one that should be read. And it really is very well done - the characters and their stories seem lovingly crafted and genuine. Definitely recommended.
    • 5/5
      Really enjoyed this audiobook. I also have the book and it was good to be able to follow with the narration. The stories are powerful and raw.
    • 5/5
      muy buen tema y la manera en como es hablado y como va fundamentado a la clase de personas
    • 5/5
      A great book. Sent me into a rage at several points thinking about American hubris
    • 3/5
      A collection of well written angry vet stories. My favorite story "Money as a weapons system" reminded me of Catch-22 and was the only story that I saw my own life and civilian job in.
    • 5/5
      Would it be crazy if I said this was the best short story collection I've read since "Jesus's Son"? UH OH I think I feel that way! It reminded me of that book in that it got into the heads of a group of people you don't normally see in literary short fiction -- this time, Marines. Each story is so elegantly constructed, with pitch-perfect dialogue and a careful balance of introspection and bravado, often. I liked that the stories also encompassed a range of experience within that world, as well as a variety of civilians who brush against that world, from sex workers to artsy theater students who want to steal pain for their own uses.
    • 4/5
      Phil Klay knows about what he writes. He gives a true portrait of life in a war zone, and its effects - and after effects - from the point of view of various participants - the infantryman, the clergy, the humanitarian and the returning vet. Through their eyes we see their hopes, their despair, their fierce loyalties to each other and their demons. Some stories stand out more than others. I had a hard time with those few that detailed battles and were full of military acronyms. However, the story about the clergyman trying to make sense of the war for the men and for himself, the one about the humanitarian battling the clash between his goals and those of the military, and those describing the thoughts and feelings of the soldiers are outstanding.
    • 4/5
      This is exactly the kind of book about the Iraq War I've been hoping to read: a hard-eyed examination of patriotic rhetoric and the heroic masculine identity that draws people into war. While Phil Klay doesn't write the gorgeous prose of an Anthony Doerr or an Emily St. John Mandel, I get why Redeployment won the National Book Award. It tells a story we need to hear but are afraid to. It tells the real story of war and the women and men who suffer afterwards. Read this book.
    • 4/5
      Brutal, beautiful, and wise.
    • 4/5
      "I had at least thought there would be nobility in war. I know it exists. There are so many stories, and some of them have to be true. But I see mostly normal men, trying to do good, beaten down by horror, by their inability to quell their own rages, by their masculine posturing and their so-called hardness, their desire to be tougher, and therefore crueler, than their circumstance. And yet, I have this sense that this place is holier than back home. Gluttonous, fat, oversexed, over-consuming, materialist home, where we’re too lazy to see our own faults. At least here, Rodriguez has the decency to worry about hell. The moon is unspeakably beautiful tonight. Ramadi is not. Strange that people live in such a place."Redeployment is a collection of twelve fictional short stories written by by Phil Klay. Klay is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps who was stationed for a year in Iraq as a Public Affairs Officer, so these stories are about the recent war in Iraq and the Marines make an appearance in all the stories. This is not a "rah-rah war" book, which some may be looking for and some may be trying to avoid. The individual viewpoints vary, but they are all thoughtful and nuanced. The stories are told from a multitude of perspectives (combat troops, Marines on leave in the US or adjusting to life back home, a chaplain, support staff, etc.), but they share common themes: the growing disconnect between civilians and the military, the mistaken perceptions that civilians have about war and the military, the conflicting emotions in a war zone and at home, and the experiences of combat troops versus that of non-combat units/support staff.My favorite short story is Money as a Weapons System, which really highlights the absurdities of nation-building during a war. Nathan, a foreign service officer, arrives in Iraq determined to make a difference and encounters all sorts of bureaucratic entanglements. The story is told in humorous way, but it is a more than a little depressing when you remember that the story has roots in reality.A few of the stories, mostly those that take place in the war zone, contain an abundance of acronyms. The heavy use of acronyms serves to highlight the the difference between the civilian world and the military world, but it can disrupt the flow of the story when you don't know what anyone is talking about. This glossary was really valuable to have on hand when reading.There is violence, sexual content, and bad language, but that is to be expected in any book about the realities of war. I think this book is important for any American of voting age. It is impossible to have a full grasp of what it is like to be a soldier in a war zone, but Redeployment does provide alittle insight. Everyone's experience will be different and Redeployment is a important and necessary companion to the more popular books about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.."The weird thing with being a veteran, at least for me, is that you do feel better than most people. You risked your life for something bigger than yourself. How many people can say that? You chose to serve. Maybe you didn’t understand American foreign policy or why we were at war. Maybe you never will. But it doesn’t matter. You held up your hand and said, “I’m willing to die for these worthless civilians.” At the same time, though, you feel somehow less. What happened, what I was a part of, maybe it was the right thing. We were fighting very bad people. But it was an ugly thing."
    • 5/5
      Well crafted, intimate, and powerful.
    • 5/5
      These are stories, some of them connected, of soldiers who fought in Iraq. There are many different perspectives including those of men who have killed no one, the expected amount of misogyny considering the machismo of warriors, and an interesting statement that there is no such thing as an anti-war movie. They all suck guys into wanting to join the patriotic adventure. Well worth reading whether you like to read about war or are repelled by it.
    • 5/5
      Admittedly, I have no prior experience with "vet lit," but I'll certainly recommend this book by former Marine, Phil Klay. I'll further admit that I didn't read it, but listened to it on Audible. I don't listen to audio books very often because I'm too easily distracted when my eyes are left to roam free, but even I could hang on for this series of vivid and at times raw short stories. Klay does a superb job of giving his audience a grunts-eye-view of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, told from the perspective of a dozen different characters, each dealing with their own post-deployment struggles. Klay wrote what he knew, but it's apparent he did a tremendous amount of research and interviewing, which informed and enriched his writing. Klay is a gifted writer and his National Book Award last year is well-earned. No doubt we'll see a lot more talent emerging in the years to come as more vets depart the active ranks and have more time to reflect on their experiences in their writing. While the stories won't be new, I'll be adding this to my reading list so I can enjoy Klay's writing on the page.
    • 4/5
      This is a compilation of short stories, which includes a diverse range of perspectives from different Marines involved in the war in Iraq. The author included stories from soldiers in various roles, including those involved in daily combat, leadership, artillery and mortuary personnel, a chaplain, and a civilian administrator. Most of the soldiers included struggled to make sense of the constant exposure to trauma and death and/or their role in the war. It was interesting to see that after a deployment where the constant threat of death was looming, so many chose to return to be redeployed, primarily due to the culture shock of returning home and/or the desire to regain that sense of brotherhood and mission. Though hard to read at some points, I felt this book was very well written, merging a wide range of personal experiences including humor, horror, sadness, fear, and confusion. I would think any veteran would appreciate and enjoy this book, which fully describes the complexity and differences between people and how war affects their lives. The only thing about the book which I struggled with was the constant acronyms and jargon. One chapter was written almost completely in this manner and as a civilian I could barely decipher it. But I suppose, this was the author's point.
    • 4/5
      Powerful exploration of the experiences and emotional impact of being a soldier. I think what sets this apart from other war writing by veterans are the wide range of perspectives the author explores and ability of the author to so clearly explicate through his narrative how a soldier can be both proud and ashamed of the role played at war. Understanding thus helps to convey the already conflicted psychological state experienced before coming home. Reading this set of war stories makes it abundantly clear why "redeployment" is often the simplest choice for our soldiers. Coming home is a nightmare in so many ways, not least of which is contending with the assumptions and opinions of people who have lived in comfort, freedom, and security the majority, if not all, of their lives.
    • 2/5
      This won the National Book Awrd fiction prize in 2014 and is the 59th such winner I have read. The short stories are of varying interest, but vividly highlight the awfulness of the Iraq War, aptly described by George Will as the worst U.S. foreign policy mistake in history. The stories, of course, have all gutter language undeleted, which adds nothing to the quality of the stories. One thinks of the Ambrose Bierce's collection of short stories, In the Midst of Life, which I read in 1951 and which was my Book of the Year in that year. He saw no need to highlight the foul language of Civil WAr soldiers. If the autho had emulated Bierce his book would have been a better book, I think.
    • 5/5
      This book was insightful, gritty, fascinating, funny, emotional, and powerful. Each of the 12 short stories gives a glimpse into a different experience from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, both during and after the wars. They each cover a wide range of issues that servicemen and women face every day, from killing during combat, to bureaucracy, and to different challenges faced when returning from war. The characters are rich and layered, and are a very diverse group of people. It is simply an amazing book.
    • 3/5
      I choose to read this book because I wanted a true glimpse of going to war. These stories, I think, did just that. There is a dark underside that ran through each story. For once war and serving in the military were not sugarcoated and cleaned up. I respect that this collection won the "National Book Award." By reading this I gain a greater respect of the people who choose to serve in the military.
    • 5/5
      You won't find any sappy sentimentality or off-putting macho muscle flexing in Phil Klay's REDEPLOYMENT, a collection of twelve stories that all deal with combatants and veterans of the Iraq war. Nope. These stories are about as real and honest as anything you'll find being written these days about how the crucible of this war has affected the young men and women who were part of it, and, who have been irrevocably changed by it.While there is not a false note to be found in any of these tales, the one that I found perhaps most affecting was "Prayer in the Furnace," told by a Catholic priest, a Marine Corps chaplain whose own faith is severely tested as he struggles to give aid to Marines severely traumatized physically, emotionally and spiritually by repeated combat tours. Men whose brains have been buffeted by blasts from IEDs and whose consciences are deadened and wracked by unspeakable atrocities witnessed - and committed - on a near-daily basis. The chaplain's role in a combat unit seems sadly marginalized, however, and although he turns for guidance to the writings of St John of the Cross and Augustine, in the end he feels frustrated, powerless and ashamed. (This story in particular I felt could be the basis for an equally powerful novel.)There are also stories here of veterans trying to adjust, to assimilate back into civilian life; and struggling, feeling set apart, different. A former JAG officer who never saw combat, but did the paperwork, now a law student ready to enter a high-paying career, still feeling "more like a Marine out of the Corps than I'd felt while in it ... to everyone I met, I was 'the Marine.'" ("Unless It's a Sucking Chest Wound")There is the very dark humor of combat vets, as displayed in "War Stories" in which the narrator jokes about hitting on girls in bars, and using his friend Jenks's awful disfigurement from burns sustained in an IED explosion, saying, "Who's gonna call bulls**t when you're sitting there in the corner looking all Nightmare on Elm Street?""Bodies" tells of a young Marine who works in Mortuary Affairs, a job which, of course, requires him to handle the mutilated bodies of both U.S. dead and enemy dead. But the title takes on an even more poignant meaning when he goes home on leave and seeks out his ex-girlfriend from high school. After dealing so much in death and dead bodies he needed desperately to feel the opposite. Convincing her of this, they lie quietly, their bodies spooned together."There was a warmth to her that flowed into me, and though she was tense at first, like she'd been earlier, she relaxed after a bit and it stopped feeling like I was grabbing her and more like we were fitting into each other. I relaxed too, all the sharp edges of my body lost in the feel of her. Her hips, her legs, her hair, the nape of her neck. Her hair smelled like citrus, and her neck smelled softly of sweat. I wanted to kiss her there because I knew I'd taste salt." There is little or no eroticism in this scene. It is more a depiction of a simple yet urgent need for human warmth and contact - of an ineffable longing, of loneliness.I could cite other examples of how each of these stories grabbed me, made me pay attention. Oddly, I am suddenly reminded of that desperate closing scene from DEATH OF A SALESMAN, in which Willy Loman's distraught widow cries out, "Attention must be paid!" Because these stories without question deserve our attention. In a country where the burden of military service is shouldered by a mere one percent of the population, these Marines and soldiers deserve not just our attention, but our utmost respect and gratitude. REDEPLOYMENT is a damn good book. It will deservedly join the ranks of other fine fictional works coming out of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, books like THE YELLOW BIRDS, YOU KNOW WHEN THE MEN ARE GONE, and THE WATCH. Well done, Mr. Klay. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      If you have no experience with the military or with war, then you can distance yourself from our military involvements in Iraq and Afghanistan. This book brings the experience to your front door. It should be read by anyone who can casually suggest and support sending soldiers into combat. The toll on everyone is enormous. These stories deal with all aspects of the experience. It pretty much surrounds the Iraq war and deals with issues there and back home when the soldiers return. The book is a series of short stories so it deals with lots of different situations. When you read this you understand how detached most Americans are from the war which is fought by a volunteer army of mostly young men and women from low income situations. They indeed make the sacrifice while the general population sees no personal cost(no family members in combat, no restriction on spending, no increase in taxes). An excellent book that won last year's National Book Award for fiction. Well deserved. A must read for all.
    • 4/5
      Powerful, insightful stories that gave me some idea of the world as seen through a soldier's eyes (not that all soldiers feel the same way or that an individual soldier has but one feeling or idea about the war or the world.) Manages in some stories to balance genuine humor with painful reality...Was especially good to hear Klay speak at Chautauqua a couple weeks ago. Hope he writes more soon (and wonder where he'll go from this collection.)
    • 5/5
      Extremely powerful. Without making this book a memoir, the author provides a look at his world in Iraq. Each story is another facet of the prism of our legacy of this horrific war. Most stellar in the collection is entitled "Psychological Operations".
    • 3/5
      This is a book of short stories that all deal with the wars in Iraq and members of the military and veterans. A lot of the stories were very disturbing on many levels. I can't say it was a very enjoyable read, and I wasn't impressed enough to say it should win the National Book Award, but I think it is a valuable collection of stories.
    • 5/5
      Thrilling, disturbing, at times funny, this book seeks to capture the experience of war in Iraq from the standpoint of the Marines. In 12 short stories, Phil Klay outlines the Marine experience from coming home to firing artillery, from mortuary Marines to State Department "nation builder". For my tastes, the stories were dense, gritty with detail, thick with military jargon. Just when they become unrelenting with sorrow and death, "Money as a Weapons System" comes along to lighten the mood. But even this story makes an important point about the invasion of Iraq--our lack of understanding about the centuries-old culture. [Redeployment] won the National Book Award. I can clearly see why. For anyone who wants to understand our veterans, this book is a must read.
    • 3/5
      A page turner, though hard to get sometimes due to the jargon...this is probably intentional, I'm just not so sophisticated a reader to get it.