Fatal Light - by Richard Currey (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A devastating portrait of war in all its horror, brutality, and mindlessness, this extraordinary novel is written in beautifully cadenced prose. A combat medic in Vietnam faces the chaos of war, set against the tranquil scenes of family life back home in small-town America. This young man's rite of passage is traced through jungle combat to malaria-induced fever visions to the purgatory of life in military-occupied Saigon. After returning home from war to stay with his grandfather, he confronts his own shattered personal history and the mysterious human capacity for renewal.

Review Quotes

"Fatal Light is, simply put, a dazzling book. Almost making you shield your eyes as you read, the visual descriptions sparkle . . . achieving a stark immediacy that makes you wince." --Sunday Times of London

"Currey distills the Vietnam experience to an essence in this compact and powerful novel . . . illuminating the narrator's odyssey in vignettes as telling as lightning in the darkness." --Kirkus Reviews

"In lyrical, evocative prose, Currey's rendering of a young man's experiences during the Vietnam War is touching and haunting . . . Currey writes with imagery that is subtle in its beauty but shocking in its brutality." --Booklist

About the Author

Richard Currey served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972 in the U.S. Navy. He was trained in jungle warfare and special operations, and was a medical corpsman attached to the Marine Corps's Fleet Marine Force. He has written Crossing Over: A Vietnam Journal, which went on to vast acclaim and a Pulitzer Prize nomination, and Lost Highway. He lives in Washington, DC.