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Memoirs Of A Bread Man
It's Christmas time in Madison, Wisconsin. It is the early stages of the Iraq War, which has conjured up memories for a Bread Man raised by a Vietnam Vet. If that weren't enough to bring back these unwanted memories, his boss at the Bread Depot is an ex-Master Gunnery Marine Drill Sergeant who served in The Gulf War. On Christmas Eve, his father calls to tell him that he has cancer, and that he has Agent Orange. Depressed and suffering from insomnia, can he come to grips with his past, and heal the wounds that haunt him?
104 pages, Paperback
Published March 5, 2023
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December 11, 2025
I liked this novella. I read it twice just to make sure I wasn't kissing the author's backside because I know him, but then I thought, "Yeah... I don't like him THAT much." :-) I actually bought the eBook. It's not my usual read, but yes, I liked it. I probably would have rated it higher but I have a few criticisms.
NOTE: In part, this book is about the aftermath of the Vietnam War. I missed the Vietnam War. I was subject to the draft, but the war ended three weeks before I turned 18. However, I had plenty of time to think about what I might do. Some of my friends talked about escaping to Canada, but I decided I would not avoid this war. I would go. It was my duty. It was the first adult decision of consequence I ever had to make.
First, this is a story of a bread delivery man who was raised in a household with a father with apparent PTSD brought on by the Vietnam War. I recognized it immediately because my own father (now of blessed memory) acted in a similar way after coming home from the Korean War. Waking him up was always a strange and often frightening experience.
Apparently, the bread man in the story has trouble relating to others, mostly in relating to his coworkers, but also in his relations with women, unable to feel any lasting love. In this story, the bread man must make his deliveries in the midst of a snow-covered Madison, Wisconsin while dodging his boss, a Vietnam veteran with an unpredictable temper. The parallels to the bread man's father are obvious.
Any problems with this story? I think it needed to be structured differently. There was too much personal explanation from the author before entering the story. I think this explanation should have appeared in the author's note at the end along with some suggestions for reader discussion. Some stories are made to be analyzed and certainly this story qualified.
Secondly, I think I would have fictionalized the Introduction and made it part of the story... maybe waking up in a mental hospital or a rehab facility and thinking back to what happened. "How did I get here?" Then before the Epilogue, I would add something about returning to his life from the hospital. And then I would wind up the story... perhaps with some personal lessons learned.
I also would have liked to know more about the father in the story. There seems to be an assumption that everyone knows what Vietnam was like and how it made a man like this. (FYI, my granddaughter took a vacation with her husband in Vietnam recently. She said it was lovely.) Since the father in this story is based on the author's father, it is likely that the author received no stories about what happened to his father and thus could not recreate them in the story.
Certainly my father had very few stories about the Korean War. I only remember one: My father was sent out to the barbed wire surrounding the military position his unit was holding. A dead North Korean soldier was tangled in the wire and my father had to remove him. Apparently they had shot him during the night as he tried to infiltrate the camp, but my father didn't focus on that. Instead my father pulled the man's wallet out to identify him. There was a picture of a wife and child. From that point on, my father was no longer fighting an enemy. The soldiers on the other side were people like him... trying to get back to their families. My father became a pacifist after the war. He had done his duty. That was enough.
I have not talked to the author about his story. I am making assumptions based on my own experience with my father. However, I have read a number of books about war experiences. Because of that, I have some idea about what reaction a war like the Vietnam could produce in soldiers. Such knowledge would have helped clarify this story.
I suggest reading:
The Somme: The Darkest Hour on the Western Front by Peter Hart. It is about World War 1 but it contains accounts from the soldiers themselves, letters written home as if they were a last will and testament. In some cases, that was exactly what they became.
The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 by John Toland - The Japanese soldiers held out a lot longer than was reasonable and as a result a lot more soldiers died on both sides.
War Is a Racket by Smedley D.Butler - The opinion of a retired general. It is not too far off.
The Fall of Saigon: The Vietnam War 50 Years in Review by Edward Lengel - A Great Courses short review about the Vietnam War and its aftermath.
An American Amnesia: How the US Congress Forced the Surrenders of South Vietnam and Cambodia by Bruce Herschensohn - The title says it all. The author ran for the US Senate but lost. I'm sorry. He is brilliant.
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden - My son read this book. I have not, but it was made into a movie and I did see that.
And oddly enough...
Inventing the Middle Ages by Norman F. Cantor. This is actually a collection of biographies about historians, but many of them were trying to shape the world into their ideal after World War 1. This set up the circumstances for what became World War 2 and all the following wars until now.
Finally, a fictional book, but still a good one especially if one is Jewish. (I am Jewish so it helped me understand some of the Korean War.)
The Book of Lights by Chaim Potok. - A rabbinical student volunteers to become a chaplain in the Korean War. He undergoes a spiritual experience.
I hope this all will help the author write additional books. I like him, although not enough to lie to him about his writing.
NOTE: In part, this book is about the aftermath of the Vietnam War. I missed the Vietnam War. I was subject to the draft, but the war ended three weeks before I turned 18. However, I had plenty of time to think about what I might do. Some of my friends talked about escaping to Canada, but I decided I would not avoid this war. I would go. It was my duty. It was the first adult decision of consequence I ever had to make.
First, this is a story of a bread delivery man who was raised in a household with a father with apparent PTSD brought on by the Vietnam War. I recognized it immediately because my own father (now of blessed memory) acted in a similar way after coming home from the Korean War. Waking him up was always a strange and often frightening experience.
Apparently, the bread man in the story has trouble relating to others, mostly in relating to his coworkers, but also in his relations with women, unable to feel any lasting love. In this story, the bread man must make his deliveries in the midst of a snow-covered Madison, Wisconsin while dodging his boss, a Vietnam veteran with an unpredictable temper. The parallels to the bread man's father are obvious.
Any problems with this story? I think it needed to be structured differently. There was too much personal explanation from the author before entering the story. I think this explanation should have appeared in the author's note at the end along with some suggestions for reader discussion. Some stories are made to be analyzed and certainly this story qualified.
Secondly, I think I would have fictionalized the Introduction and made it part of the story... maybe waking up in a mental hospital or a rehab facility and thinking back to what happened. "How did I get here?" Then before the Epilogue, I would add something about returning to his life from the hospital. And then I would wind up the story... perhaps with some personal lessons learned.
I also would have liked to know more about the father in the story. There seems to be an assumption that everyone knows what Vietnam was like and how it made a man like this. (FYI, my granddaughter took a vacation with her husband in Vietnam recently. She said it was lovely.) Since the father in this story is based on the author's father, it is likely that the author received no stories about what happened to his father and thus could not recreate them in the story.
Certainly my father had very few stories about the Korean War. I only remember one: My father was sent out to the barbed wire surrounding the military position his unit was holding. A dead North Korean soldier was tangled in the wire and my father had to remove him. Apparently they had shot him during the night as he tried to infiltrate the camp, but my father didn't focus on that. Instead my father pulled the man's wallet out to identify him. There was a picture of a wife and child. From that point on, my father was no longer fighting an enemy. The soldiers on the other side were people like him... trying to get back to their families. My father became a pacifist after the war. He had done his duty. That was enough.
I have not talked to the author about his story. I am making assumptions based on my own experience with my father. However, I have read a number of books about war experiences. Because of that, I have some idea about what reaction a war like the Vietnam could produce in soldiers. Such knowledge would have helped clarify this story.
I suggest reading:
The Somme: The Darkest Hour on the Western Front by Peter Hart. It is about World War 1 but it contains accounts from the soldiers themselves, letters written home as if they were a last will and testament. In some cases, that was exactly what they became.
The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 by John Toland - The Japanese soldiers held out a lot longer than was reasonable and as a result a lot more soldiers died on both sides.
War Is a Racket by Smedley D.Butler - The opinion of a retired general. It is not too far off.
The Fall of Saigon: The Vietnam War 50 Years in Review by Edward Lengel - A Great Courses short review about the Vietnam War and its aftermath.
An American Amnesia: How the US Congress Forced the Surrenders of South Vietnam and Cambodia by Bruce Herschensohn - The title says it all. The author ran for the US Senate but lost. I'm sorry. He is brilliant.
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden - My son read this book. I have not, but it was made into a movie and I did see that.
And oddly enough...
Inventing the Middle Ages by Norman F. Cantor. This is actually a collection of biographies about historians, but many of them were trying to shape the world into their ideal after World War 1. This set up the circumstances for what became World War 2 and all the following wars until now.
Finally, a fictional book, but still a good one especially if one is Jewish. (I am Jewish so it helped me understand some of the Korean War.)
The Book of Lights by Chaim Potok. - A rabbinical student volunteers to become a chaplain in the Korean War. He undergoes a spiritual experience.
I hope this all will help the author write additional books. I like him, although not enough to lie to him about his writing.
Displaying 1 of 1 review