The Heart That Fed: A Father, a Son, and the Long Shadow of War

by Carl Sciacchitano

A brilliant graphic memoir debut, this is a loving son’s exploration of his tumultuous relationship with his father, told through the lens of the Vietnam War and its lasting effects long after returning home.

As a college dropout amidst the tumult of the 1960s and the Vietnam War, David Sciacchitano enlisted in the Air Force and volunteered to be sent overseas. An aircraft mechanic away from the front lines, David nevertheless experienced the chaos of war during the Tet Offensive and the 1975 evacuation. But although David returned home from the war with no physical injuries, it would be as if a part of him was forever left behind.

Set against one of the most tumultuous events of the 20th century, The Heart That Fed is a beautifully illustrated and moving story of trauma and love—told by a son seeking to understand a father forever changed by PTSD and the horrors of war.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Memoir, War, Comics, History, Biography

288 pages, Hardcover

First published June 4, 2024

About the author

Carl Sciacchitano is a writer and illustrator who has created comics for IDW, Archie, and MonkeyBrain, including illustrating the graphic novel The Army of Dr. Moreau, written by David F. Walker. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

IMPORTANT UPDATE: David Sciacchitano, the subject of this book, was arrested on Nov. 7, 2024, and charged with possession of child pornography.

I had rated the book and written the following portion of a review before discovering this information. I'm just going to leave it be for now and not proceed with any further thoughts on the book at this time.

David Sciacchitano ("Shock-a-ta-no") is a restless young man in 1965 who sees being drafted as an inevitability, so he enlists in the Air Force to at least have some control over his life. Bored with his stateside airplane mechanic training, he impulsively volunteers for transfer to Vietnam. While not assigned a combat role, Sciacchitano is jarred by the things he sees in the war zone and shocked to find himself manning a machine gun during the Tet Offensive.

Sciacchitano's son has created a graphic novel that recounts his service and intercuts those anecdotes with the repercussions that have echoed through the rest of his life.




(Best of 2024 Project: I'm reading all the graphic novels that made it onto one or more of these lists:
• Washington Post 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2024
• Publishers Weekly 2024 Graphic Novel Critics Poll
• NPR's Books We Love 2024: Favorite Comics and Graphic Novels

This book made the PW list.)

[Peacegal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Featuring stunning illustrations and an engaging, brutally honest storyline, THE HEART THAT FED is an incredible graphic memoir.

In telling the story of his Vietnam vet father, Sciacchitano has created a nuanced and intelligent tribute. His father is a smart man, talented in art and mechanics. Readers can't help but like him. Yet the war also altered certain aspects of his psyche, and he refused to seek help for PTSD symptoms including terrifying rages that sometimes spilled into violence. The book doesn't try to gloss over this or idealize anything about the war or its combatants, but rather present things straightforwardly--no small feat when talking about family members and such emotional topics.

Another graphic book to recommend to people who claim not to like comics--it really shows off what this medium can do.

[Jaimes_Mystical_Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a bit outside of my reading comfort zone, but I found myself invested in this story. I appreciated how this story was told through a graphic novel, since I’ve never read a memoir in this form before. I loved the art style and neutral color palette and the illustrations helped tell the story very well. This was a well told, moving story.

Thank you to Gallery 13 for the gifted copy.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before any of you @ me about marking a third book completed this soon into 2025: 1) it’s already January 2nd here and 2) I’ve got the flu so there’s not a lot of excitement happening around these parts.

Also, this graphic novel didn’t take too long to complete and was well worth the time spent. Around Christmastime I usually scan the “best graphic novels of [year]” lists to see if anything sounds appealing from a medium I don’t follow or fully understand. Over the same period I am occasionally visited by childhood memories of my dad’s Vietnam-inspired holiday mood swings. This year two Vietnam War-era titles crossed my screens and I thought maybe they’d help elucidate a part of my dad’s life that will forever remain a mystery to me. I’m not sure if this one helped with that cause (nor did it have to), but it was vastly superior to the previous one I finished.

[Steph]

The Heart that Fed is my second graphic memoir and it was just as moving and emotional as They Called Us Enemy was for me. This is a format I’m really enjoying and it makes me want to branch out and try more graphic novels in other genres!

This is a moving tribute to the author’s Vietnam veteran father and looks at the aftermath of war. The author has a complex relationship with his father which is shown with honesty but compassion. The illustrations were fantastic, and I thought the neutral color palette perfectly matched the tone. The switching back and forth between timelines was at time confusing for me.

Overall I really enjoyed this and would absolutely recommend it. If you haven’t tried a graphic memoir, this is a great one to pick up!

[Elisse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly crafted and engrossing. I was enjoying the read so much I had to slow myself down to let all the details of the layered story, beautiful artwork, and historical context sink in. This is an impressive work and a powerful look at the impact of war on countries, individuals, and families over time.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will post review on here after I’ve wrote it :)

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish the a story had flowed a bit more smoothly and the son had brought himself into the story less and the current day effects of the war were a little more clear. We know his marriage ended but was there more?
But overall a good look at how trauma from Vietnam stayed with one man and then spread out through his family.

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic memoir was very well done, albeit a little confusing at times. I feel it is always very important to remember stories like these and the people affected by them.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Heart That Fed is really the book I should have read after Fun Home. Carl Sciacchitano ("scotch-i-tano") explores his relationship with his father and his father's relationship with the Vietnam War. It's a fascinating slow burn as the father's war experiences (from the humdrum to the deadly) and Carl's childhood are unveiled. There's a lot to unpack and it's almost always engaging.

Admittedly, sometimes it's simply a lot. The first-person-shooter chapter comes out of nowhere and, while it's a rush, it feels like it's coming from a different narrative. And part of the issue of jumping around in time is that it's hard to get a feel for when events are taking place. Maybe a "fog of war" element, but it's also applied to Carl's life after the war when it should be easier to place events.

Still, even with some flow issues, The Heart That Fed is well worth reading for the revelations and the extremely tender ending that brought a tear to my rock-hard eye.

[Jaksen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tough book to read in some places and more personal than one might think. Anyone with a 'difficult' or angry father; anyone who's father was in Nam, Korea, WW2 or our continually constant conflicts; and anyone who served in the same. The story of a man helping his father come to terms with his anger and the lasting effects of being in Viet Nam. PTSD writ large.

Personal note, as I often do and if you don't like it, tough potatoes: My dad had it after WW2. No doubts in my mind, but it didn't express itself as irritation, anger, or being startled by large noises. Nope, he dealt with it by sucking it all inside and being a very quiet, fairly undemonstrative man. He was at Normandy. He was one of the young GI's present at the opening of 'at least one' concentration camp. (That's how he put it: at least one.) But that's just about all we knew. He did not talk about it, not until after the mini-series 'Holocaust' came out years ago on TV and spoke about it to my sister. (Not to me; I was married and not at home.) But still, what he said was very little.

Personal note over...

So how a person reacts to constant trauma IS going to be different from person to person. Some suck it in, like I said. Others express it by changes in 'normal' temperament, or by lashing out physically, verbally, emotionally. And still others learn to temper it, go to therapy, do all the 'right' things. In this book, a graphic novel, it's all there from the POV of a son.

I seldom read graphic novels. I do own Maus and Persepolis, and have read most of the Sandman books, but this one is totally perfect, above board, hits all the right notes. (What pithy comments are left?) It struck me because, as I said, I have a personal connection to a man who lived through a similar series of events...

But really, this book is good for just about anyone and everyone. We need to see more of this type of thing. People who've gone through this need to know they aren't alone.

Five stars

[Dan Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the Heart that fed Carl Sciacchitano tells his father’s story about that life he led and the horrors he had to overcome during the Vietnam War. Much of this memoir is about its own creation as Carl works with his father to learn what really happened during his life. Part of me wondered if that trope was necessary as it has been used again and again in memoirs, especially since the success of Maus.

Why it is important here though as it speaks his father’s willingness to show all sides of himself including those moments that many others will try to hide. It provides insight to a part of the Vietnam war that is not often covered and the challenges of coming back home to a land you may not understand anymore, nor does it understand you.

You see the bitterness that can yield as well as the struggle to understand the validity of what happened and searching for morality in a time in place where there simply may not have been any as humans were at the worse.

At the same time its a story about a father and son trying to understand one another, how marriage can come together, and how it can dissipate. This is a story that is best told in comic form because of what is conveyed in the art with how Carl sees his father throughout their lives together in the good and bad times.

It is an endearing creation because it is a piece of its personal meaning which makes it much more than a look back at what was. It is a reminder that we may not even truly know those that are closest to us unless we take the time to get the complete story, and that story never ends.

[Laura Hoffman Brauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Heart that Fed is a graphic memoir about a boy's relationship with his father and his father's experience in Vietnam. Sciacchitano's father, David, enlisted in the Air Force because he believed that as a college dropout, he was about to be drafted. He thought that this would keep him out of the worst of it -- and to an extent, it might have, although that didn't mean that what he experienced wouldn't forever alter his life. He was quickly sent to Vietnam, though, to serve as an aircraft mechanic and his experiences in the field and during the Tet offensive stay with him for the rest of his life. Once David was out of the Air Force, he enrolled at the U of I, and ultimately joined the State Department and was back in Vietnam during the evacuation. The author's relationship with his father has been strained at times, with his father dealing with PTSD that the son doesn't fully understand until he decides to write this memoir about his father's life and researches the experiences that defined him and influenced the rest of his life. This was a moving and poignant memoir about the way the experiences of war impact relationships and someone's life long after the battlefields are physically left behind.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the opportunity to talk to Carl Sciacchitano about The Heart That Fed, and one of the things that stuck out to me was his steadfast belief that graphic novels and memoirs should not have a narrative voice. He said that you shouldn't be able to read a graphic novel aloud and understand it, that the pictures have to play the major role in telling the story. He also said that he minimized narration because he would never have been able to perfectly mimic his father's voice (on that note, I really enjoyed the letters from his father that were included in the book) and also wanted the reader to be a fly on the wall without any guiding instruction or context. I think he succeeded on all of these points, which overall elevated the graphic memoir to something really striking. I was particularly interested in his father's constant attempts to grapple with the horrors he saw and make sense of them and the very existence of the war itself, especially given his position as having been in all the worst places at the worst times, as a tour guide said near the end of the memoir. The Heart That Fed was far more than just another Vietnam War story as a result, and I feel I've learned quite a bit from it about the non-jungle parts of the war.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I usually take longer to get through non fiction historical graphic novels, but this one had me invested. Those who have fathers with anger issues (that refuse to admit it) will resonate especially. The author tries to paint a picture of his father that is nuanced, expressive, and, well, traumatized. Gathering as much information about this time in his father's life as possible, Carl has certainly created a beautiful tribute to a life that has been hard to come to terms with (for him and his father alike).

Some of the time transitions can be choppy and hard to understand, forcing me to reread a few pages here and there. The art is incredibly well done and captivates such a gamut of emotions, but I feel like the minimalistic use of color leaves something to be desired - it was also a bit difficult to find a reliable pattern to the color changes.

[Carol Chapin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a graphic novel, written and drawn by the son of a Vietnam veteran. Carl Sciacchitano tells the story of his father’s experiences in Vietnam and the aftermath, up to the present day. To do this, he had many conversations with his dad over several years. He was able to use letters written by his father to his sister during the war. He even took a trip to Vietnam with his father in 2020, where they revisited places his dad had been.

The result is a sweet and poignant memoir of his father’s life. That life included a return trip to the country in 1975 as a representative of the US government as we were pulling out of the war there. It also included bouts of PTSD and much soul-searching. In the Acknowledgements, the author states that the only concern his father had about the book was that “no reader would care about a life he considers uninteresting”. Not so!

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘The Heart That Fed: A Haunting Exploration of War's Legacy’ by Carl Sciacchitano is a biographical graphic of his father’s time in Vietnam and the aftermath.

David Sciacchitano had a complex relationship with his son because of his experiences in the Vietnam War. David dropped out of college in the 1960s and enlisted in the Air Force. Feeling restless, he volunteered to go overseas and work on a base in Vietnam. The things he experienced affected him and his family for years.

This is a compassionate and unflinching look at the aftermath of war. The illustrations are in black and white and convey the emotion of the story. I really liked this graphic novel.

[Michelle Tuite · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading 2024
Book 234: The Heart That Fed: A Father, a Son, and the Long Shadow of War by Carl Sciacchitano

Another book I found searching for NF graphic memoirs to read for #nonfictionnovember. I purchased this book since it was not available at the library.

Synopsis: A brilliant graphic memoir debut, this is a loving son’s exploration of his tumultuous relationship with his father, told through the lens of the Vietnam War and its lasting effects long after returning home.

Review: PTSD takes center stage as a son recreates his childhood and adult relationship with his father, a veteran of the Vietnam War. The art was great, and the story heartbreaking. My rating 4⭐️

[Shawna]

Graphic novels aren't my genre. This is only the fifth graphic novel I've read, and they've all been on nonfiction crime topics. The reason I picked this one up was the title.

I end up wondering why they didn't just write a regular old book about their subject. They also lend themselves to super quick reading, and the English major in me wonders if they are meant to be, or if I am supposed to be lingering on the images and dissecting what the author is trying to achieve. My instinct tells me that this is a way to get people who would never engage a 200-300 page memoir or piece of nonfiction, to learn about the human toll of war more intimately.

[Justin Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Special thanks to Gallery books for this complimentary graphic novel. This book was SOOO good! YOu forget it is a non-fiction memoir. An emotional and honest tribute to Carl's father and to the veterans of the Vietnam War. Not only was the story so well written and structured but the art was so good. It made you feel like you were transported into the story. I could go on about it forever. Even the small or not so small details like the colorization change between before Vietnam and Dave entering Vietnam and after. Just an amazing MUST HAVE book for your home library or comic collection.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very powerful graphic novel about one man's journey from the Vietnam war to returning to Vietnam and facing his demons along the way. The book is strong in its focus on not just the current and the past but also on its view of what happened in between. The art is well drawn and follows a logical course of action. The writer seems to more focused on telling a story then completing a talent show. This is a great read for someone who wants to know the veterans experience.

A solid read!

[Blane · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot going on here...a father suffering from war PTSD without having fully dealing with it, the relationship of a father/son, the general fallout from war, family dysfunction. Though this is a thoroughly engrossing story, I did find it a little confusing when it constantly flipped forwards and backwards in time.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The memoir of a Vietnam vet and how his time there affected the rest of his life, written and drawn by his son. It's very interesting. I do wish his time after the war was a little more put together. It can be disjointed with large pieces missing. His time in Vietnam though is very thorough.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was blown away by the bravery Sciacchitano possesses by taking on such a deeply personal, traumatic story, intensely researched and documented - not to mention his immense creativity in showing the interplay of past and present. This is a monumental achievement.

[Nick Kolakowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book about Vietnam and its spiritual aftermath, coupled with starkly beautiful black-and-white art and a timeline structure unafraid to take risks.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in one sitting! It was excellent - thoughtful and compelling.

[Lucilletln · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book Re: Vietnam war …Although a graphic novel, beautifully illustrated, it was a bit of a hard read That’s thus The four stars versus five

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful and sad.

[Ronielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible.

[Jen Stahlnecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish there was more history and stories in it