Death Coming Up the Hill

by Chris Crowe

It’s 1968, and war is not foreign to seventeen-year-old Ashe. His dogmatic, racist father married his passionate peace-activist mother when she became pregnant with him, and ever since, the couple—like the situation in Vietnam—has been engaged in a senseless war that could have been prevented.

With the help of his high-school history teacher, who dares to teach the political realities of the war, and a beautiful new student whose brother is missing in action, Ashe grows to better understand the situation in Vietnam, his family, and the wider world around him. But when a new crisis hits his parents’ marriage, Ashe finds himself with no options before him but to enter the fray.

Death Coming Up the Hill is a moving and illuminating narrative in haiku form, each passage introduced with a chilling statistic chalked on the blackboard by Ashe’s teacher: the number of soldiers killed that week. Here is an innovative and deceptively simple telling of the momentous events of 1968 as seen through the eyes of a perceptive seventeen-year-old American male.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Poetry, Young Adult, War, Historical, Fiction, Novel In Verse

208 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2014

Reviews

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

From start to finish
This book is rife with tension--
Tension that breaks hearts.

But also tension
That makes the reader take heart
Into life's battles.

Crowe has found a way
To blend youth and love and war
Into a strong drink

That will leave you parched--
Not for words he left unsaid,
But for a calm world.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done!

I am so grateful I was sent a copy of this book for review. I never would have picked this up on my own. The cover and title didn't grab me so typically I wouldn't even have read the summary on this one. And even if I had read the summary I'm not a fan of war or history or politics and don't enjoy reading poetry so odds are I would have left this book on the shelf.

Death Coming Up the Hill is written in verse. The entire book is written in Haiku form. It's a 200 page long book that I read in less than an hour. It is honestly very well done and once you get the rhythm of the writing down it is very easy to read.

Perhaps it helped that I started this one with low expectation. I didn't think I would enjoy this one - boy was I wrong.

Give this once a chance. You might be as impressed as I was.

Rating: 5 Stars

Content: a couple swear words

Source: Review Copy

[Katherine Cowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most profound, moving books I have read this year. And it is brilliantly written entirely in haiku, with the same number of syllables as Americans who died in the Vietnam War in 1968. Think The Things We Carried, told from the perspective of those at home. In addition to the Vietnam War, it explores another major issue of the time period: race relations. And it's told with the story of a teenager's family life, a family divided and falling apart, which provides a beautiful yet terrible parallel to the divisions occurring in the United States.

The book is only 200 pages, but because it is written in haiku there is a lot of blank space on the page so it is a really fast read. But there is so much in that blank space, so much story that happens with so little. This award winning book has the potential to change your view of history, and I say let it. It will be worth your while.

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

نمیدونم چی شد که انقدر طول کشید تا این کتاب رو بخونم ولی خوشحالم که بالاخره خوندمش . در رابطه با درگیری ها، جنگ، فداکاری و عشق در زمانی که شرایط زندگی واقعا سخت بوده، هستش. اَش داگلاس 17 ساله در قلب داستانه، بیشتر اتفاقات در سال 1968 و 1969 رخ میدن. در اون سال بیش از 16هزار تلفات در جنگ ویتنام رخ داد.
داستانی واقعا دلگرم کننده همراه با نثر ساده و دلنشین و ریتمی مناسب هستش. احساسات و اتفاقات به دقت به متن تبدیل شده اند و جزئیات روابط و احساسات انسانی رو واقعا زیبا بیان میکنه.سرعت پیشروی متن کاملا مناسب نوع اثر هستش و داستان فلوی خوبی داره. اثر زیبایی بود.

[Claude's Bookzone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I'm crying.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in haiku,
powerful, original,
the simplicity rings true.

[Richie Partington · Rating 5 out of 5]

DEATH COMING UP THE HILL by Chris Crowe, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October 2014, 208p., ISBN: 978-0-544-30215-0

“But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.”
-- Walter Cronkite, February 27, 1968

“Shout it from the mountain and out to the sea
No two ways about it, people have to be free”
-- The Rascals (1968)

“How does a guy deal
with being torn between two
people he loves? I

knew I was lucky
that I hadn’t had to choose
between Mom and Dad.

They’re opposites thrown
together because of me,
and they had managed

to keep a shaky
truce for so many years. But
it was difficult.

My dad was a flag-
waving hawk who thought it was
every red-blooded

man’s duty to spill
that blood when America
called on him for it.

Mom’s an anti-war
dove who gave me a ‘Hell no,
I won’t go!’ tee shirt

for Christmas and she’d
convinced Dad and me that I
had to enroll at

ASU as soon
as I finished high school. ‘The
student deferment

will keep you out of
the draft, she said, ‘and unless
we’re really stupid,

this war will be done
by the time you graduate.’
Dad didn’t mind the

deferment. ‘You can
join the ROTC and
graduate as an

officer,’ he said.
‘The Army needs smart leaders
who can help put an

end to the spread of
Communism over in
Vietnam.’ But when

I thought about the
four hundred seventy-one
guys who died last week,

I knew I’d go to
college to avoid the war,
not prepare for it.

I just hoped the war
ended before I had to
decide, because Dad

didn’t need any
more ammunition to use
against my mother.”

My generation grew up during the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Flag-draped coffins were unloaded from cargo planes on the evening news while protesters were beaten by mobs and by cops. The times were also marked by assassinations and riots. Popular music was being transformed and transformative. A counterculture challenged young people to see things differently and to break from the status quo.

These powerful events and movements are all part of DEATH COMING UP THE HILL. Told in haiku-formatted stanzas and set in 1968, this is the story of 17-year-old Ashe Douglas. Back in the summer of 1950, Ashe’s parents had had sex as college students. At that time, women did not have safe and available options for terminating pregnancies. His parents have been incompatibly together since then because their night of frolicking produced Ashe. This teen is living in a family war zone and is trying to find a code that he can live by.

In 1968, Ashe is just a year away from the draft. In a year he might be ordered to kill people. He could become another one of those flag-draped coffins. A potent mix of family events and the events of the wider world present Ashe with terrible dilemmas that nobody should ever have to deal with, much less a 17-year-old boy. Helping Ashe come to terms with his life are a teacher and the new girl in town.

Each of the 976 haiku stanzas that together constitute DEATH COMING UP THE HILL contains the requisite 17 syllables. Multiplying these two numbers together yields a total of 16,592 syllables. It would be quite a task to count out these 16,592 syllables one by one. But there is a specific reason for the length of the book: Author Chris Crowe wrote one syllable for each American soldier who was killed in Vietnam in 1968. Yup, 16,592. Just in one year.

And if you think that is mind blowing feat and a horrific number, just imagine trying to count the three-plus-million syllables in a hypothetical set of books for which each syllable represents one of the people (both civilian and military) who died over the course of the Vietnam War.

“and I’ll do unto you what you do to me”
-- The Rascals

Richie Partington, MLIS
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[Jolene Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a re-read for me. I was afraid to post my review the first time through because this book was a Whitney Finalist, and I was reading the YA category to judge.
I'm not wholly sure how to describe this book, but seeing the 1960's through this lens was fascinating, and watching blow after blow come to the US, and blow after blow to his family, painted such a vivid picture of the era.
The end destroyed me a little, but I understood it, and I love it when a book can have me frustrated with circumstances, while also completely understanding how those events came to be.
Great book. Awesome for anyone who likes historical fiction. If I were still teaching US History, this book would be on my shelf for the students to read/use for projects because it doesn't read or feel like a historical, but there's a lot to learn within the pages.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was quite powerful with the author's explanation of the numbers symbolism and writing the novel in verse. Throughout the story, Ashe's struggle with war of all sorts around him felt true to the time as well as in current time. The relationships with his father and mother were so raw and real with their conflicts. The latter half of the book flew by, but that was the life growing up in such chaos. I found the ending beautiful, but rushed in a way, I wish there was more time to flesh out that time in Ashe's life. But overall this was a quietly beautiful story of a boy surrounded by war, trying to see the love in the world.

[Todd Hauber · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing in haikus was so innovative and the deeper meaning explained at the end of the book made the story even more poignant. Vietnam divided a nation against itself and Ashe Douglas’ struggle to come to grips with the race riots, young love, divorce, mental and emotional abuse and finally death “coming up the hill” leaves you wondering if you would be willing as he was to lay down your life to protect those you love. Excellent book. Also follow the link provided at the end of the book to read Time Magazines article “One Weeks Dead” which was the inspiration for Crowe’s work.

[Anna Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

There're a lot of ways to read this book - as a story, as a piece of visual art, as a clever gimmick - but none of those detract from the power of the story which, on the surface, is the simple tale of a teenage boy learning about the world through the lens of family, politics, race, and war.
Due to the unique storytelling device in play - the entire novel is written in haiku - the language is somewhat necessarily simple, but this stark austerity, along with the reported weekly death counts in Vietnam heading each chapter, serve to create a powerful momentum that leads to a closing two stanzas I was wholly unprepared for.

[Chloe Crismon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The intensity and truth in this novel is mind opening. While many novels set in this time period try to capture the destruction of the war, Death Coming Up The Hill depicts the truth of how many American's saw the war effort, both the peace seeking side and the traditionalist supporting the government. Angela's family is shown to protest the war while supporting the soldiers, which is what I believe should be the mindset of every American. This novel has great dedication to the fallen soldiers on both sides and helps to show that war is never justified when it costs the lives of so many.

[Mrs. Augustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was literally stolen off my bookshelf by a reluctant reader who just so happened to be a teenage boy.

[Kayleigh Van Deusen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED this book. I love that it was written in Haiku and honors all who were lost in the Vietnam War such a unique and touching way. I think that this is a great way to teach a new writing style to students who are used to reading the "classic" novel in prose. I would definitely use this in a freshman or sophomore class.

[Devyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way this is written, in haikus, is so powerful. The characters are so dynamic and inspiring and the plot itself was just great. This book taught me so much about the circumstances of the war, something of which I have very little knowledge. I think everyone should read this, it's moving and fascinating and everything I like in a book.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seventeen-year-old Ashe Douglas watches his family fall apart as the Vietnam War, assassinations, and racial strife tears the country apart. Emotionally powerful, gripping historical fiction, and a remarkable achievement in narrative structure. Read the Author's Note and be thoroughly impressed.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it! You won't regret it.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a good verse novel. This story is beautiful, tragic, profound, an so so sad. I feel like I learned so much about a complicated time in US history.

[Eric Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a boy named Ashe growing up in 1968 while the Vietnam war rages on. It talks about how wars can be waged in different ways and on different battlefields, specifically about how the Vietnam war drove Ashe's family to fracture. It is written in Haiku, which at first made reading the book very annoying and difficult. After the first 30 or so pages, though, I was reading the book at the same pace I would any other book. A specific detail I liked about the book is how it put the number of deaths of each week of the Vietnam war whenever a new chapter started. Overall I rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars because, while it is a well-written book, the fact it is written in Haiku really threw me off at the start. I think people who like Haiku and stories about war would enjoy this book.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Masterful display of content and form. Written entirely in haiku. One syllable dedicated to every soldier who died in the year 1968 during the Vietnam War, the bloodiest year of the war. (Hot tip: great choice if you are trying to make your goal by the end of the year. Finished in about an hour and a half.)

[Talyr Lerwill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in one sitting. Great perspective during the heart aching reality of the 1960’s for many Americans.

Loved that it was written in haikus and that every syllable was representative of every American soldier that died in the Vietnam war.

[Trisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book! I would and have recommended it to anyone and everyone. I can not fathom the time that went into editing it. I am amazed at the ability to make it work in numbers and more importantly in context. A book for all ages and sure to be a classic! Well done

[Brooke Moncada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I start, I want to make it very evident that this book is so sincere on so many levels. The novel is completely written in haikus, so it might take some adjusting for the first fifty pages or so. Once you finish the book, you can see the beauty within the simplicity. So, if you enjoy a simple yet heart-wrenching book, this is the one for you.

Death Coming Up the Hill is about a 16/17 year old boy named Ashe who is experiencing more than many kids that age should. He finds himself torn between two feuding parents, while searching for answers in the Vietnam War. His father is a very close-minded, conservative man who finds himself fighting the war from his living room. On the other hand, his mother is a very free-loving, open-minded "hippie."

Not only is Ashe experiencing a war at home, but he is dealing with the impacts of the Vietnam War. With a love interest whose brother is fighting overseas, he finds himself struggling to develop his own thoughts and ideas. This coming of age novel really shows how Ashe has progressed over time. In the end, we see Ashe make some serious decisions that impact his entire family and generations to come.

[Becca (beccas_bibliophilia) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was incredible. It was hauntingly beautiful and told the story of so many in the turbulent year of 1968. I especially love that the author chose to tell the story in haiku form. It added so much to the novel and was a beautiful format.

[Bryan R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death Coming Up the Hill takes place in the 1960’s, a volatile time period in American history, but more specifically in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War. We follow the story of a fictional 17-year-old boy named Ashe , and how the conflicts at home and on the front affect his decisions and his perception of the world. Even, though it is a fictional story, the novel describes a situation all too real for many adolescents in this pivotal moment of American history full of change and a divided nation.
Death Coming Up the Hill caught my attention for a number of reasons, but among those reasons the setting of the novel drew me in like a firefly to a bright light. However, I hesitated on making my decision because of the unique style the book is written in. That style consists of seventeen syllables with stanzas of three lines. This bothered me mainly because I thought the book would be shallow and uninteresting. On the contrary, the novel was more than interesting despite its lack of words. It only presented the important information and events that occurred throughout the span of a year. With that information we were able to get to know characters as well as their struggle and understand the predicaments our protagonists gets into.
In all, the novel was an enjoyable read. It is truly a representation of how people from adolescents to adults were affected by the wars fought at home and in Vietnam. So if you are looking for a quick read that engulfs you than Death Coming Up the Hill is the book for you.

[Mike Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not many books do I read in one sitting but for this one, that's how it's best read. Born the year the story ends, I struggle to understand the political, emotional, financial and social struggles of 1969. To me it's a mystery of early rock bands, drug abuse and social ills I don't understand. Actually enlisting in the army at 17, which the haiku format of this story underscores, never occurs to me. How will I act when I see death coming up the hill?

[Camry Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have so much respect for this book. How it was written, the entire story - was so eye opening. It was written so artistically with Haiku, and I was so intrigued by the allusions and irony intertwined throughout it. It was a heart string puller, and made me cry. A very good read.

[karla paola h. moran · Rating 5 out of 5]

What did I think? WHAT DID I THINK ARE YOU JOKING RN.

I read this book because of my English class. My teacher deeply recommended it, so obviously I didn't want to read it. I picked up Victorian English Poetry and immediately put it down on the third page. One of my classmates had just finished reading Death Coming Up the Hill and talked about how good it was, so I thought "Why not?" We were talking about heavy topics in literature anyway, and it couldn't hurt to diversify my reading.

I thought the book was going to be a about a soldier writing about the things he saw in war, so I knew that I was reading a heavy topic. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was going to read. Ashe's story was like no other and I wish I could read the book for the first time again. It was so hard to put down, and since everything is written in haiku I would try and read as much as I could between my classes. And this contains spoilers so go away if you haven't read it.

It's 1968 and our dear narrator Ashe is only seventeen, and his parents are on the brink of divorce. His dad could not be any different than his mother. His dad is a red white and blue patriot and thinks that every who can serve should serve and die for their country. He is also racist, so yeah. His mom is a hippie through and through, so they are both complete and polar opposites. They got married and stayed married for the sake of Ashe. They don't do a good job at hiding the lack of love within their marriage, and we as readers get to experience the grief and the grief Ashe feels as he is in the middle of the battlefield that separates his parents. It's brutal, and it's not something that anyone can handle. Chris Crowe's writing does a great job at making comparisons between the war in Vietnam and the war going on in Ashe's home. Not only is the book an amazing piece of literature, but the author makes many connections with dates and numbers, so keep an eye out for that.

Overall, I deeply recommend this book. I have recommended it to all my friends by now. I think something that impacted me while reading this book was that I am also seventeen, the same age as Ashe. I don't think that I could handle what he goes through, in war - because yes does end up going to war even though countless times he is told that he is not going to go by his mother. The saddest part is that it's Ashe's decision to go to war, in order not live with his dad and save his family. I know, sad. Ashe just goes through a lot, and as readers grow attached to him (because I for one sure did and I'm pretty sure you will too) we see how war in a household and in an actual battlefield affect and tarnish him. I think that the saddest part is when Ashe says something along the lines of "I am serious now," or whatever, but you get the point. We see a young boy live through major historical events during his...very, very short life. Also, we get to see him fall in love. Kind of a bittersweet moment, since Ashe and Angela are super cute together and then he, you know...freaking dies. Dies on his 18th birthday. Although it is sad, readers can get a glimpse of how unfair war is, and how it just takes and takes.

[Bryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book! I love how every syllable is dedicated to one soldier who died in the Vietnam War. I love it when books are written in verse and it added a cool touch to the story. The ending was so sad, I wish he didn't die but it makes sense why he had to. I like how the author ties the quote from a soldier on Hamburger Hill to the title. I would love to see a sequel about Rosa, his mom, dad, and Angela. I love historical fiction and verse, if you're with me on that, it's a must-read. I think it's the perfect book for an English Class, Book club, etc. because there's so much to talk about and discuss. This book has a lot of room for opinions, while still being factual. I think the author did a great job showing how teenagers are, and how I'm assuming a teenage boy in the 1960's would think and act. 5 stars.

[Alexz Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a requirement for my Young Adult Literature class. I was incredibly interested, especially after reading Most Dangerous. I was not disappointed in the least. The main protagonist, Ashe’s story is one that will touch the hearts of many. He is an amazing character who is thoughtful and kind but not without fault. He is terrified of being drafted to Vietnam, but his fear of going to war and of the destruction he knows he will witness makes him relatable and realistic. The love he shows every character in the novel, even those he doesn’t always agree with, is heartwarming. This makes the situation he is put in all the more heartbreaking for the readers to witness. The other characters in the novel, especially Ashe’s mother and Angela, are just as complex and interesting as Ashe himself.

While the characters are definitely a great piece of the novel, the most interesting part about it is the format. Death Coming up the Hill is written entirely of haikus, and every syllable represents a fallen soldier. The story flowed seamlessly and was only enhanced by its poetic form. The amount of thought and work that must have gone into creating this novel is amazing in and of itself. Readers of all ages will adore Crowe’s writing and appreciate Ashe and his story.

Warnings:

Sex: No
Drugs: Alcoholism and more
Violence: Parental and child abuse. War stories.
Rock N Roll: Vietnam War stories, Divorce, political discussions