Brothers Bound

by Bruce K Berger

264 pages, Paperback

Published June 11, 2024

Reviews

[Pop · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know the words to describe how wonderful this book is. It brought me almost to tears on some pages and with others made me smile. On the back cover Richard Puffer (a US Marine infantry platoon commander in Vietnam 1969-70) said it best. “This is not a book just for Vietnam vets; it is wisdom that can help most of us as we negotiate the jungles of today.”

Nuff Said

Pop, US Army Vietnam Vet May 1966-June 1967

[Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read this book before, as I got further in the book. Oh well, I’ll find something else to read. Plenty of books on my shelf.

[Military Writers Society of America (MWSA)]

MWSA Review

Brothers Bound by Bruce K Berger is a phenomenal story of two men bonded through combat, capture, survival, and escape from a prison camp during the Vietnam War. However, its reach extends far beyond a typical historical novel about war. It contains hard-earned life wisdom and is written in such a way that the entire book feels lyrical, poetic, and profound. This quality is juxtaposed with well written prose that depicts the raw and horrible side of war.

Narrated in the first person by Buck, a school teacher who is drafted in late 1969, the story captures the emotions ranging from laughter (a few times) through fear, loss, grief, and redemption. Buck’s buddy Hues, a tri-racial soldier who was a street minister in Detroit, first meets Buck when Buck saves him during a bar fight in a backward and backwater bar near Fort Polk, Louisiana. They are deployed to Vietnam in nearby units near Phu Bai and occasionally serve together on missions. When they are shot down and captured, Hues carries the unconscious Buck until he can march on his own to the prison camp, thereby returning a favor and saving Buck’s life. They survive the beatings and hard labor by sharing their histories, their hopes, and their dreams, focusing on the good memories and sustained by Hues’s faith.

Throughout the book, Berger punctuates the text with original contemporary psalms that Hues creates for every occasion. When they escape the camp, Hues’s life force and spiritual connection keep Buck moving toward freedom, step by painful step.

Review by Betsy Beard (January 2025)

[Aurora Waverley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The chapters that recount the worst beatings are honest and relentless. I put the book down
more than once after the Beatdown Ring scenes. But Berger always gives the reader a way
back: memory rooms, psalms, flashes of Jeanie’s eyes (CHAPTER 17). That architecture
desolation followed by humane reprieve made the eventual escape feel like true resurrection.
Powerful narrative arc.
Brothers Bound Merged Cover and…

[Alice Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buck’s backstory a teacher drafted from a small Michigan town is fully rendered and
humanizes the soldier beyond sloganeering (CHAPTER 1, CHAPTER 16). Berger’s own
background in education and casualty work seems to inform these scenes, giving them
credibility and emotional weight. The novel is full of little domestic memories that become
shields against terror. I loved how fully inhabited these lives felt.

[Bettina Dobrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book doesn’t end with the escape. The epilogues and the author’s note, the returns to
River Rouge and the meetings with Reverend Brown and Sena Park, make the aftermath
credible and healing (ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, later chapters). Berger doesn’t leave readers
with neat closure, but he offers a continued human presence that is often absent in war books.
That lingering presence is what made me love it.

[Vivienne Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many war novels rely on action; this one relies on interior survival. Buck’s practice of visiting
memory rooms full of bread, Jeanie’s eyes, a father’s vault is a brilliant narrative device that
shows how identity persists under assault. It’s a humane solution to depicting PTSD without
sensationalizing it. I’ve been recommending this idea to friends as a therapeutic metaphor as
well as a literary one.

[David Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Berger’s novella-length tale is a meditation on what it means to be responsible to another
person. The recurring theme of “brotherhood” comes to feel like an ethical contract: one that
requires daily labor and small, sacrificial acts. The novel asks the reader to consider how they’d
respond in such a test and that question keeps returning to me. It’s a morally serious,
beautifully executed book.

[Lucas Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buck’s tenderness toward Hues the way he cradles him, hums for him, and remembers small
kindnesses is quietly revolutionary. Berger avoids macho clichés: there is vulnerability that
becomes strength. That representation of male love as sacrament felt novel and honest to me.
It’s why the book ended up feeling like a small, radical act of compassion.

[William Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

The narrator’s voice candid, slightly rueful, and observant earns the reader’s trust early. Buck’s
asides about his own youthful cynicism, or Captain Randall’s petty cruelty, feel lived-in and true.
That voice lets us sit with the worst moments without flinching, because we know our guide is
honest and humane. Berger’s emotional authority is the book’s quiet superpower.

[Anne Jenne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The escape sequence the long days, the animal threats, the lack of water reads like reportage
in its specificity: the sting of leeches, the way rain can both gift and drown you. Berger’s sensory
writing transforms the escape from an adventure into a lesson in human endurance. I closed the
book exhausted in a good way. It felt earned.

[Freya Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grapes, a pocket of bread, a shared psalm Berger uses objects as talismans: each small gift
glows against the dark backdrop. Those details matter because they show how scarcity
sharpens gratitude. The author knows the calculus of survival: a laugh or a grape sometimes
weighs more than a plan. I loved that specificity.

[Mark Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s an uncomfortable truth in how the Casualty Branch operates the paperwork, the
euphemisms, the captain’s need to control the narrative (CHAPTER 2). Berger doesn’t
demonize the men in that office, but he reveals how institutional processes can distance people
from grief. That honesty added a sobering layer I didn’t expect and appreciated deeply.

[Linda Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Berger doesn’t sentimentalize his characters. Buck’s youthful cynicism, Hues’s complicated
past, the petty cruelty of some guards, and the strange humor among prisoners all feel
authentic. These are full people who make terrible decisions and saintly ones; the balance
makes the novel feel like life. I admired that honesty.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read chunks aloud in the evenings; the lines often stopped us mid-sentence. Berger’s prose
translates well to a spoken performance because of its rhythmic clarity. Some scenes the
chopper crash, the camp beatings, Hues’s psalms were harder to read aloud but more powerful
for it. A book to be shared.

[Deedeedo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though set in Viet Nam this novel (and poetry) is much more than a war storty. It's about the power of brotherhood, loyalty, memories and faith under the most difficult circumstances of war, imprisonment and survival.

[Kristin Semelka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brothers Bound is the kind of story that lingers with you. The way it dives into loyalty and the sacrifices people make for those they love left me thinking about my own relationships long after I turned the last page.

[John Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

At its heart, this book instructs us on memory as method: how to rescue yourself from terror by
rehearsing what loved you. Buck’s memory rooms pictures of his mother, Jeanie, Isle Royale,
Dad flying over a bar become a syllabus for hope. I’ll carry that lesson with me.

[Paul Lewin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I entered the book as a reader and left with an emotional education: how to regard sacrifice,
how to carry memory as a practical tool, and how devotion can be both small and utterly
transformative. Berger’s book re-teaches empathy. I’m grateful.

[Elizabeth Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s compact but expansive. Berger uses a tight cast and a few powerful devices (memory
rooms, psalms, the Beatdown Ring) to tell a story that reaches beyond Vietnam to speak to any
human trial. That economy of storytelling impressed me.

[Sarah Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can sense Berger’s experience and research in every checkpoint he knows the jargon
and the psychology. But the heart is what carries the pages. That combination makes the novel
both credible and moving. If you want a war story written by someone who respects complexity,
start here.

[Katharina Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t expect to be moved by the spiritual undercurrent. Hues isn’t proselytizing; he’s practical
faith embodied. The psalms and church references are woven into survival tactics faith as
method. That nuance made me think about resilience differently.

[Jamie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The post-escape material Buck’s visits, the Reverend’s recognition, meeting Sena Park gives
the novel a humane aftercare that many war novels skip closing chapters and
acknowledgments. That humane attention to return and remembrance is what made this book
linger in me for weeks.

[David Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Berger honors memory the small domestic scenes and duty the grinding tasks of Casualty
Branch and GR. The balance shows that remembrance is an ongoing task. The novel
convinced me that storytelling is itself a moral act one we should keep repeating.

[Vesper Hollings · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read the book twice now and find new resonances each time. Then small lines, then whole
chapters, will show up in my mind as I go about my day. That’s the mark of a book that becomes
a keeper. Berger gave us a story of brotherhood that’s both a torch and a map. Highly
recommended.

[Radim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was very boring, was tempted to stop reading half-way. Was supposed to get paid for an honest review for it but got banned.

[Mark Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brothers Bound made me reflect on my own siblings, on what I would do for them, and whether I’ve told them enough that I care.

[Catherine Moses · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite parts was how grief wasn’t treated as an enemy but as part of the journey. That honesty touched me.

[Ethan Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminded me that family stories are universal, no matter where we come from, the ties of love and loyalty run deep.

[Emmanuel Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t stop thinking about the theme of promises. How promises made in desperation can either heal or haunt.