Youngblood

by Matt Gallagher

Jarhead meets Redeployment in a suspenseful and smart fiction debut that has been called "thrilling, tragic, and darkly funny" by National Book Award-winning author Phil Klay.

The US military is preparing to withdraw from Iraq, and newly-minted lieutenant Jack Porter struggles to accept how it's happening - through alliances with warlords who have Arab and American blood on their hands. Day after day, Jack tries to assert his leadership in the sweltering, dreary atmosphere of Ashuriyah. But his world is disrupted by the arrival of veteran Sergeant Daniel Chambers, whose aggressive style threatens to undermine the fragile peace that the troops have worked hard to establish.

As Iraq plunges back into chaos and bloodshed and Chambers's influence over the men grows stronger, Jack becomes obsessed with a strange, tragic tale of reckless love between a lost American soldier and Rana, a local sheikh's daughter. In search of the truth and buoyed by the knowledge that what he finds may implicate Sergeant Chambers, Jack seeks answers from the enigmatic Rana, and soon their fates become intertwined. Determined to secure a better future for Rana and a legitimate and lasting peace for her country, Jack will defy American command, putting his own future in grave peril.

Pulling readers into the captivating immediacy of a conflict that can shift from drudgery to devastation at any moment, Youngblood provides startling new dimension to both the moral complexity of war and its psychological toll.

Genres: Fiction, War, Military Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Middle East, Novels

342 pages, Hardcover

First published February 2, 2016

About the author

Matt Gallagher is a US Army veteran and the author of four books, including the novels Youngblood and Daybreak. His work has appeared in Esquire, ESPN, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and Wired, among other places. A graduate of Wake Forest and Columbia, he is the recipient of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, a Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Fellowship, a Sewanee Writers’ Conference Fellowship, and was selected as the 2022 Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum Writer-in-Residence. He lives with his family in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Reviews

[Snotchocheez · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

(I tried to get this review up in time for Veteran's Day; didn't quite make it, but I guess it's the thought that counts: Thanks so much to all the men and women who've selflessly served our country.)

I apologize to my friends who might be done with my recent war novel spate. While I can assure you that I despise war, I'm fascinated by accounts of war from those who have served, trying to explain the unexplainable: what goes on in soldiers' heads as they serve their country. I've read six fictional accounts now of the Iraq War, and I've been, quite honestly, amazed at the literary talent these former enlisted men have brought to the fore, sharing their stories in a truly compelling way. Though I've read so many of these novels the stories have started to blend together (for instance, Roy Scranton's War Porn and Matt Gallager's Youngblood both feature an interpreter named Qasim who figures prominently in each story; both Youngblood's interpreter and Michael Pitre's Fives and Twenty-Fives's "terp" learned English from gangsta rap), yet each of these works are utterly memorable in their own way.

Youngblood sets itself apart with plenty of back stories, some pot-boiler, almost noir-ish detective intrigue, and some heart pounding inter-platoon conflict that would immediately translate well to the big screen. (And not in a hyper-real Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk kind of way, either; more in a gritty, plot-heavy The Hurt Locker sense.)

There's a lot going on here, but this centers on Lieutenant Jack Porter (a deeply moral commissioned officer who straddles the fence between his "Hotspur" infantry platoon, and the 'fobbits'--higher officers in a non-combat role that call the shots) and Staff Sergeant Chambers, a hot-headed lifer with several redeployment stints, who Lt. Porter believes will imperil the platoon with his "Shoot first, sort it out later" mentality. The platoon is nearing the end of its tour of duty; Porter's goal is to get the "Youngbloods" (those less-experienced infantry soldiers) home in one piece. Standing in the way of that is sectarian violence between the Sunnis and the Shi'a, that completely changes the complexion of the war from the initial invasion days. With the fobbits standing orders of paying "blood money" to certain insurrectionists, it's often impossible to discern who's an enemy combatant and who's an ordinary civilian. Each recon mission to "take out" a warlord becomes an exasperating, traumatic event from both an ill-defined, amorphous enemy and the hot-headed second-in-command SSgt.Chambers countermanding most of Lt Porter's direct orders.

As I mentioned, there's also mystery elements (one involving a former infantryman gone missing, rumored to have fallen in love with a Iraqi woman; another involving Lt. Porter investigating rumors of Chambers' alleged involvement in "kill teams" that purposely slay Iraqi civilians and flaunt the "rules of engagement") but these mystery elements, while mostly interesting, occasonally fall flat.

Still, this is a strong debut novel for Matt Gallagher, one peppered with snarky humor, and tempered with gut honesty that rings true throughout. This guy's really got a talent; I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see him win some big awards someday.


(And with that, I'm plum "war-red out", I think I've read enough war stories to last a lifetime. I need some much more tranquil reading material, and perhaps a Xanax or three.)

[Lorilin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy reading stories (fictional or not) told from the perspective of soldiers. I’ve read a bunch of them, so I have many to compare this one to. I have to say, Young Blood is one of the strongest books of its kind that I’ve read in a long while. The plot is engaging–even surprising at several points–and the characters are believable and well-developed. I found myself drawn to lieutenant Jack Porter immediately. I like that he isn’t all brawn and bravado. Porter is competent, but also unsure of himself in his new leadership role. He is thoughtful and cautious, and he makes mistakes. Far from being some one-dimensional He-Man, he actually has some depth.

My favorite thing about this book, though, is that it didn’t go anywhere I expected it to. A lot of the book focuses on Porter’s tense relationship with Sergeant Daniel Chambers, and, honestly, I thought I knew exactly what was going to happen between them. But I was way off. The end of the book, in actuality, is much more nuanced and subtle than I expected. The events that unfold are complex, and, through them, author Gallagher acknowledges that war is not a black and white experience–not for soldiers or leaders, not for the occupied or the occupiers. It’s all just…complicated.

At any rate, this was a great read. Good story. Interesting characters. Solid all around.

Check out more of my reviews at www.BugBugBooks.com!

[Jon Adcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Gallagher is a former U.S. Army captain and veteran of the Iraq War. He first gained attention for writing a military blog, Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal, that became very popular before it was finally shut down by his commanding officers. This novel is his fiction debut and it’s non-clichéd, subtle, and very well written.

As the novel opens, the main character, Jack Porter, is a newly promoted lieutenant in Ashuriyah, Iraq during the waning days of the Iraq war. The U.S. military is preparing to withdrawal soon, but sectarian violence has spiked locally and Porter and his men are attempting to bring it under control. Into this volatile situation, Porter gets a new platoon sergeant, Chambers, a hard-bitten veteran who might have committed war crimes during his previous tour of duty in Ashuriyah and might be committing them still. Soon a power struggle develops between Porter and Chambers:

“What happens at night? On your patrols. Soldiers been talking about that, too. Like, where would you guys be right now if you didn’t have to be here?”

He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, “Combat is a hard place for hard decisions. For hard men,” he said, opening his eyes again. My question had disappointed him. “Leave the moralizing for the bystanders. You want to be one of us – be the type of officer soldiers will follow – you need to kill that part of you. Easy solutions don’t exist. Not here in Indian country. You should know that by now.”

One of the book’s strengths is it’s subtlety and complexity. As the novel opened, I fully expected the book to be a modern version of the movie, Platoon, but Gallagher has more on his mind than a simple story of Good versus Evil. The palette that he uses consists of shades of grey instead of black and white. While Chambers is openly contemptuous of the military’s counterinsurgency policy and is, at times, menacing, he is also intelligent, an extremely capable soldier, and genuinely concerned for the welfare of the men in his platoon. He is a flawed, but fully realized human being instead of just a caricature.

A secondary plot involves Porter trying to discover what happened to a Rios, soldier who served with Chambers during his last tour in Ashuriyah. Rios went missing and Porter thinks discovering what happened to him might be a way to get rid of Chambers once and for all. This plot plays out like a mystery as Porter investigates and questions people who knew Rios. Like Roshomon, Porter often gets contradictory versions of the events as he tries to piece together what happened. Again, I thought I knew where Gallagher was going with this plot, but he ended up surprising me. However, in all honesty, this side plot that ends up echoing Romeo and Juliet, doesn’t fully work and is probably the weakest aspect of the novel.

Gallagher’s characterizations are strong and his descriptive passages convey a sense of what Iraq was like for a foot soldier: the sounds, the smells, and the boredom interspersed by moments of abject terror. It isn’t an uplifting book. The world Porter finds himself in is one of moral ambiguity where monthly cash payments are made to Iraqi “friends” and “allies” who have the blood of American soldiers on their hands. A moral ambiguity that corrupts the best intentions of the soldiers and of Porter himself.

“Still, though – I’d decided that I wanted to leave Iraq having done one good thing. One good thing free of complication and ambiguity, one good thing that proved I wasn’t the type of man who used drop weapons or destroyed mosques or couldn’t remember his dead soldiers faces”

All in all, a strong and moving story that lead me to buy Gallagher’s non-fiction book about Iraq, Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War

[Kinga · Rating 4 out of 5]

This came recommended by two of my friends back in 2016, so I purchased the hardback and shelved it alongside my hundreds of other unread books.

It’s a book about the Iraq War in its last stage, long past the initial hubris and optimism. This is the chaos-and-embarrassment phase, when everyone is mostly looking to go home, leaving the mess they started behind. That arc is also, to some extent, the trajectory of this book and its narrator.

It’s subtle and full of desert boredom. In lieu of any real meaning or purpose to the war effort, the main character develops a fixation on a soldier who went MIA years earlier while stationed in the same place. This obsession is later transferred onto a person connected to him who is still alive.

I liked the book’s tense and suffocating atmosphere, where general tedium and restlessness are interrupted by insanely brutal events in a dizzying contrast. It describes the insurgency phase of the Iraq War, when both sides were stuck in an endless loop of push and pull. There is no space for heroism or even trauma in this narrative. Instead, we get boredom, confusion, and moral inertia. What’s unspoken is as important as what’s spoken, as this is a very masculine world, after all.

The prose is a notch above your average military novel (not that I’ve read that many) and generally shines, except for a few instances where the sentences seem to get away from the author and drift dangerously close to purple prose.

It’s obviously not a flattering picture of American involvement in Iraq (that would be nearly impossible to write with a straight face at this point), and, as is commonplace in military novels, it tackles questions of morality and truth, along with all the grey areas that come with them. It’s often hard to know what the most moral course of action would even be.

Like many war novels, it also deals with internal hierarchies and cultural divides within the military, where often college-educated officers are thrown together with platoon members for whom joining the armed forces seemed like the best option available.

There is no catharsis or resolution at the end - everything simply gets lost in the desert sand. It’s not a robust, emotionally generous novel, but it is an honest one.

[Steven Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all wars before it, the war in Iraq has spawned its own literature. In Vietnam the war produced the likes of Philip Caputo and Tim O’Brien. Today as our current conflict has morphed into the war against ISIS, writers like Matt Gallagher have come on the scene with novels like YOUNGBLOOD, which takes the reader inside a platoon in the town of Ashuriyah, outside of Baghdad, when the optimism spawned by the “surge” gave way to skepticism about the war, and as we know the rise of ISIS and the American withdrawal in 2011. When stationed in Iraq, Gallagher began writing in his own blog from inside the war that attracted a large following. Military authorities eventually shut down Gallagher’s blog, but his new novel has allowed him to express many of the feelings and emotions of his characters, many of which, I am certain, are composites of the men he served with.

The narrator of YOUNGBLOOD is Lieutenant Jack Porter, and through his voice Gallagher expresses the view that “so little of Iraq had anything to do with guns, bombs, or jihads.” The novel portrays a war that encompasses the locals and their lives, as they try and cope with a form of hell that has destroyed their way of life. It comes across as a confusing and angry conflict which continues to this day with little understanding on the part of the people who are responsible for the mess that Iraq has become, as many of them are now calling for the United States to dispatch even more troops to the region. The American mission after years in Iraq had evolved into, “clear, hold, and build, a motto that was extremely difficult to implement successfully.

Porter faces a number of obstacles as a platoon commander. First, he had to deal with bribery and the overall corruption that existed. American military payments were made to numerous groups including sheiks, both Sunni and Sh’ia, and militia leaders in order to combat al-Qaeda, and other groups to obtain their loyalty. Further payments went to Iraqi families that were victims of collateral damage, even more money flowed to projects to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure, but it seemed that little was being built. Porter’s second problem was Sergeant Daniel Chambers, a military lifer who had already served tours earlier in the war. Chambers had been foisted on Porter by his superiors and his demeanor and discipline became a threat to Porter’s command which undermined his relationship with his men.

Once Gallagher introduces his main characters we learn that Chambers may have been involved in the killing of two unarmed Iraqi citizens who were mistaken for jihadis the military was looking for. Porter wants to prove that Chambers had violated the rules of engagement and begins to investigate the shooting in the hopes of getting rid of the ornery sergeant. A second major plot line is Porter’s relationship with Rana, a local sheik’s daughter. Rana, who was involved with an American soldier who converted to Islam, and wants to marry her, is killed. It is left for Porter to pick up the pieces. As the novel evolves, Gallagher integrates past events as a means of trying to understand the present. His relationship with his brother Will, a West Point graduate who served in Iraq, and his girlfriend Marissa, who seemed to have drawn away from him, play on Porter’s mind throughout.

The reader acquires a strong sense of what it is like to be a soldier in Iraq. The fear of death, having the Stryker vehicle you are riding on set off an IED. The friendships that result in sick jokes, games and other amusements that fill the void of limited down time. The exhaustion of carrying 60 pounds of body armor and weapons during patrols or having to maintain a sharp focus for long periods as they try and survive. Gallagher writes with verve and humor as he tries to convey Porter’s experiences, who is fully aware that no one will understand him, not his brother Will or his girlfriend Marissa back in the United States. Porter must live with his memories as he faces the reality of war each day, a war where he exhibits empathy for the Iraqi people he comes in contact with, and the men he commands. The end result is that Gallagher portrays the horror and inequities of war, and how it has eroded the fabric and foundation of Iraqi society. After one puts the book down one wonders what will be the final chapter for Iraq as a nation, as it continues to struggle with sectarianism, a corrupt political system, the constant threat of violence, and the legacy of the American invasion.

[Paul Pessolano · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Young Blood” by Matt Gallagher, published by Atria Books.

Category – Fiction/Literature

Jack Porter is a lieutenant serving in Iraq. He is serving during the American withdrawal from the country. He is fighting to assert himself to his platoon and finds that his attempts are being undermined by his sergeant. He is also in conflict with the war lords that he has to deal with, and to make matters worse he becomes involved with a sheik’s daughter. It seems that there was a love affair between her and an American soldier. This soldier has no desire to return to the United States and seems to be embracing the Iraqi way of life. Jack finds out that this soldier has died and that the sheik’s daughter is in need of his help. Jack goes against military protocol and helps her while he attempts to find peace in this war torn country.

I am sure there is a story here but for the life of me I could not find it. The writing is haphazard and the characters are not fully defined. It is impossible to find empathy for any of the characters, let alone the story. It was also impossible to have any feelings towards the Iraqi situation or the quagmire of American involvement.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thoughts:
A raw gritty and skillfully written novel that captures the complex harsh realities of the counterinsurgency tactics employed in Iraq. The sharply drawn characters illustrate the fragile and ever-changing reality of allies, partners, and adversaries and just what is the truth at a moment. I was captivated by the life-and-death experiences that needed to be made on a moment’s notice – do you follow the textbook technique, rely on the more experienced soldiers in the unit, and/or just go with your instinct at the moment. While the physical scars show the tragedy of the violence, this book delves more into the psychological scars as history, economics, and humanity plague the participants in this war. Besides dealing with the current military orders, there is an intriguing murder/romance mystery clamoring to be solved. As I am not familiar with the military terms/common slang used in the Iraqi War, I would have liked a glossary included so could easily get the definition/nuances of what was being said. A richly rewarding storyline that is a nail-biting read from the first page to the last. I recommend this book to anyone interested in American foreign policy and wants a better understanding what a modern war is all about.

“There was a ritual to donning armor, deliberate and purposeful, like the warriors of old dressing for battle, but taking it off always seemed an exercise in frenzy….I’d shed sixty pounds of gear in ten or so seconds. Once I bent over and loosened the laces of my boots, I felt human again.”

“Then I thought about how I wasn’t really the person I presented to the soldiers, either. There were parts I hid. Parts I exaggerated.”

“Yesterday was the result of a half-assed strategy set by old men in suits do don’t have a f**** clue. They hear ‘counterinsurgency’ and thinks it’s War Lite – a smarter cleaner way. But it’s not. War is always dirty. War is always about force.”

“…certain I’d just found another place to the puzzle that was Iraq, but bemused as to where to place it.”

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Onvan : Youngblood - Nevisande : Matt Gallagher - ISBN : 1501105744 - ISBN13 : 9781501105746 - Dar 342 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2016

[Elyse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not the typical reader of "war books," and in fact was unsure about this one at first. But my husband is a bookseller and brought home Youngblood and said I needed to read it. I'm glad he did. This is a very fine novel, and for all the blood and violence in it, it is more about people, and what people will do during war in order to survive. It is about the American soldiers, the Iraqi people, the Iraqi terrorists, and about we Americans at home watching the war unfold from afar. It also helped explain to me how ISIS came about.

Youngblood follows the exploits of Lieutenant Jack Porter, who is bored and disillusioned during the end of the Iraq occupation. Around the same time he begins to hear stories about a legendary soldier named "The Shaba" and a beautiful sheikh's daughter named Rana, a violent Staff Sergeant named Chambers comes back to the Iraqi village. The war returns shortly thereafter, and we get a sort of entirety of the long Iraq war compressed into a short time, in one village, with one group of soldiers trying to end it all.

This is very story driven, especially for a "literary" book, and I prefer it that way. Very little navel gazing, and it's a "fast" 400 pages. I would encourage any readers interested in current affairs to read this. It reminded me of Joseph Conrad's books but from an American perspective rather than English.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dirty, gritty novel about the dirty, gritty war in Iraq, told by recently commissioned Lieutenant Jack Porter. Jack is trying so hard to be a leader, but it seems that veteran Sergeant Chambers thinks his own way is the best way. But this is more than a contest of wills. It's the story of men trying to do their jobs and trying to survive so they can go back home. It's the story of men who don't know whom to trust or which story is the truth or when the info is good or when it's bad. In a land of vicious heat where they don't speak the language, life is full of twists and turns and whom do you believe???

A fearsome look at how the war affects those who are fighting it, and those who have come home.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really got bogged down in the middle of this book. The narrative struck me as directionless and random - waiting - until the plot suddenly picked up in the last 75 pages of the novel. Was this intentional? Was it supposed to be symbolic of the pointless U.S. presence in Iraq after the war was "over"? If this effect was purposeful, then it was brilliant. The problem was that it didn't feel purposeful, it just felt like the book needed some heavy-handed editing.

The writing was only "ok" for me as well - I was not particularly inspired by it as other reviewers seem to have been.

[sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will I ever rate a book anything other than 4 stars? Who’s to say! I enjoyed the writing, even if the story was a little hard to follow at times.

[Adam McPhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels like the start of a second wave of Iraq war literature. All the tropes are firmly in place and now the author is trying to do something with them. Especially towards the end of the novel, it started to feel like Generation Kill meets Raymond Chandler, ie there's a whole lot of violence and a detective who means well but isn't always up to the task at hand.

I was quite leery going into this novel–it's an understatement to say that what's essentially a thriller set in an ongoing war risks being glib. But the author never lets you forget that this is America's biggest foreign policy blunder in a generation, and that the American military–even when employing soldiers with the best of intentions–isn't the force for good that so many people wish it was, or at least not in this way.

Other thoughts:

– There's seems to be more about Iraq's people and culture than most of these sorts of books, though that's a low bar to set.

– The ending was perfect.

– There were parts in the first bit of the book where I found myself not trusting the author. Too many of the characters seemed like little more than the standard tropes, but it's just a setup. Some of the best parts of the book are where the characters show how much of a facade some of these stereotypes are.

– I liked how all of the Americans were disillusioned with the promise of their country, even warning the Iraqi civilians not to bother immigrating. Rios says there's no war in Texas, but theres also no Mercedes or mansions there either, not for the likes of us.

– I wish there'd been more about the stolen money. You hear so much about that sort of thing having happened, it would've been nicer to take a closer look at it.

I received a free copy of this novel from the publisher.

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book of love and war. Just phenomenal. And beautiful.

"Youngblood" is going to win awards, as did "Redeployment" and "Yellow Birds," but this is bigger than those books in terms of story and scope and arguably better if those are things you enjoy in a book. The language is as strong but less "showoff-y" than those other two books. Less about the author's writing and more about the story.

Ashuriyah is still with me, the story of LT Jack, the daughter of the sheik Rana, the story of the hard sergeant Chambers, the muktar … it is haunting and painful and powerful. All of it. Just like all of war. It touches on empire, and love, and loss, and lost idealism and trying to do a good thing in a world of awful choices. I finished "Youngblood" two days ago and still feel it within me, especially the epilogue.

The only other book about modern war that belongs in this class is "Billy Lynns Long Halftime Walk," and that's more about America at war than war itself. This is probably the best American war fiction since the Vietnam novels. And I do not say that lightly as a Vietnam veteran myself and an avid reader since long before even that.

"The Red Badge of Courage." "Sun Also Rises." "The Naked and Dead." "Catch 22." "A Rumor of War." "The Things They Carried." And now "Youngblood." Yes, it is that good.

[Megalion · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never served but one thing that often comes to mind, it's not easy to lead a group. What about leading one in a life and death situation?

I really enjoyed this book because Jack Porter has just made lieutenant. He knows his men. But the squad has just taken in new people. He's also been assigned a career soldier.

He has to make it all work despite the power struggles from the career guy, and resistance by the new guys in becoming part of the unit in spirit. He knows a lot but he also knows enough to know that he doesn't know stuff and that the training he received didn't cover a lot of the tough and very real decisions he has to make.

Seeing things unfold from his perspective makes for a good read. I can't vouch for how accurate it is to real life but seems like it represents it well.

Recommended.

[Chaitra · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Iraq war novel, set in Iraq, that I really liked. Which hasn't happened since Yellow Birds. I like war novels, World War II is my favorite historical fiction period. But this war, I somehow haven't felt anything for the novels about it. To be fair, I'm reluctant to even pick them up.

But Youngblood, while not fun, is fairly quick. It has a clear objective to begin with, a great narrator who is young and cocky and vulnerable and unsure, an epic romance that doesn't involve said narrator even though he gets caught up with it, and some tension filled moments. And then it leaves a few major threads hanging, but in a good way.

I got caught up in the language, the situations, and the characters, who felt real.

[Aurora Dimitre · Rating 3 out of 5]

~This book was won from a Goodreads Giveaway~

I know 100% that this book was a case of, "It's not you, It's me."

Objectively speaking, the characters are interesting, the writing is good and fast-paced and I assume engaging, there's a mystery plot that would probably be interesting and completely immersive to others, but I just didn't care about the setting or the plot or anything that was going on. I could recognize that this book wasn't bad, but personally, I didn't enjoy it one bit. There's a reason I rated it three stars instead of one or two, which is what I normally rate books that I skim-read like I skim-read the last two hundred pages of this one, and that's because it's not a bad book. It's just one that didn't personally interest me.

[Book Riot Community]

Make room on that list of amazing fiction about the Iraq War for Youngblood, a complex story of love, war, and morality. As the U.S. prepares to withdraw from Iraq, a lieutenant struggles with its implications and must also contend with the arrival of a sergeant whose aggressive nature threatens to undermine the lieutenant's attempts to keep the peace. As fighting breaks out, Jack becomes obsessed with the tragic love story between an American soldier and a local girl. This is first-rate storytelling, and should be mentioned in the same breath as The Yellow Birds and Redeployment.


Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/category/all-the-...

[Amber Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, I won an Advanced Uncorrected Proof of this years ago and it got misplaced in my house. Years later and here I am wishing I wasn't finished with it yet. Matt Gallagher wrote a very good page turner that follows lieutenant Jack Porter and his men during deployment in Iraq. I'm sad to see it doesn't have more reviews because it was honestly a great storyline that kept me wondering what would happen next. I also found myself getting attached to each of his characters, even Chambers. I thought I was going to be left wondering what happened to the terp but a nice epilogue rounded things out. While I haven't read anything from this author before now (I should have! It's been in my house for years!) I definitely wouldn't mind checking out others from him now.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an objective review.

Excellent novel about what it was like in Iraq after the surge. Loved Lt Jack, very likable but realistic protagonist. There is tons of plot to dig into, plenty of depth as far as scenery and place to feel like you're actually there and enough semi-political commentary to get an idea of the author's own views without being hammered over the head. Great read.

[Karly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway, and I was very pleased with it. It is fast paced, equal parts funny and dark, suspenseful, and most of all, complicated. Lt. Jack is a well developed character and overall the novel is pretty solid. It was an interesting read and I highly recommend it.

[Elizabeth☮]

I gave this one hundred pages, but I didn't find it engaging. I was confused about the plot line and exactly what was happening.

It sounds like it is a good story, but the threads just weren't weaving together to make a coherent story.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, but we truncate and don’t round.

A lot of great elements here, but they didn’t quite come together for me. There were one or two too many driving forces in the text. I’m sure there’s a reading where the chaos of the book reflects the chaos of the narrator’s experience, but I’m not willing to be that generous. The very raw and earnest reflections of the cost of war could have been highlighted further with just one less mystery to solve. That’s not to say those reflections were deficient, quite the opposite. That’s to say I would have preferred the author spend more time on what he did well.

The best part of this book is how well it draws out the humanity of its characters. It certainly expanded my understanding of a point of view I have very little interaction with on a daily basis.

Worth the read, happy Rog suggested it from the Baldmart.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough read of sad times, filled with brave, confused kids. Great perspective from the actual folks doing the job.

[Kelsi H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please check out all of my reviews at http://ultraviolentlit.blogspot.ca!

Jack Porter is a young lieutenant in the U.S. Military, stationed in Ashuriyah, Iraq. In his early twenties, Jack does his best to assert his leadership over his troops and make good decisions, all while wondering what they are really accomplishing, if anything. Despite their best efforts, the area is still in turmoil, and it is run for the most part by the Iraqi leaders of local tribes. Violence is a daily possibility, while at the same time, the men are dragged down by the tediousness of waiting for something to happen in the middle of the desert.

While Jack does his best to keep the peace not only with the locals but also within his platoon, a veteran sergeant shows up and upsets the careful balance in Ashuriyah with his brash ways. Sergeant Chambers has fought this war before, and he thinks he knows best, overpowering the group with his aggressive style. Meanwhile, Jack, who should be standing up to Chambers, becomes obsessed with a tragic local love story – an American soldier who was killed because of his love for Rana, a local Sheik’s daughter. Jack begins his investigation as a way to oust Chambers from the area, but instead he is drawn in to the lives of Rana and her children – so much so that he puts everything (his life, his career, and the fragile peace of the area) at risk to protect them.

Youngblood (Chambers’ nickname for the young men in the unit) is a novel about the complexities of war – the moral dilemmas that any leader must face, amplified by Jack’s youth and passionate uncertainties. It shows the absurd contrast between the boredom of daily patrols and the always imminent danger of IEDs. Jack also considers his grandfathers’ roles in WWII – they sacrificed everything to fight Fascism, and Jack can’t quite figure out what he’s really fighting for, especially as allegiances change constantly.

For me, the most enlightening parts of the book were Jack’s conversations with people back home in the U.S. His brother Will is a military vet who understands that leadership – being responsible for the lives of those around you – is the hardest part of war. Meanwhile, Jack is frustrated with his stateside girlfriend Marissa – he pushes her away because he is unable to discuss the tragedies of war with her, yet he is resentful of her absence. The complexities of character are well-developed, especially in Jack and Chambers, but also in the other soldiers and even the Iraqi locals. Their distinct personalities are clear, and Jack grows and changes immensely throughout the novel.

The dialogue was really well-done, with enough military jargon sprinkled in to make it realistic, while still staying true to each character’s voice. The novel is plot-driven, yet there is also a subtlety to the relationships between characters that is very literary – the author allows room for empathy for a range of characters, and there are no “bad guys” here. As a former U.S. Army captain, Gallagher kept a controversial blog while deployed in Iraq, which later evolved into his memoir, Kaboom. His experiences are what make this novel seem so real, as he explores the many gray areas in the context of war. There are many violent scenes, but not unnecessarily so, and the story is ultimately about the people – the humanizing aspects of war.

I received this novel from Simon & Schuster/Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

[Jake Goretzki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the Iraq war, I guess: starts confidently and efficiently, then goes rather awry.

Look, parts of it were fluent and well poised. It’s insightful on the tedium-then-horror of life in occupation; I also enjoyed the language and that litany of dull-managerial army speak (all 'daisy-chaining', ‘terps’ and ‘fobbits’). That surreal prospect of Pizza Huts and Burger Kings in the desert.

What lost things for me was the Rana plotline. It felt pasted in and arbitrary - and I just didn't believe in it at all. It reminded me very much of the Canadian Giller winner of a few years ago - ‘419’ - which lost its heart over an unlikely and ultimately rather saccharine platonic bond forged between an earnest protagonist and a beautiful, fragile (yet utterly untouchable, in the cultural setting) local love interest.

I mean, there’s a war on right? Rana is married. She has two children. She’s a sheikh’s daughter. Al Qaeda are everywhere and you can't trust anyone. And everyone's got guns. And suddenly a lot of the action centres around a Good Man’s Attempt to Help Out This Local Beauty and Boy is He Hanging Out There A Lot. This all felt too Hollywood, I’m afraid. Way too well meaning. Part of me was hoping she’d turn out to be an Al Qaida recruiter, or some such denouement. It felt like it was al too obviously trying to push the liberal buttons of the Bernie Sanders fanbase: 'One Soldier. In Iraq. Sometimes You Have to Betray Your Country To Avoid Betraying Love. SUMMER 2016'.

(I must confess I also didn’t really grasp (I was quite tired this week) what our Kurz character (Chambers?) had ultimately done to Rios - had he killed him? I’m not sure this was settled. I missed it).

I dunno. My problem with Kevin Powers' ‘The Yellow Birds’ was that our protagonist was so desperate to be a Poet of the Desert, he couldn’t convince on the ‘grunt’/brutality of war front that I’d go to fiction for. I had a similar problem here: our protagonist felt too darn knowingly liberal and try-hard revisionist. If they’d clipped out the love interest, it would have been richer.

This is the third or fourth Afghan/Iraq-era novel I have read (Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk; Yellow Birds, Jarhead, etc). I have 'Redeployment' on the pile and am thinking now of holding back. I'm starting to feel that, well, perhaps war novels just aren't that interesting, because non-conscript soldiers can’t perhaps be that interesting: what they do doesn’t change much; there’s a lot of sitting around; liberalism playing tug of war with discipline and martial values. The range of characters they can portray feels limited too (there’s always a buzz-cut Doug Niedermeyer type; there’s always the lady at home and those hard faced bureaucrats). If there was a genre of fiction dedicated to postmen, there’d be lots of dogs, trouser legs and bicycles. It's incredibly hard to write something fresh about dogs, trouser legs and bicycles. I certainly couldn't do it.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Youngblood" which I won through Goodreads/First Reads is a thrilling and mesmerizing new novel by Matt Gallagher that's set in the small town of Ashuriyah, Iraq where the US army is preparing for their withdrawal. Well-written and gripping, threads of the story follow the hostile relationship between Lieutenant Jack Porter and the unpredictable veteran Sergeant Daniel Chambers; the murder of "Shaba" an officer who wanted to help rebuild Iraq after the Collapse; and the upsurge of rage that brings any peace in the community to an end.

The story heats up when Jack Porter hunting for the truth behind the death of Staff Sergeant Elijah Rios and the killing of a local sheik's son, clashes with Sergeant Chambers a former friend of " Shaba" who escalates the tension in the town by killing the goat of the local informant's nephew. Tension and suspense escalate as Jack tries to unravel lies and secrets while maintaining peace in the growing hostility, finally turning to the influential sheik's daughter Rana for the truth behind Shaba's death.

The story is gritty and candid with army payoffs, alliances with warlords, soldiers' drug addiction, and Chamber's aggressive behaviour towards the locals. As the violence builds and soldiers are ambushed and killed, Jack draws closer to Rana changing his attitude about returning to the States, embracing the culture , breaking the rules and undermining his ethical code to help her and her children escape Iraq. The action never stops as events unfold and strands of the story merge into a tense, volatile climax.

The characters are far from perfect; their personalities complex with a multitude of flaws and faults. Lieutenant Jack Porter living in his heroic brother's shadow was idealistic in his motives for joining the army. But, as the story progresses and his headaches increase his beliefs begin to change. Yet through all the upheaval and chaos he remains a brave, conscientious leader. Staff Sergeant Daniel Chambers is the tough, hard-nosed veteran, jaded by his years of service in the field. Yet it's his resilience and tenacity that will ensure the men of the platoon get home, although his aggression will cost him his life. All the characters fuel the drama with intensity, high-energy and passionate fervour.

I thoroughly enjoyed " Youngblood" with its look at the unexpected and inexplicable changes in the characters of soldiers during the brutal bloodbath that's war. It is a fascinating and entertaining story.

[Mrs. Danvers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not the conventional bildungsroman war story, this one reminded me of The Names of the Dead for being, in part, a mystery and of The Things They Carried for its acknowledgment of the contradictions in telling a "true" war story.

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fine book of place, if not plot which this novel is rather light on. Matt Gallagher effortlessly (which of course likely means he took great effort) pulls us into an Army unit in Iraq and gives us a taste of what modern warfare is like for members of an occupying force. It isn't a tale of heroism so much as of following orders and doing what it takes to make it from one day to the next, hopefully without abandoning too much of one's conscience along the way. There is a bit of detective story thrown into the narrative, a bit of star crossed love story too. There are threats to the narrator Jack Porter from within his own unit that are as ominous as bombs and bullets coming from the official enemy. There is sand and heat and scorpions and falafels and brokered deals and needless death and unhelpful remorse and the biding of time. I feel somewhat knowledgeable about the day-to-day existence of a 21st century soldier stationed in an ancient land after having read this book. But I'm wise enough to know that reading what it's like is one thing, living it as Mr. Gallagher did and admirably documented, quite another.

[Corinna Liscumb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was sent an advance uncorrected proof for review from the publisher.

I was excited to receive this book for review as it is compared to Jarhead and I loved that book. Unfortunately there is little if no comparison. A book about a new US military lieutenant Jack Porter and a veteran sergeant Daniel Chambers preparing to withdraw from Iraq drags and jumps around to the point that it took till over half way to find any semblance of a story and it wasn't a good one or a believable one. I have read a fair number of war books and this was by far the worst. With too many undeveloped stories and shoddy character development this book becomes more than a slog. I found the main character LT Jack to be extremely weak to the point that I even found myself rolling my eyes every time he would utter a "goddamn". The story of sergeant Chambers was almost interesting but it fell flat while concentration was spent on subplots that left me with absolutely no respect for the character of Jack Porter.