Trenches

by Ryan McCormick

A man survives the horrors of World War One to be returned to the uncertainty of a country and century of contradictions. Trenches tells the story of Charles Smith, a man who sacrificed life and limb in The War to End All Wars, and his quest to recover his humanity and lost faith in a journey that spans the United States and the Twentieth Century. Follow Charles from the battlefields of France to the violently racist American South, and onward, as his path takes him to the Mid-west and the Pacific Northwest on his journey to reconnect with his comrades-in-arms, and to reconnect with a part of himself he though lost forever in a forest in the Argonne. Trenches is a memorable novel of one man’s quest to find the better part of himself and of humanity.

248 pages, Paperback

Published June 9, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

McCormick creates a deeply-flawed central character who you nevertheless root for and want to win--no easy task. Charlie Smith grows and learns throughout his life, which makes the ultimate demise of his abilities all the more heartbreaking (not a spoiler--the book starts with him in old age, and then goes back to his young adulthood). In spite of the title and cover image, this is not a war story; it’s a story of redemption, and a story of 20th century America, its glories and its shame. The story is marred slightly by an over-reliance on coincidences that strain belief and a touch of melodrama, but those are easily forgiven for the chance to get to know Charlie, Ichabod, and Moira.