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In An Empty Room: A Novel
When a Marine fireteam searches an isolated Vietnamese village believed to be a supply depot for the Viet Cong an IED explodes, leaving only one survivor of the five-man unit. But who is he: Bunny, Hillbilly, Poke, Injun, or "the LT"? Because he is horribly burned, disfigured, and unable to speak, the military doctors don't know, but the people back home in a coal mining camp in southern West Virginia think they know. Most unsettling of all the survivor himself isn't certain who he is.
Spanning the landscape from Vietnam's warn-torn jungles to hardscrabble Appalachia, In An Empty Room is a gripping examination of time, memory, consciousness, and selfhood and suggests unanticipated conclusions about the nature of human identity.
Spanning the landscape from Vietnam's warn-torn jungles to hardscrabble Appalachia, In An Empty Room is a gripping examination of time, memory, consciousness, and selfhood and suggests unanticipated conclusions about the nature of human identity.
278 pages, Paperback
Published April 20, 2018
14 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Spotte
35 books22 followersStephen Spotte, a marine scientist born and raised in West Virginia, is the author of 23 books including seven works of fiction and two memoirs. Spotte has also published more than 80 papers on marine biology, ocean chemistry and engineering, and aquaculture. His field research has encompassed the Canadian Arctic, Bering Sea, West Indies, Indo-West Pacific, Central America, and the Amazon basin of Ecuador and Brazil. ANIMAL WRONGS is his fifth novel. He lives in Longboat Key, Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 18, 2018
Stephen Spotte dropped me off into the inhospitable, unwelcome jungle of Vietnam and put me directly in harm's way. Luckily, a Marine infantry 'grunt' squad would serve as my companions, my family. I'd get to know them well. From the start, I felt the slightest bit of adrenaline begin to slowly ooze through my body. Not a nightmare, I was once again 'back' in the bush. Danger lurked behind every rice paddy.
This narrative spoke to the debacle of how our country had suffered terribly in trying to bring democracy to the people of Vietnam. The chapters were titled with the name of the character, in this case, the Marine rifleman who would be pitching the scene. It made for easier transitions with reading. Spotte recognized that squad members were from different parts of the USA and connected them with colorful use of their local accent and slang. This provided more realism to the storyline. All of the characters were well-drawn.
Living every moment on the edge took its toll, always fearful that the next step taken might set off a camouflaged IED. The author suggested that sending a squad of grunts out into the bush was a suicide mission, a roll of the dice. To that I most certainly agree. Fully exposed while humping through rice paddies and VC villages, they were nothing more than moving targets. Their only hope was not to be at the wrong place... As it turned out, destiny was in the waiting for these young Americans at another place within that god-forsaken country.
Orders from the higher-ups, the military brass who enjoyed their stay in comfy air-conditioned offices miles away, called for a sweep of a village for weapons and contraband. In the military when an order is issued no matter how absurd it may seem, it's followed to the letter. Orders of this type were regularly issued knowing that there'd be casualties. Sad.
When the squad arrived, the village was occupied with only women and children, a sure sign that it was a VC stronghold. Any one of them could have been the enemy. Age or gender was never a factor; it was always a crapshoot no matter where you were. The suspect villagers were herded to a central location where they would be carefully watched. Fear was etched amongst their faces and for good reason. The deadly fireworks show was about to begin.
The rifle squad got underway with their search and destroy mission. If there were any weapons or if anything else seemed out of place, it would go up in flames. Toward the end of their search, they wound up at a hooch and soon discovered a trapdoor hidden in the dirt. One of the squad members heedlessly opened it unaware of the dire consequences that lay ahead. It had been booby-trapped. The earth trembled from the explosion.
Days later, Ben Webster regained consciousness in a hospital in Hamburg, Germany. His body, what was left of it that is, had been ravaged by the horrific blast. He required many skin grafts. In toll, half his fingers, all of his toes, both ears and nose had been lost. As if that wasn't enough, his ability of speech was gone. A steady drip of morphine was his frontline to sanity for combating the never-ending, excruciating pain that would be his steady companion for the rest of his life. He thought, 'is this what you call being a survivor?'
Months later, Ben had finally recovered enough to where he could be discharged and sent home. He'd be on full disability which would provide just barely enough to get by on. Home sweet home was waiting in West Virginia in a small mining town called Scalded Creek.
There were no brass bands or welcome mats laid out for him upon his arrival. It was like he had taken a step back in time, nothing had changed. Now, when he really needed someone the most, there was no one. His face was so badly disfigured that he was unrecognizable by those that had once known him. Though it didn't really matter, he wasn't the same person as before he had left for the war. Nowhere near. Like many returning Vietnam vets that had returned not whole, he needed to find a reason to go on. Surely, there had to be one. Somewhere.
My thanks to Open Books Publishers for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
This narrative spoke to the debacle of how our country had suffered terribly in trying to bring democracy to the people of Vietnam. The chapters were titled with the name of the character, in this case, the Marine rifleman who would be pitching the scene. It made for easier transitions with reading. Spotte recognized that squad members were from different parts of the USA and connected them with colorful use of their local accent and slang. This provided more realism to the storyline. All of the characters were well-drawn.
Living every moment on the edge took its toll, always fearful that the next step taken might set off a camouflaged IED. The author suggested that sending a squad of grunts out into the bush was a suicide mission, a roll of the dice. To that I most certainly agree. Fully exposed while humping through rice paddies and VC villages, they were nothing more than moving targets. Their only hope was not to be at the wrong place... As it turned out, destiny was in the waiting for these young Americans at another place within that god-forsaken country.
Orders from the higher-ups, the military brass who enjoyed their stay in comfy air-conditioned offices miles away, called for a sweep of a village for weapons and contraband. In the military when an order is issued no matter how absurd it may seem, it's followed to the letter. Orders of this type were regularly issued knowing that there'd be casualties. Sad.
When the squad arrived, the village was occupied with only women and children, a sure sign that it was a VC stronghold. Any one of them could have been the enemy. Age or gender was never a factor; it was always a crapshoot no matter where you were. The suspect villagers were herded to a central location where they would be carefully watched. Fear was etched amongst their faces and for good reason. The deadly fireworks show was about to begin.
The rifle squad got underway with their search and destroy mission. If there were any weapons or if anything else seemed out of place, it would go up in flames. Toward the end of their search, they wound up at a hooch and soon discovered a trapdoor hidden in the dirt. One of the squad members heedlessly opened it unaware of the dire consequences that lay ahead. It had been booby-trapped. The earth trembled from the explosion.
Days later, Ben Webster regained consciousness in a hospital in Hamburg, Germany. His body, what was left of it that is, had been ravaged by the horrific blast. He required many skin grafts. In toll, half his fingers, all of his toes, both ears and nose had been lost. As if that wasn't enough, his ability of speech was gone. A steady drip of morphine was his frontline to sanity for combating the never-ending, excruciating pain that would be his steady companion for the rest of his life. He thought, 'is this what you call being a survivor?'
Months later, Ben had finally recovered enough to where he could be discharged and sent home. He'd be on full disability which would provide just barely enough to get by on. Home sweet home was waiting in West Virginia in a small mining town called Scalded Creek.
There were no brass bands or welcome mats laid out for him upon his arrival. It was like he had taken a step back in time, nothing had changed. Now, when he really needed someone the most, there was no one. His face was so badly disfigured that he was unrecognizable by those that had once known him. Though it didn't really matter, he wasn't the same person as before he had left for the war. Nowhere near. Like many returning Vietnam vets that had returned not whole, he needed to find a reason to go on. Surely, there had to be one. Somewhere.
My thanks to Open Books Publishers for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
June 11, 2018
I received a free copy of this book from Book Glow in exchange for an honest review.
This is not the type of book I normally read but as I am trying to broaden my horizons this year I decided to give it a whirl. The book starts off with a group of soldiers searching for hidden enemies and weapon stashes during the Vietnam War. We are told the story through the viewpoint of a group of soldiers over a short number of days during the conflict, and afterwards when their part in the war has run its course.
Once I had settled down with this it was a very quick read and I am delighted that I gave it a chance. The author very much won me over after my initial worries. The author's experience in science shines through at various stages, especially when LT is at the forefront. These sections were some of my favourite parts of the book, and I found myself going back to look at some of them again having finished reading.
This is not to say that LT is the only interesting character we see. I found each viewpoint character to be incredibly interesting, each giving their own specific insight to the conflict itself, perhaps giving us a glimpse of what conditions even today's soldiers are working in.
Without the blurb it is hard to go into too much detail but I found the second half of this novel (the part after the war) to be a step up from the first part, which showed the aftermath of the groups search for the enemy. The book truly came alive in this section.
Overall, I would have no hesitation in recommending this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This is not the type of book I normally read but as I am trying to broaden my horizons this year I decided to give it a whirl. The book starts off with a group of soldiers searching for hidden enemies and weapon stashes during the Vietnam War. We are told the story through the viewpoint of a group of soldiers over a short number of days during the conflict, and afterwards when their part in the war has run its course.
Once I had settled down with this it was a very quick read and I am delighted that I gave it a chance. The author very much won me over after my initial worries. The author's experience in science shines through at various stages, especially when LT is at the forefront. These sections were some of my favourite parts of the book, and I found myself going back to look at some of them again having finished reading.
This is not to say that LT is the only interesting character we see. I found each viewpoint character to be incredibly interesting, each giving their own specific insight to the conflict itself, perhaps giving us a glimpse of what conditions even today's soldiers are working in.
Without the blurb it is hard to go into too much detail but I found the second half of this novel (the part after the war) to be a step up from the first part, which showed the aftermath of the groups search for the enemy. The book truly came alive in this section.
Overall, I would have no hesitation in recommending this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
April 29, 2020
Intellectually and emotionally challenging, it is not a typical story we see of the Vietnam war. For me it gave some insight to the realities of being in that war, and what happens for the survivors. You think you know what the outcome will be, and then there is a wicked twist that makes you go back and re-read several passages to see where you went wrong. It is gritty, and the author is extremely knowledgeable of his information and his characters.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews