Customer Reviews

An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War That Came Between Us

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As a reader in my early twenties, until I read this memoir it was difficult for me to understand the enormity that was the Vietnam War to American consciousness. The power of the book is two-fold. The first is the picture Carroll paints of his family -- a distinctly American creation with which most readers can identify, especially those like myself who had a military upbringing. The second is the historic moment in which Carroll's emotional story unfolds. Until this book, I never truly felt what a blow the Vietnam War was to many Americans' faith in their country. The pathos in the story lies in the fact that while Carroll finds himself politically and ideologically in the tumultuous era of the 70's, he simultaneously alienates himself from his beloved father and the values the older man embodies. Some readers may think that the memoir is overly sentimental, yet the sincerity and introspection with which Carroll writes makes the emotions in the book more evocative than the more tired tear-jerkers out there. The complex emotions of love and regret are expressed beautifully by the close of the book. One of the most emotionally evocative books I've read in a long time and also an informative glimpse into a period of American history.

This is an honest, soul-searching book about a man who questions his faith and his father's role in the Vietnam War. Rather than taking a "moral high ground," like one of the earlier reviewers claimed, I found Carroll's writing to be very humble and self-effacing. He readily admits to "standing in the background" on many of the early protests.

Although Carroll's questioning of religious AND military apologists will no doubt raise the ire of dyed-in-the-wool conservatives, his perspective is a breath of fresh air to those of us with moral questions of our own.

I was so surprised by reading the few negative reviews of this book that I felt obligated to comment. Yes, his story is one-sided, and no, he doesn't explore his father's perspective much, or what the proponents of war were really thinking. And yes, he obviously feels that he was in the right to protest the war.

But this isn't a book about his father, the Catholic Church, and especially not about the Vietnam war. This is simply the story of his life, as he presents it. Like the best of books, you root for the protagonist, you sympathize with him, and sometimes you wish he had done things differently. It is a fascinating, absorbing read and a good glimpse into the spirit of a time that I am too young to know myself. It's also an odd juxtaposition with the current events of our nation at war.

In this book we see Jim Carroll right of passage to manhood. It takes place during the same years of Vietnam. And his families like many others were placed in conflict by it; it split two generations apart like no other war. Father and son were being at odds with one another. And the author uses this book to support his position that he took in protesting the war.

Though his famous father, Ex-FBI Agent and Lt. Gen. Carroll in command of the DIA is the subject of some of his consternation. The book is not about him. It is about Jim Carroll and his relationship with his father who seemed to never be able to fill a void he made in himself by not becoming a Priest himself. And it seems to me this is the large reason for the conflict between them...Jim felt his father expected to be redeemed by his works as a Priest. Though his father never says this.

So when you pick up this book to read, remember it is about Jim Carroll's life and his struggle with his faith and his father. And it does show the spirit of those times. Worth the read.

Jim Carroll has written a remarkable book. Contrary to the reviewers on this site, Carroll is not a moral coward. To stand up for what you believe in the face of family and friends is the opposite of cowardice. And Carroll is not Anti-Catholic at all, if you read carefully, you would understand that, while he has differences with his religion, that he still holds the church in respect. Read this book...and you will understand how the negative reviewers have completely missed the boat and have let their own ideological agendas cloud their judgment.

A heart wrenching memoir of Mr. Carroll's journey through catholism, politics and the family structure. As one who stood in those crowds pleading the injustices of a war many miles away not only in distance but purpose, I found James Carroll's life story inspiring. Many times through this novel I would find myself saying "I didn't know that." A major announcement from one who thought she knew just about all there was to know about the Vietnam war and the lies, senseless deaths and minipulative politics (is that an oxymoron) that surrounded this dark time in American history. I found the chapter "Holy Wars" most intriguing. It never ceases to amaze me how the Catholic church seems to find itself in the middle of some of the most important conflicts of the past two centuries.

"American Requiem" should be required reading for any 20th century history course and it might not be a bad read for a catholicism course. Since I was raised catholic and still practice in my own way, I could sympathize with the agony Mr. Carroll and his father experienced when it came to their faith. Fortunately, James Carroll was able to vocalize the conflict surrounding his love of God and a church that gives him spiritual balance and the problems with that same church's power and its decisions that appear to be made sometimes more for political gain rather than spiritual enrichment. The real tragedy falls in Mr. Carroll's father's story. Although the senior Carroll's professional life is nothing short of fascinating, his personal life reminds us how empty it all can be if we do not acknowledge the things that are truly important.

This was the first "history" based novel that I was unable to put down. Go get it now.

If you really want to know about one family's experience with the Vietnam War.Well worth reading if you are a son.Well worth reading if you are a father.I first heard of James Carroll in my adult Sunday School discussion class, and wanted to know more of his thoughts. I chose this as my first book of his. I am glad I did!I was alive, though very young, during the United States' involvement in Vietnam, and had just a child's view. A pacifist child's view, but a child's view.(and yes, as a life (so far!) resident of Kent, Ohio, I experienced a certain amount of protest, including May, 1970.)An American Requiem filled in gaps, and has sparked my thinking and will direct my future reading.James Carroll tried to reconcile with his father, at least, that's how I read this fine, gripping book.Not all parents are always right, and not all children are always wrong.He included a small selection of interesting (mostly family) photographs.I consider my time reading An American Requiem to be time well spent.If it matters at all, I am not a Catholic (I belong to the United Church of Christ,) but find the Roman Catholic Church to be worthy of study and reflection.I hope to eventually meet James Carroll, and would really like to talk about Dads, Sons, and men with him.

I suppose this is a very sad book; and I often wanted to reach back and relieve Jim Carroll of his self-doubt and conflict, waive those growth experiences which most certainly made him into the person he is. What I'm saying is that I suffered right along with him and longed to put him at rest. He made me FEEL his pain. What he never managed to do and to which I have no objection, is to make me feel his father's pain. And, after all, American Requiem is Jim Carroll's story and NOT his father's. A lovely, lovely, book; and one I shall treasure.

I thought this was a wonderfully written book. Carroll laid bare all of his family's contradictions and unfullfilled dreams. It is a story about a father and son splitting apart but finding their way back together through faith. Truly poignant memoir. It will drain you of all your emotion by the end.

So far as I can remember, this is the first book of James Carrol's I read, though certainly not the last one. I already placed a review of Constantins Sword on amazon, and have enjoyed again today, reading the many vicious and vitriolic "reviews" of his work in this book and "the Sword", as I have in the past. I find it amazing, and more than a little amusing, that some of those giving Carrol's works here, in "the Sword" and for his new book, House of War, have the intelligence to place a series of readable letters together. However, it is obvious that most have neither read the books nor have any idea how to respond other than with an endless series of "Swift-Boating" attacks on the author. When I read this work, sometime before I was even aware of amazon.com, and its reviews, I found it a compelling and poignent history of a family conflicted and torn apart by a generational divide of seemingly overwhelming distance and differences - differences of experience, of methods of thought and speaking and commitment to seemingly unresolvable moral struggles. I think of all the truly anguishing stories in this book, for me, the most painful is the son's march on and arrest in front of his father's workplace, the Pentagon, and the attempts by him and his family to reconcile this seemingly unforgivable betrayal with they obviously still strong love for one another. This is a strong and well written story of strong and faithfilled people, whose strengths and eventual faith differences tear at the foundation of their love and the fabric of their lives. I intend to read Carrol's new book, House of War, and will place a review of it on line as soon as I receive it from amazon. I saw Carrol reading, discussing and answering intelligent questions about his newest book on CSpan2 yesterday, and can hardly wait to read it myself. And I look forward to seeing how the poor, deluded, and terribly misinformed "Swift-Boat warriors" of this country's far right who are constantly at work, try to tear and rend this newest work by a great author. wfh