Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19-Year-Old GI [Hardcover]

Ryan Smithson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 2009

Ryan Smithson joined the Army Reserve when he was seventeen. Two years later, he was deployed to Iraq as an Army engineer. In this extraordinary and harrowing memoir, readers march along one GI's tour of duty. It will change the way you feel about what it means to be an American.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 9 Up—Smithson experienced the events of 9/11 while in high school and responded by enlisting in the Army Reserve after graduation. He married his high school sweetheart before being deployed to Iraq. Once there, he worked as an equipment operator in an equipment platoon, and while mortar fire was a regular occurrence, the missions he describes were all about bulldozing berms, filling craters created by IEDs, and convoying lumber. One gruesome section describes salvaging parts from Humvees in which soldiers died. A few missions, though, were more in the line of favors to the local population than anything that helps combatants. Some of the author's most poignant passages are his descriptions of interactions with Iraqi children. Where he was expecting rock-throwing, he encountered barefoot, dirty children grateful for the water the soldiers gave them. It is these children and the villagers he met that help explain for him the purpose of the war. The book ends with Smithson's return home, his almost magical escape from night terrors, and his work with children in his own hometown. Writing proves to be his therapy for PTSD. There are mixed metaphors aplenty, crude and morbid humor, and other evidence of a young author, but it all works together to create a tough but powerful look at one man's experience.—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Review

Smithson avoids writing either prowar propaganda or an antimilitary polemic, providing instead a fascinating, often humorous-and occasionally devastating-account of the motivations and life of a contemporary soldier. (Publishers Weekly )

He lucidly recounts the intensity of battle and the pain of losing comrades. For Smithson, the war is a source of personal enlightenment, and this memoir is a remarkable, deeply penetrating read that will compel teens to reflect on their own thoughts about duty, patriotism and sacrifice. (Memoir. YA) (Kirkus Reviews (starred review) )

Unflinchingly honest. (Kirkus Reviews (starred review) )

A tough but powerful look at one man’s experience. (School Library Journal (starred review) )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Collins (April 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061664685
• ISBN-13: 978-0061664687
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars War with a heart, April 21, 2009

By 

Marc A. Zerega (N. Charleston, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19-Year-Old GI (Hardcover)

After reading Ghosts of war, I learned what my time in Iraq was about and what it ment to others. I have new perspective about what it means to be young and tossed into war. I recommend this book to anyone, young or old, that wants to know about this war and what it is to be a soldier!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I finally have a better understanding of what my husband went through, October 15, 2009

By 

Sandi L. Zerega - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19-Year-Old GI (Hardcover)

My husband came up to me one day and told me that his buddy Smithson that he went to Iraq with was writing a book about their time there and that he was going to be in it. He was like a little kid at Christmas. My husband bought it the day before it was released. When he finished reading it he told me he wanted me to read it. So I did. He never told me details about anything that happened while he was over there. There were things in the book I never knew happened. And, even though it scares me to think about what he went through, reading it made me realize the good he was doing. Ghosts of War is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. I highly recommend it. Please read it. It'll touch your heart.

Sincerely,
Sandi Zerega

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine example of a soldier, May 9, 2009

By 

M. Knapp "Maggie Knapp" (Fort Worth, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ghosts of War: The True Story of a 19-Year-Old GI (Hardcover)

Many first-person accounts of war are too intense (or too profanity-laden) to suggest to younger high school readers. Not that war isn't intense and profane, but Smithson's book finds a middle ground; one that allows the reader to feel the truth of being in Iraq, without presenting it too brutally for readers in their mid-teens. Smithson also captures the sometimes boring, sometimes ridiculous, sometimes heart-wrenching bits and pieces of being in a small cog in a big machine, in a country where some of the people want to kill you. His even handed, caring and yet truthful voice (which does come forth with four letter words from time to time)transported me from my comfy sofa to his hot barracks, and frightening daily life, and gave me more than just a glimpse at what it's like to serve one's country in a difficult time.