Customer Reviews

A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor

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This is a touching true story of two very different people who were probably not ideal for each other when they met... yet eventually fell in love... planned a family... planned a marriage... planned a life together... with some of these plans being fulfilled... while others... will remain heartbreakingly... unfulfilled for all eternity. The author is New York Times journalist Dana Canedy who shares her innermost thoughts and feelings... that encompass not only her falling in love with First Sergeant Charles King... but also is honest in the fact that this happened... *despite* the fact... that she was her own worst enemy in the early going... convincing herself in any way possible that Charles was not the right man for her... So she put up personal roadblocks... that ranged from saying she'd never be involved with a military man... because of her Father... she didn't want to become a victimized wife... like her Mother... she even convinced herself that Charles didn't have a good enough vocabulary to be around her cohorts at work. Yet through it all... she couldn't deny that Charles treated her better than she'd ever been treated. He treated her like his queen.

Charles was the epitome of a good hard working man... with pride in what he did... the goals of always working harder than the next guy. As a drill instructor he took the lives of his men... on and off the battlefield seriously... he felt he had to be a stern taskmaster when needed... and also had to be a concerned Father figure when the situation called for it. Charles had multiple tours in battle and they decided to try to "create" a baby when he came home on leave between battle assignments. Miraculously, even though Dana was forty-years-old... they accomplished their goal. Before Charles went back to war... Dana gave him a gift of a journal... in which there were pre-printed questions for a prospective Father to answer. Charles took it so seriously to heart... that he even crossed out and added some questions that he wanted to tell his unborn son... in case he didn't make it back... which tragically... after seeing him on leave... once for two weeks... he didn't. Two major themes that the author performs exquisitely through her writing are: the way she interjects paragraphs that look like they were cut out of the journal... and pasted in... like in a scrapbook... at just the right places... at just the right time... to magnificently hammer home a salient point... and the second admirable trait provided by the author... is the truth... about how much time and love... the two most valuable things we have on earth... was wasted... as she refused to see... and accept... what a wonderful and loving man Charles truly was. This book... is such a unique combination of themes... that are so perfectly pieced together by the author. This is a war book... without it really being all about war... it's a romance book... without being all about love... it is a newspaper reporter story... without being about business... it is a Father and Son book... that unfortunately was cut short.

I'd like to say that this book is by far the BEST book i've ever read in my life. Granted, I hate to read. I have the attention span of a peanut and no book ever seems to 'suck me in'. HOWEVER this book had me from page 1 and I couldn't put it down. I read the whole book in one sitting. The way Dana wrote this book made me feel as if i was right there witnessing things as they unfolded. The further I got in the book, the further I got into my own little world where nothing else mattered but finishing this book. This book isn't just another sad story about a man losing his life in Iraq, it was a story about love and family. I have already told everyone I know about this book and I refused to let anyone borrow it because i'm keeping it for life!! Totally worth reading!!

I listened to the audio book edition of "A Journal for Jordan" and I enjoyed it very much. From the first couple of words I was drawn in by the warmth and strength of Dana's voice.

I felt as if I was listening to a good friend telling me her personal story. And what a moving story it was. Dana Canedy recounts the unfolding love story between her and First Sergeant Charles Monroe King. She tells us about their days of courtship, their plans to marry and the conception of their son Jordan. And finally, she shares the pain that Charles untimely death in Iraq caused her and all of his family.

Thankfully Charles left behind a journal for his infant son, which he had started during his deployment. His journal entries build the foundation for the book. In them, he counsels his son on everything from dating to becoming a respectable human being. Throughout the book you can just feel the love that the author, her fiancé and their son shared. And you can't help but join in the mourning of their fallen soldier. I was at times crying so hard that I had to take a break from listening. Yet at other times the author made me laugh out loud with some of her witty observations.

Canedy's way with words is marvelous. And I think she created a gift for Jordan that he will forever treasure. If only every child of a fallen soldier could have a book like this.

Although this book was well written and a wonderful story, it was not what I expected. I thought the book would contain much more "advise" from a father to a son and so I bought the book as a gift to my own sons, who are fatherless. I thought they would benefit from it. However, although there was a little bit of that fatherly advise contained within its pages, it was more of a love story with personnal family pictures; something my sons will probably never read. I did quite a bit of research before I bought the book to try and determine if it would serve the purpose for which I was buying it. I think my research was VERY MISLEADING! I wish I had done a little more research than I did before I spent the money. Everyone has their own love story to tell, this one is touching and beautiful, however, I wasn't really interested in reading about it. So, if your buying this book in hopes that you can give a fatherless boy some insight on "the measure of an honorable man", you'll be disappointed. There really isn't much of that in it.

Dana Canedy was raised as an Army brat and certainly had no interest in living her adult life subject to the uncertainties and moves that all military families must endure. She was a journalist deeply involved in her career at The New York Times when she first met Charles during a visit with her parents in Kentucky.

Charles was still healing from a divorce, and Dana had recently ended a relationship. Neither of them was ready to begin dating again. But many phone calls took place, and soon the soldier was visiting the writer in the big city. Their long-distance relationship had some rough patches, but they were together whenever their schedules allowed. A few years passed, and their relationship deepened and strengthened. They planned to marry after Charles completed his tour of duty in Iraq. Dana became pregnant, and the baby was due in March 2006.

Dana gave Charles a journal of sorts --- not a blank book --- but one with a question at the top of each page to prompt the prospective father to write to his unborn child. Charles busied himself filling up its pages, often substituting his own questions so that he could explain certain things to Jordan. He wanted Jordan to know him. Possibly he felt he might not live to see his son. Surely that thought entered Dana's mind as well.

Charles carried an ultrasound image of the unborn baby with him in Iraq. Though he promised to return to New York for Jordan's birth, when the time neared he stayed with his company of young, combat-inexperienced soldiers. He told Dana they really needed him and would not leave. Dana also needed Charles, but she soldiered on in her own way and gave birth to a beautiful, healthy son without Charles at her side.

A few months later, Charles did manage to get a brief leave to see Jordan and instantly fell in love with his son. That precious time flew by as the new family bonded. Then Charles returned to Iraq with only six weeks remaining until his tour would be up. The couple had made plans --- for a wedding, for Jordan's first Christmas --- that should have lasted a lifetime. But those were shattered to bits when Charles was killed by a roadside bomb during a mission for which he volunteered. Once again, Charles, the conscientious soldier, had placed duty above family.

Dana's grief seemed bottomless. What she feared most had actually happened, and now she was left to raise Jordan alone. The Army gave her a sanitized, official version of what happened --- that Charles had died instantly. But Dana was skeptical, and the reporter in her would not rest until she had some plausible answers. She spent a great deal of time interviewing soldiers who had served with Charles, asking questions to which she dreaded hearing the answers. But she needed to know. Finally she pieced the information together to reach an answer she could accept and understand.

A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN gives a human face and voice to those impersonal-sounding statistics --- war casualties --- that the news anchors report on an all too-frequent basis. The statistic was a human being --- someone's much-loved son or daughter, husband or wife, father or mother. This book reminds the reader of the many people whose lives are forever changed by the loss of one single soldier. Though Jordan will grow up with the legacy of his father's written words along with the love and devotion of his mother, Dana, he is a victim of the Iraq War as are Dana, the sergeant's parents, his daughter and countless other people who knew and loved him.

--- Reviewed by Carole Turner

A beautiful story written even more beautifully that sucked you right into Ms. Canedy's world from the very first page. A Journal for Jordan is a great read to cleanse the soul with just the right amount of laughs and the right amount of tears and I Highly recommend it.

The book first appealed to me as it had profound quotes taken from a life journal given to a father to write for his child. Flipping through the first pages, I became caught up in the story. This book was a fascinating and heartfelt read, cover to cover, even for people who dislike military tales.

This book is a great example of the importance of journaling for posterity so that the legacy of a father for a child will live forever. Overall it was great however, and this is only my personal opinion, some of the behind closed doors sessions could have been a little more private, actually much could be left unsaid. I don't feel it is suitable to share some of the most intimate times in a journal that is designed for our children, but as I said that is my personal opinion. Apparently this author deemed it unnecessary to keep this as private as I would.
The book is a wonderful depiction of love and honor and a great read for adults.

A Journal for Jordan
A Story of Love and Honor
Random House
Written by Dana Canedy
Available in Hardcover and Paperback

In 2005, First Sergeant Charles Monroe King began to write what would become a two-hundred-page journal for his son in case he did not make it home from the war in Iraq. Charles King, forty-eight, was killed on October 14, 2006, when an improvised explosive device detonated under his Humvee on an isolated road near Baghdad. His son, Jordan, was seven months old.

A Journal for Jordan is a mother's LETTER to her son-fierce in its honesty-about the father he lost before he could even speak. It is also a father's advice and prayers for the son he will never know.

He finished the journal two months before his death while home on a two-week leave, so intoxicated with love for his infant son that he barely slept.
Finally, this is the story of Dana and Charles together-two seemingly mismatched souls who loved each other deeply. She was a Pulitzer Prize--winning editor for the New York Times who struggled with her weight. He was a decorated military officer with a sculpted body who got his news from television. She was impatient, brash, and cynical about love. He was excruciatingly shy and stubborn, and put his military service before anything else. In these pages, we relive with Dana the slow unfolding of their love, their decision to become a family, the chilling news that Charles has been deployed to Iraq, and the birth of their son.

In perhaps the most wrenching chapter in the book, Dana recounts her search for answers about Charles's death. Unsatisfied with the army's official version of what happened and determined to uncover the truth, she pored over summaries of battalion operations reports and drew on her well-honed reporting skills to interview the men who were with Charles on his last convoy, his commanding officers, and other key individuals. In the end, she arrived at an account of Charles's death-and his last days in his battalion-that was more difficult to face than the story she had been told, but that affirmed the decency and courage of this warrior and father.

A Journal for Jordan is a tender introduction, a loving good-bye, a reporter's inquiry into her soldier's life, and a heartrending reminder of the human cost of war.

"Full of wonderful treasures offered by a unique and spirited father...It is written with seren grace: part memoir, part love story, all heart."James McBride, author of THE COLOR OF WATER



MY THOUGHTS:

What impresses me about this book is the candor of the author, about herself and her man. Her determination to create a clear picture of the man she loved and their relationship, so her son would have a way to know him. When we lose someone so early, and in such a way, it's all too easy to tag him as a hero, and sanitize his life. Make him larger than life; even posthumously award him sainthood, in our hearts and minds. Dana does not.

What emerges from these pages captures the essence of Charles King. He is not just a soldier or the man she loved. He was multifaceted and more complex. Charles was stubborn, had procrastination down to an art, a need for things to be done just so. I see a man who could brood and worry. I meet an imposing man with a strong sense of duty and honor, which came above all else in his life. I can see his shyness, his loving heart, and sense of humor, his dedication to doing what was right, regardless of what others thought of those decisions. The strong faith in God that guided him in his life. The deep love he had for his family.

Through Dana's eyes I met the sexy, sensual man, her lover. I met the warrior, tough and strong, highly decorated, intensely loyal and deeply caring for the men placed in his care. I saw this fierce warrior, sculpted in body and incredibly strong hold his tiny child with such tenderness and love. He was a man who took his role as a father seriously, providing for his children. He took the time during the lonely nights in Iraq to give guidance and direction for his son through a journal while hoping it would never be necessary for his son to see it--because he wanted to be there in person to guide him and watch him grow.

Charles was so real to me, even knowing he died, my heart hurt for Dana when I read the part where she was told. Tears came to my eyes more than once during this book, but so did laughter. Only a good writer can take someone totally unknown to you and paint such a clear picture of him or her it touches your heart.

Grief is a funny thing. I've lost people very dear to me both family and friends everyone grieves differently. I have to make sense of it to heal to get past the anguish. Dana did the same. But what made an impact on me was the generosity of Dana Canedy. She shared the man she loved with us and with her son. She's reached out to others who have suffered and are still suffering.

I loved the book. It's well written and easy to read. Journal has it sad parts, true, but really it's the story of family.

And the joy of love.
* * *

I had the chance to interview Dana Canedy, November 27, 2009. If you'd like to see what she had to say, [...]

Once in a great while a book comes along that grabs your heartstrings with its inspiration and encouragement, assuring you that there is a better life out there somewhere among the tragedies of today's world. "A Journal for Jordan" is one of those rare instances.

Subtitled "A Story of Love and Honor," "A Journal for Jordan" by Dana Canedy began its life in the form of a series of messages from Canedy's fiancé, First Sergeant Charles King to their son, Jordan. Sgt. King had been deployed to Iraq a few months before Jordan's birth, and Canedy wanted the father of her child to share as much of his life with his unborn son as he could. So she bought him a simple journal, and from there the odyssey began as King shared his life as a soldier and as a man through his journal entries.

King was unable to give his journal to young Jordan in person. Sgt. King was killed in Iraq when a bomb exploded under the Humvee he was riding in. When Canedy, a New York Times reporter, wrote about her fiancée's journal, she received so many words of encouragement and outpourings of love, she felt compelled to share the journal with others in the hope that it would help them also heal from the wounds of war.

"A Journal for Jordan" is also Canedy's letter to her son, sharing chapters in between King's journal entries, telling of her and Charles' relationship, how they were two of the most mismatched people in the world, but their love for each other bond them together. King was a quiet, artistic career military man, dedicated to his soldiers so much that he missed the birth of his son. Canedy was a Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter who was feisty and loud and on the go. But somehow the couple managed to squeeze a lifetime of living in the few short years they had together. This is obvious in the words from both King and Canedy to their son.

In addition to preserving his father's legacy for Jordan, Canedy also offers strength and hope to those who have lost loved ones, whether in wartime instances or other personal tragedies. It is also a testament to the courage and sacrifice made by those who serve our country with total dedication.

"A Journal for Jordan" is a powerful memoir that will touch your heart, touch your soul, and touch your mind.