Customer Reviews

Looking for Canterbury

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I joined this goup of Vienam Vets in their search for Canterbury, and what an experience it was! Their journey was also an inward jouney, a self-revealing and self-healing journey. Best of all it was an absolutely fascinaing journey for the reader, whether a Chaucer fan or not.

Looking for Canterbury
Reviewed by Randall Dean Marshall, MD
Director of Trauma Studies and Services
New York State Psychiatric Institute
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

Jason Marks has written an accurate and thoughtful memorial to the many Vietnam Veterans who continue to suffer from the hellishness of war, and the humiliation of their homecoming. His story could not be more serendipitously timely. He gives life to the great loneliness that veterans have felt in a civilian world and, more tragically, among the politically and bureaucratically fragmented subculture of Vietnam veterans since the war.

He shows how the power of the past and the depth of shame that connects us to the loved and dead cannot be underestimated; in fact, if one's story is desperately in need of telling, the willful silencing of it can determine the course of one's life. The great gulf between what we expect of ourselves -- i.e., courage and heroism -- and what we actually do in the chaos of battle can become an emptiness that simple forgiveness or religious exoneration cannot fill. He shows how guilt can become the primary emotional connection between the living and the dead, and how difficult it is to find a more livable way of honoring the lost. But most importantly, Mr. Marks reminds us that great literature can play a profound, transformative, even lifesaving part in soothing human unhappiness that springs from the dissatisfaction that moral people feel with themselves.

Acceptance of human frailty -- and Chaucer's genius was its portrayal -- can be mysteriously difficult, and profoundly liberating. The descending wisdom of the lost owl, at the end, speaks for itself.

I was moved to contemplation of these universal questions -- especially since Spetember 11, 2001 -- by reading Looking for Canterbury.

What do a New York City butcher, medieval poet Geoffrey Chaucer and the Vietnam War have in common? They all served as creative fodder for Jason Marks' powerful and imaginative new novel, Looking for Canterbury. In an impressive literary feat, Marks has successfully applied the premise of an Old English classic to a modern-day tale and produced one of the most brilliant and insightful books you will ever read.

As Looking for Canterbury begins, Vietnam veteran Harry Baylor and six war-scarred friends have lost control of their lives. Tormented by emotional demons spawned by horrific experiences in Vietnam, they have battled for years to purge the visions that haunt them and move on with their lives. Conventional therapy hasn't worked and they're quickly realizing that their homegrown support group is proving futile as well. Their destinies seem clear; they will endure mental torture for the rest of their lives. That is unless Harry Baylor has anything to say about it.

Armed with half his life savings to finance his plan, Baylor, an enthusiastic fan of Geoffrey Chaucer, proposes that the group recreate the story-telling journey detailed in the poet's Canterbury Tales in New York's Central Park, essentially transforming them from a troop of soldiers to a troupe of actors. The challenge for each of them is to tell a tale that will distract the others from their worries. The only rule: the stories can have nothing to do with Vietnam. Sounds easy, but it proves more difficult - and dangerous - than they had ever imagined. As the trip progresses, the group comes to the painful realization that the demons they hoped to leave behind have, in fact, come along to spoil the ride. The mental reprieve they desperately need is in jeopardy, but they're not giving up. They've got nothing to lose but the remains of their sanity.

Looking for Canterbury takes readers on a thrilling, sometimes painful, adventure into the human psyche. Thanks to Marks' profound ability to engage readers in the lives of his characters, you find yourself experiencing first-hand the acute emotions that surface during their journey. Filled with expertly crafted hairpin turns, Looking for Canterbury keeps you wonderfully off balance. Within pages, you find yourself laughing at a humorous tale, shocked by an unexpected emotional breakdown, anxiously anticipating a character's complete disintegration, then laughing again as you're suddenly pulled back from the edge of emotional chaos. Just as Canterbury's characters, you will find yourself enjoying a leisurely stroll through the park basking in rich scenery and heartwarming comradery while simultaneously running a mental race against the subconscious at breakneck speed.

With its complex characters, fascinating literary allusion, rich description and gripping psychological insight, Marks' Looking for Canterbury is a 21st century classic, one you won't want to miss.

A unique idea to have a group of Nam vets seek their own Canterbury, complete with costumes, food and even personalities similar to Chaucer's pilgrims, the stories they tell of course differ. As it turns out their journey is more rewarding than the group therapy they have tried and it is most rewarding to the reader. An excellent read, that is, indeed.