Morning Dark: A Novel [Hardcover]

Daniel Buckman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2003

Daniel Buckman has been praised for his stunning prose and sharp, riveting portrayals of the lives of American veterans in the wake of this country's twentieth-century wars. Morning Dark is the story of three generations of men from Watega County, Illinois, each pursued by the memories of the battles they fought and the wars they still dream of.

Big Walt Michalski is a decorated World War II veteran who built a plumbing empire in his hometown only to have his drunk, Vietnam-vet son, Walt, fritter away his inheritance, and the family business, on drugs and a series of dead-end marriages. Tom Jane, Walt's nephew and Big Walt's grandson, is a thirty-year-old career marine just out of the service with a dishonorable discharge. When Walt lets the memories of his failed life get the better of him, he takes off, intent on finding again the one place he ever felt free: outside the disappointed glare of Big Walt. But when he gets where he's going, he finds himself all too easily drawn back into a harrowing situation in which the life he's running from may turn out to be his only chance for salvation.

Daniel Buckman memorializes a lost class of American men who go to war and come home to work, men who exist on the fringes of the society they once risked their lives to protect. Haunting and startling, Morning Dark is a remarkable literary achievement from a talented young writer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the tradition of Tim O'Brien and Larry Brown, Buckman (Water in Darkness; The Names of Rivers) traces the downward spiral of a blue-collar Vietnam vet as he struggles to cope with a legacy of violence. Walt Michalski's tragic sense of entrapment is established early in the novel; while hunting with his father, Big Walt, a macho, no-nonsense WWII veteran, Walt inadvertently shoots and kills his own son, 10-year-old Teddy. Walt's litany of disaster also includes a harrowing stint in Vietnam as well as a series of failed marriages and his ongoing difficulties working for his abrupt, bullying father. Walt finally bails on his troubles, abandoning his fourth wife, Patty, and running off to build a log cabin in a remote patch of woods in Illinois. His hope for isolation proves short-lived, though, when seedy teenage drug dealer Shirley Haursperger appears and bribes Walt to let him use the remote property to process methamphetamine. Shirley's scam soon attracts the attention of Dwight, a corrupt, brutish local cop, who brings in some trigger-happy locals when Shirley cuts him out of his kickback. In the edgy manhunt that follows, Walt's 30-year-old ex-army nephew, Tom Jane, tries to rescue his uncle. Buckman's characters range from alpha males to cringing weaklings, all consumed by the need to prove themselves. The narrow focus on testosterone-fueled conflict can be stifling, but Buckman broadens the narrative with vivid flashbacks to a return trip Walt makes to Vietnam with Tom. Walt's realization that he can't blame the war for "a lifetime of booze, three wives, and a dead son" comes as a welcome antidote to the bleak cycles of violence portrayed in this intense effort.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Buckman spins a painfully beautiful saga of three men from rural Illinois dealing with battles won and lost. Big Walt won the Medal of Honor in World War II and proudly came home and built a successful plumbing business. His son, Walt, came home from Vietnam without the pride and hides in a bottle. Eventually he loses his business and his son. Walt's nephew, Tom, dishonorably discharged from the marines, tries to help by taking him back to Vietnam, but Walt's ghosts are not so easily exorcised. Finally, when Walt tries to outrun his past, he ends up in a situation even worse than what he left behind. With an economy of words and an ear for dialogue, Buckman takes the reader into the dark world of veterans and their wounds. Switching from present to past, he gives depth to the story without losing the pace. The gritty subject matter makes the book disturbing, but the exceptional writing compels the reader on to the last page. This is a book that won't be easily forgotten. Elizabeth Dickie
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312314620
• ISBN-13: 978-0312314620
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,300,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not my cup of tea..., June 27, 2011

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0morphine0 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Morning Dark: A Novel (Paperback)

I just picked it up off the shelf at the library and I don't think this book was meant for me. It is about several mens' reaction to war and the disgusting men that it made them. I am not sure why I finished it. I think you need a good understanding of the Vietnam War to get some of it. I don't think that it was poorly written, but I just didn't see much of a point to the book and didn't find any real resolution. I am not sure any of the characters changed either which was odd.