The Road Home [Library Binding]

Ellen Emerson White (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1995

A moving, powerful story of a time of turmoil and conflict when a generation came of age offers a study of the Vietnam war and its effect on Lt. Rebecca Phillips, a young nurse who served in Vietnam. By the author of Long Live the Queen.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Opening in an Army emergency room in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, this novel gives readers an unforgettable glimpse of the everyday carnage of war. Army nurse Rebecca Phillips (first introduced in White's pseudonymously written Echo Company series) relies on Darvon, amphetamines, Coca-Cola and booze-not to mention her own indomitable spirit-to get through the grueling hours caring for wounded and dying young soldiers. A perfectionist with a tart tongue and fondness for old movies, Rebecca wrestles with despair about the war, guilt and responsibility; she also has a difficult romance with Michael Jennings (also of the Echo Company books), a "grunt" who is severely wounded before his discharge. Numb and confused following her own return to the States, Rebecca sets out on a cross-country road trip-and ends up in Michael's hometown. Even in a novel with as much momentum as this one has (and White's wise-cracking prose style is as readable as ever), the lump-in-the-throat intensity of Rebecca and Michael's prickly reunion is striking. Inextricable from the story's anti-war theme is its fiercely compassionate loyalty to the people who served in Vietnam, making this an intriguing complement to such novels as Marsha Qualey's Come In from the Cold. Ages 13-up. (Mar.)q
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8-12?A gripping book set during the late 1960s. Shortly after finishing nursing school, Becky Phillips, 21, goes to Vietnam, where she has been "in country" for almost a year. Her daily tasks involve horror and blood as the choppers unload countless wounded GIs. She is plagued by many demons, including surviving an attack on a helicopter and watching as two friends died. She and Michael, one of the young soldiers in the company, begin writing, and a romance develops. Then he is brought to the ER, and the cocky, confident kid she has come to know is now an angry, embittered young man who is sent home. Finally, it is time for Becky to return to her former world. In a particularly moving scene, a businessman in the airplane seat next to her all but recoils at the sight of her uniform. Once home, after spending her days in her room and her nights drinking on the living-room couch, she heads West, finds Michael, and tries to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. White's account makes readers feel the agony of Vietnam...not just the horror of war, but the pain of knowing that those who served and suffered were despised by a large part of the society that sent them there in the first place.?Evelyn Carter Walker, Alexandrian Public Library, Mt. Vernon, IN
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Library Binding: 469 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Trade (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590467379
• ISBN-13: 978-0590467377
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,343,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ellen Emerson White has lived in New york City for many years, but still hankers for New England a bit.

She roots for the Red Sox, even when they are not at their best.

She is wicked private.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, April 2, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Road Home (Point Signature) (Paperback)

One day, about a year ago I, a young seventh grader was browsing in the young adult section and couldn't find any new interesting books or ones I wanted to read that I hadn't already read, so I picked up The Road Home

Since that day I have read this book about a million times. I had my dad buy a used copy from a far off state, and every time we go one a trip I bring it along. I love this book and I don't believe that I once lived without it.

Rebecca, the heroine, is a young nurse who went to Vietnam and served her country. This book has an anti-war theme, but it defends the veterans and exposes their persecution.

Possibly the most enjoyable part for me was to read someone's writing whose humor so perfectly matched mine. I love it.I believe that while some swear words and other may be unappropriate for too young of readers, this book is perfect for anyone aged twelve to aged 120. This book combines the key elements, in my mind, of history, adventure, wit, humor, and romance.

I've read this book so many times that I've almost memorized it. Please try it and tell your friends. This book is too good to be thrown out of libraries. Read it!!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow., November 13, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Road Home (Point Signature) (Paperback)

I read this about a year ago. I am very interested in reading historical fiction, particularly concerning the Vietnam War. I read this book before any others in the Echo Company series, simply because it was the only one at the book store, and I just happened to pick it up. I think that it is a good continuation of the series, and, while I would have liked to learn more about what happened to certain characters when they got back to "the world", I think that this book does a good job of finishing everything up. As a teen who generally dislikes the formulaic teen novels that crowd the shelves of bookstores, I think that this is a great book. I only wish that more people would read it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hauntingly realistic portrayal of Vietnam, June 7, 2005

By 

Joanna Mechlinski (CT, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Road Home (Point Signature) (Paperback)

Twenty-one-year-old nurse Rebecca Phillips has fled a wealthy Bostonian upbringing fraught with issues and essentially exchanged it for a different type of hell --- a field hospital for wounded American soldiers in Vietnam. She works 16-hour days in the chaos of horrific amputations, burns and other casualties, and must often make the call between life and death...something that continues to haunt her day after day.

In a very short time, her co-workers cease to be merely people working with her toward a common goal. Rebecca finds a source of inspiration and friendship in her seemingly perfect direct supervisor, Major Maggie Doyle, and comic relief in Wolf and Spike, two young pilots. At the same time, Rebecca's bonds make her feel the pain all the more intensely when she learns more about the difficult past that led Major Doyle to the Army, and when tragedy befalls Wolf and Spike -- and herself.

But with tragedy often comes some joy, however small and imperceptible it may at first seem. In the most unlikely circumstances, Rebecca meets Michael Jennings, a 19-year-old private who seems instantly infatuated with her. She grudgingly agrees to exchange addresses, and before long, Michael's heartfelt accounts of his thoughts, dreams and daily experiences in the jungle have made her fall in love with him.

When tragedy again strikes, separating Rebecca and Michael not long before her yearlong tour is up, she feels as though she cannot go on. The past year of grief, horror, physical and emotional pain finally combine in a way where Rebecca believes she cannot fit into regular American life ever again. It's at her lowest that Rebecca shows just how strong she can be, and how while she could not control so many other things in her life, she can shape her own destiny.