Just, Ward. Stringer. Graywolf Press, 1984.
Reason read: Just celebrates a birthday in September. Read in his honor.
Stringer is a Civilian Intelligence Agent sent on a mission to Vietnam to destroy an enemy supply convoy. He has a sly sense of humor. When paired with a Captain named Price, Stringer must practice patience. Price is younger, more impulsive, yet in charge. There is no casual conversation between the two men. Neither has confidence in the other. They are on the same team but distrust keeps them miles apart. To keep himself from thinking too much about Price, Stringer recalls his failures: his marriage, their visit to a classmate in a mental institution, Stringer’s short time as a newspaper man. These recollections keep him on task in the present. Ever present is Just’s commentary on the damage of war.
As an aside, the double murder came as a shock and I don’t know why. I should have seen it coming. As an aside, is the trick to aiming and firing a gun to breathe out and pull the trigger when the lungs are at their emptiest and the heart has slowed? I seem to have read this before. Maybe Lee Child had Reacher fire a gun this way?
Quote to quote, “That was the wonderful thing about hindsight, it was morbid, no optimism in hingsight” (p 6), “Eyes and Brains were not equal to the circumstances, they were too selective” (p 118)
Author fact: Ward Just’s middle name is Swift. What an interesting name.
Book trivia: Despite being a slim volume, Just packs in a great deal of action, emotion, and character.
Nancy said: besides saying Ward Just is too good to miss, she mentions Stringer as another book by him.
Playlist: Brunis, Zutty, George Mitchell, Alcide Pavageau, Fitzhugh, Kid Ory, Sassoon, and the Oliver Band.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Ward Just: Too Good To Miss” (p 135).
~*LunaSea*~ 