David Abrams
David Abrams, who spent 20 years as an Army journalist, is the author of the acclaimed debut novel Fobbit.
From his Q & A with Jennifer Liebrum in the Idaho Mountain Express:
What do people really need to know about war, the unvarnished truth or something more palpable?Learn more about the book and author at David Abrams' website, blog, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.
The unvarnished truth would be pretty hard for the average person to stomach. In this case, I’m talking about the daily gore, the smoking craters from roadside bombs, the broken bodies of children—that’s pretty strong stuff for readers to stomach in the pages of their newspaper or on their TV screens. But that’s the reality of war—something we soldiers saw on a regular basis—and maybe if more people were confronted with those kind of horrible images, we’d think twice the next time a president wants to gallop full-speed into a global conflict. If we saw the personal impact of war, instead of thinking of it in innocuous, politicized terms, then maybe we’d hit the pause button when we heard someone crying “wolf” or, in this case, “Weapons of Mass Destruction.”
Did you suffer any PTSD?
Thankfully, I haven’t experienced any bad after-effects from my time in Iraq, but I know it’s a very prevalent and serious condition among returning veterans—one which the military and the Veterans Affairs need to fully address before things get even more out of hand. It’s a silent epidemic, one that’s particular to each individual and so it can sometimes be hard to diagnose. Coincidentally...[read on]
Fobbit is one of Adrian Bonenberger's ten best contemporary war novels.
The Page 69 Test: Fobbit.
Writers Read: David Abrams.
--Marshal Zeringue
