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HomeShop at BookSurgePolitical SciencePublic PolicyCity Planning & Urban DevelopmentOf Love & War: Notes from the Heart of a Soldier |
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Love Thy Neighbor Feb 15, 2008
By Robert Remig
Danielle Griffin has poured her heart and soul out in her book, "Of Love & War: Notes from the Heart of a Soldier." She, herself, is that soldier, and the war of which she writes is the one against terrorism being fought in Iraq.
Cpt Griffin chose to write poetry as a way to cope with being in a war zone and to try to understand and express her feelings. Many times she asks herself, "What am I doing here?" Often her internal questions seem more like prayers, seeking heavenly answers to make sense of such conflict as trying to "Love thy neighbor" while that neighbor is also the enemy who is trying to kill you.
From her writings, one can appreciate how the senses and feelings become dulled as a means of physical and emotional self-preservation in a place where friends and fellow soldiers are being killed within yards of where one is sleeping or standing. Cpt Griffin writes about how the "noise within (her) soul" is often more deafening than the thunder of bombs exploding all around her.
Cpt Griffin could have kept her writings as her personal diary. Fortunately for us, she has risked exposing her inner self in exchange for the possibility that the reader may gain insight and benefit from her recorded feelings. I believe this book would be very therapeutic to anyone actively engaged in the war. And for those not directly involved in the war, Cpt Griffin's writings may serve as a means for our better understanding and accepting those who are returning home. The book is full of raw, heavy emotion with an occasional glimpse of hope. Cpt Griffin identifies the underlying strength which helped her maintain her sanity throughout this whole ordeal: "Without the love of God...I could not have made it back...."
Of Love & War: Notes from the Heart of a Soldier Jan 08, 2009
By Angela L. Hilliard
I really enjoyed this personal story of survival, joy and pain while serving in combat. Danielle has shared her heart and soul in an excellent manner! Thank you for the blessing by opening up your thoughts for those who want to hear.
Angie
Comments from the 16th Annual International Self-Published Book Awards Dec 14, 2008
By D. Griffin
This collection is definitely full of "the heart of a soldier." I enjoyed reading every page - the poems, especially, but also the introduction, journal entries, and back notes with the photographs. There is no political agenda here, only honest insight into what the military life is like for modern young soldiers.
These poems are spare but powerful. They do what good literature always does, they help us vicariously experience what the speaker is going through. They deal with the conflict of armies, of course, but more importantly deal with the moral and emotional inner conflicts our young people have to face. The first line of "Identity Crisis" sums up the book: "It's a precarious situation to examine one's own humanity."
Writer's Digest
Of Love & War - powerful Apr 02, 2008
By Dorothy McFadden-Parker
I looked at the thin volume and thought - I'll finish this in an evening. Wrong! The feelings are so explicit that I could only read a few pages, and then put the book aside to reflect on what I had just read.
She made me FEEL. I'm awed at the masterful way she set a scene in a few short lines, then squeezed my breath away with the last few words; at how she put in perspective what is reported in the news versus what is actual; of hormonal normalcy battling against society's rules; of wartime's brutality juxtaposed against God's word; of a woman's perspective in a man's army; of the love of a woman wanting her man; of the lies told to family back home to sooth their worry.
Prayerful, sexy, angry, morose, inspiring, brave, hurt and healing......and prayerful again; these are just some of the emotions displayed in her tightly controlled verses describing what her heart felt. Danielle has mastered the power of how to draw word pictures in a few tight, terse lines.
This book is a keeper that you will go back to again and again. Do not try to borrow this book, you will not want to give it back.
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