REVIEWS
An excellent book that gives a true picture of a soldier's combat experience. Without blood, guts, and gore, it is "safe" for the combat veteran and also allows his significant others a glimpse of what he felt in a close combat situation. Many Vietnam vets have said the book gives a glimpse of what they felt in a foreign territory with vastly different values than their own. Dr. H. V. Bray, Jr. posted on Amazon.com
In Through Eyes of Stone, the humor and sensitivity of young Michael Hobbs is captivating, and undoubtedly the book's strong point. His image of war is real, not heroic. It is the farthest one could get from a Hollywood movie. There's no poetic justice, only the painful loss of innocence, as the writer conveys in the book's opening poem, "In my eyes there is nothing. . . I have lost my soul."
The unapologetic, sometimes bitter, and often perplexing older Hobbs is seen through the book's preface and appendix. I found him somewhat less intriguing than the younger (perhaps because his humor and confusion are replaced by so much certainty), yet the contradictions, rationalizations and angry outbursts of this complex person (both young and old) can't help but draw in the reader and make him contemplate his own humanity... There is nothing fancy about Through Eyes of Stone, just a raw look at a hostile world from the point of view of a compelling and dynamic narrator. [Amy Thilges, Warrensburg Free Press 3.1, April 3-21, 2004: 14.]
Cover design by Kristine Lowe-Martin.
