Myers’ latest novel, Sunrise Over Fallujah, takes on the Iraq War in its early days; we meet Robin “Birdy” Perry, nephew of protagonist Richie Perry in Myers’ earlier acclaimed Vietnam War story, Fallen Angels. With letters and emails home to his mother and Uncle Richie, and, mainly, the day-to-day narration of his soldier’s story, Birdy takes us into his Civilian Affairs unit—a co-ed, diverse squad of soldiers with the mission of interacting with the Iraqi people, building trust, and helping to save lives on both sides. “Sides” is an interesting concept, as all too early Birdy perceives the deep layers of complexity regarding who is fighting whom. “The coalition forces had won the hot war and the newscasts kept telling us that we were in the stabilizing and rebuilding phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, but the situation was getting hairy. I couldn’t understand what the Iraqis were about or what they really wanted . It was Jonesy who had the question we all wanted to ask. ‘If all the Racks are so happy with what we doing over here, who the hell is shooting at us and laying out all the IEDs?’” In a war story that conveys a young American combatant’s chill of fear and a sense of confusion and the innocent hope mixed with cynicism in its soldiers, Myers has done a great service in rendering an important work of fiction about today’s war. Is it perfect? It’s very strong and a must read in that the subject is so timely and tragic--I’m not aware of any other prominent YA novel on the war, but speak up if there is one or more. The plot and insights are great. I did not find the characters, including Birdy, overly compelling in the way that great characters manage to live in readers’ minds and just kind of inhabit our psyches. But that’s just one opinion. Read it and weigh in!
