Redeployment

War is profane. That's how I'd summarize this story collection by Phil Klay, an Iraq War veteran with an MFA and a knack for finding the human heart of hellish experiences. It's true, there's no shortage of four-letter words in these pages. But to get hung up there is to miss the point. Pretty quickly, you come to trust that Klay is telling us the truth – not just about crude Marines or diabolical jihadists, but about ourselves. It's an unsettling collection. These characters will burrow into you. I remain haunted by “Prayer in the Furnace,” told from the perspective of a military chaplain. At one point he says, “Geared up, Marines are terrifying warriors. In grief, they look like children.” And this, as that chaplain – a celibate Catholic priest – observes a reunion back on U.S. soil: “I watched the Marines hug their parents, kiss their wives or girlfriends, and hold their children. I wondered what they would tell them. How much would be told and how much would never be told.”