A coming of age novel about a teenage boy, Luke Hatcher, who is primed to be a pro-baseball player and who is discovering that his first love is Haley, the girl down the street that he grew up with. When she dies accidentally, the guilt he feels because of his part in her death has him believing that he doesn’t deserve to be happy again. Even though he was raised in church, his faith in God has vanished. Overwhelmed by loss and grief he leaves home and joins the Army and is sent to Vietnam. Behind enemy lines, God touches him through friendship and the faithfulness of his fellow soldier, Sammy.

Luke grapples with all the things we wonder about: Where is God when bad things happen? Why is forgiveness so hard? Will we ever be whole again? Author Max Davis does a great job of bringing us into this young man’s crisis and leaving room for us to ask our own hard questions about the depth of God’s love and forgiveness. This book can be read by everyone, but especially those who have been to war. ( )

A tough growing up. Luke did something for which he can’t forgive himself. So, he throws away a baseball scholarship and joins the army to get away from his memories. At boot camp, he is befriended by one who’s been through worse and who stays by him through their tour in Vietnam, eventually gaining forgiveness. Read several months ago, my memory is that this was set in the main character’s home of Louisiana, his boot camp in Florida or Alabama, and then Vietnam, the settings were decently rendered. Examining the family dynamics as they change with Luke's big events, the characters were drawn alright, as well. My favorite character was the friend. Details are fuzzy after this amount of time, but the spirit of the story has stayed with me. I wasn’t blown away by the writing, but it is a good story. ( )

This will certainly put your life into perspective ( )