stands with Tim O'Brien's enduring Vietnam book, The Things They Carried, as a classic of contemporary war fiction. ( HILARY MANTEL, GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR)Īn extraordinary novel. Graves, Owen and Sassoon would have recognised this war and the strange poetry it has bred. In this book about death, every line is a defiant assertion of the power of beauty to revivify, whether beauty shows itself in nature or (later) in art. Remarkable for its intensity of both feeling and expression. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. (Ann Patchett, Orange Prize-winning author of Bel Canto and State of Wonder) (Damian Lewis, star of Homeland and Band of Brothers ) 'Kevin Powers has conjured a poetic and devastating account of war's effect on the individual.' (Tom Wolfe, author of The Bonfire of the Vanities ) 'THE YELLOW BIRDS is the All Quiet on the Western Front of America's Arab Wars.' Written with profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on families at home, THE YELLOW BIRDS is one of the most haunting, true and powerful novels of our time. But it is also a story of love, of great courage, and of extraordinary human survival. It vividly captures the desperation and brutality of war, and its terrible after-effects. With THE YELLOW BIRDS, poet and veteran Kevin Powers has composed an unforgettable account of friendship and loss. The promise he made, to a young man's mother, that her son would be brought home safely.

Sunlight falling through branches bullets kicking up dust ripples on a pond wavering like plucked strings. Wide-eyed strangers praise him as a hero, but he can feel himself disappearing.īack home after a year in Iraq, memories swarm around him: bodies burning in the crisp morning air. His fingers clasp around the rifle he hasn't held for months. WINNER OF THE GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD 2012ĪN AMAZON EDITOR'S PICK: BEST BOOKS OF 2012Ī NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEARĪn unforgettable depiction of the psychological impact of war, by a young Iraq veteran and poet, THE YELLOW BIRDS is already being hailed as a modern classic.

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers