You Know When the Men Are Gone

By: Siobhan Fallon

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

In Fort Hood housing, like all army housing, you get used to hearing through the walls. You learn too much. And you learn to move quietly through your own small domain. You also know when the men are gone. No more boots stomping above, no more football games turned up too high, and, best of all, no more front doors slamming before dawn as they trudge out for their early formation, sneakers on metal stairs, cars starting, shouts to the windows above to throw them down their gloves on cold desert mornings. Babies still cry, telephones ring, Saturday morning cartoons screech, but without the men, there is a sense of muted silence, a sense of muted life. There is an army of women waiting for their men to return to Fort Hood, Texas.

As Siobhan Fallon shows in this collection of loosely interconnected short stories, each woman deals with her husband's absence differently. One wife, in an attempt to avoid thinking about the risks her husband faces in Iraq, develops an unhealthy obsession with the secret life of her neighbor. Another woman's simple trip to the PX becomes unbearable when she pulls into her Gold Star parking space. And one woman's loneliness may lead to dire consequences when her husband arrives home. In gripping, no-nonsense stories that will leave you shaken, Fallon allows you into a world tightly guarded by gates and wire. It is a place where men and women cling to the families they have created as the stress of war threatens to pull them apart. The stories included in this collection are "You Know When the Men Are Gone", "Camp Liberty", "Remission", "Inside the Break", "The Last Stand", "Leave", "You Survived the War, Now Survive the Homecoming", and "Gold Star".

©2011 Siobhan Fallon (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Significant both as war stories and love stories, this collection certifies Fallon as an indisputable talent." (Publishers Weekly)

You know when you've got a great read!

This is an astonishing book on so many levels. It's a collection of short stories, but somehow the characters are connected, and any one story could be expanded into a complete novel. Fallon writes with depth and extreme multi-layered perception and nuance about an aspects of life in general and life in the military deployed in particular, a theme seldom touched on in contemporary fiction. Fallon expands the soldier's story to include his/her family and each of their stories as well, and she shatters the over-simplified myth that our soldiers are always model citizens, always perfect, morally correct, and she ventures into the grey areas that inform anyone's life, military or civilian. She also brings to light the cultural differences between the enormous energy center of a military base compared to its civilian counterpart. Mostly, her stories finish with equivocal resolution, thus the reader needs to step up and imagine. I hope to see more from this writer.

Not Army Wives the TV show

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I had a really hard time getting into this story and getting attached. I kept saying "I'll give it one more chapter" and by the time I was ready to give up on it, I only had 2 chapters left, so I stuck with it. I don't know why either. The characters were fine but I never really got attached to them. As an ex-Army spouse I thought I would. It is a realistic portrayal of deployments, the families left behind and the awkwardness of reuniting post-deployment but if you're looking for Army Wives like the TV show, this isn't it.

Sad yet heartwarming stories of war

In this collection of shorts, each story has a different perspective on the aftermath of war, ranging from the heartbreak of wives and children left without husbands for years at a time, to the experience of soldiers returning to a place that no longer feels like home. The only jarring bit is the breaks between stories--there aren't any, so as I was listening I kept having to go back a bit because I'd realize that a new story had started without me being aware of it. (A bit confusing at first!) This audiobook is also short, which is nice for those times when you're not in the mood for a 19 hour monstrosity. The narrator's voice is pleasant and the stories were interesting.

Loved it.

A look inside the lives of military families before, during and after deployment. My already great appreciation for the sacrifices made by our military and their families grew exponentially because of this book. Siobhan Fallon honors them with her collection of stories. Cassandra Campbell's narration is perfect.

Wonderful story about women

Would you listen to You Know When the Men Are Gone again? Why?

no

What did you like best about this story?

It showed how strong women are

What does Cassandra Campbell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

narrator good

Any additional comments?

would like to listen to more stories by authur

Compelling

Where does You Know When the Men Are Gone rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I have listened to a lot of books. This would be in the top third.

What did you like best about this story?

It was compelling and shed light on the sacrifices and challenges that our military spouses face.

What does Cassandra Campbell bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Excellent narrator but not sure how to answer this one.

If you could rename You Know When the Men Are Gone, what would you call it?

I would not rename it.

Any additional comments?

I would have appreciated at least one story that demonstrated the resilience of our military and spouses in a more positive light. Many cope very well and thrive in spite of the challenges. Each deployment and each re-integration is different, even for those who have had multiple deployments. They all deserve our respect and gratitude.

Everybody Hurts

A glimpse of lives in an army housing, military spouses are your family, there's always the uncertainty that your spouse will never be home after a deployment. Each family has their fair share of emotional turmoil, episodes of separations, infidelity, commotion, anger, irrational (or not) actions and the ensued consequences. All these packed into 8 interconnected short stories, Fallon's writing style is poignant, honest that invites reader to have a peek into the not only the world of war, more importantly the battlefield that is at home.

Enjoyable Group of Stories

Where does You Know When the Men Are Gone rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Middle of the road - very good stories, but lost my attention a few times.

What was one of the most memorable moments of You Know When the Men Are Gone?

Anticipation of the end as you realize how each short story is written

Have you listened to any of Cassandra Campbell’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No - I enjoyed this narrator.

Read This

This is an incredibly written compilation and window into military and base life. Very moving!

Short Stories--

I'm honest enough to admit I did not realize this book was a collection of short stories--somehow I missed that in the description! Unfortunately, this had an impact on my listening experience--I kept expecting the "chapters" to tie together--

This misunderstanding is totally my fault, but subsequently I did not enjoy the book. I am not fond of story collections anyway, and would probably not have purchased it. The book was not badly written or narrated, just not my cup of tea.