The Reunion: A Novel

Dan Walsh has written a very meaningful book that covers a full range of emotions and choices---courage, fear, pain, despair, forgiveness, love, and redemption. Aaron Miller is a Vietnam vet in his sixties, who works as a beloved handyman in a trailer park in Florida. His home is the storage shed within the park. Not fancy by any means, but so much better than the streets he had been living on previously. He hasn't seen his grown children since they were toddlers.

Dave Russo is a reporter, in his mid forties, who is writing a book about Vietnam vets in honor of his father who died in Vietnam, when Dave was just a baby. The one thing he especially wants to do is honor these war veterans who had returned home to hate and neglect because of the unpopular war in which they were fighting before returning home.

In the process of interviewing vets, Dave comes across a millionaire vet who wants him to find the man who saved his life and the lives of his two friends. The men have a reunion every year but have no idea where the Medal of Honor vet is who saved their lives.

This story runs parallel lines for a while before closing in a five hanky junction. I feel that this is the first book I've read that gives the truth of the Vietnam soldier without becoming maudlin, or falsely glorying the feelings of those who served our country honorably.

God also plays an important part for so many of the survivors who eventually got their shattered lives together In one form or another. Jesus said that "There is no greater love than one man should give his life for his friend". Walsh takes that one step further when Aaron risked his life saving soldiers who were not his friends. Also showing that the average man can also choose to risk his life for his fellow neighbors at home.

This is a tremendously meaningful story that everyone should enjoy, and many will find meaningful for lives that they may be passing by without ever noticing or caring about everyday.

This is a great story. Dan Walsh's books have a "fullness" to them that is hard to come by... they're like Hallmark movies without the sappy overtones. Sweet, but with unexpected emotional depth.

The narrative was fine... until you got to a female character. It was very hard to believe that the female character was attractive or intelligent because she came off as a bit brainless and fairly transvestite-like. I know it's hard for a guy to pull off a woman's voice, but... it's been done before and done well. Not so much here. Reading the book is preferable to listening in this case (I did about 30/70).

Like I said before, this is a wonderful story. If you can keep your disbelief suspended through the dialogue, don't let it pass you by.

I love getting a book that you just can't put down. The Reunion kept my attention from the very beginning. I especially liked the ended when Dan Walsh discussed the Vietnam Veterans. A must read for all.