Carrying

De: Theodore Weesner

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Theodore Weesner’s final novel, Carrying, is a gritty and realistic work that throws the reader into the detonating heart of the first Iraqi war. With unapologetic candor, Weesner navigates the psychological minefield surrounding South Boston native Jimmy Murphy, a young soldier who pens a secret journal to his old English professor, Herman Roth. Jimmy’s life pulsates with rage, racial prejudice, and unfulfilled desire as he fights to become the top gunner of the elite 2nd Cavalry Tank Division. His rapid rise through the ranks gives him a sense of purpose and order, even as the war descends into chaos, and Iraq transforms into a wasteland of burning oil wells and charred corpses. But when it’s all over, will he really be able to leave the war behind? This timely novel inserts itself into the zeitgeist of the young soldiers who return home, but never quite leave the battlefield, carrying the deepest wounds of shock, fear, and aggression. With his signature penetrative style, Weesner beautifully renders one soldier’s heart breaking coming-of-age journey in the midst of terror and endless war.

Theodore Weesner’s literary life of teaching and writing emerged from unconventional beginnings. Born in Flint, Michigan, the child of an alcoholic father and a teenage mother who abandoned the family, he spent part of his youth in an unofficial foster home, before turning to petty crime as a distressed a teenager.

Nevertheless, when speaking of his childhood and that of his brother he once stated: “We may have been dirty and scrawny but ours was a ‘Summerhill’ life of almost total freedom (I recall nothing but happiness, exploration, adventure) and I’m not complaining. If I was damaged on having been abandoned by my mother, I’m not smart enough to say.”
He never graduated from high school, and lied about his age to join the Army at 17, where he saw service in Germany, which later formed the background to some of his writing, including “A German Affair”, about the sexual escapades of an American soldier in Stuttgart in the early 1950’s. It was during his army career that he earned a high school equivalency diploma which then permitted him to attend Michigan State University and then becoming serious about writing earning an M.F.A. degree from the University of Iowa. He then taught for many years at the University of New Hampshire, and later at Emerson College.

Theodore Weesner sadly died in 2015. His titles are known for their realistic narratives and humanely considered characters, with The Car Thief being universally acknowledged as a masterpiece.