[lit-ideas] Re: Book

I'd like to recommend some reading, especially to Lawrence, if he's still around. It's a book I stumbled upon in a thrift store, Chris Hunter, "Eight Lives Down." Why read it?
Because the language is lively and revelatory of the current British (and one or two American) soldiers' states of mind. Who knew that there was a "Mark F" person? What is a Mark F? Larger than a marquee. Appointments with the trick cyclist are quite normal, preventive medicine, now that PTSD exists officially. 

Because there are quotations both from Malcolm X and Blackadder.
Because you learn that on a wire they found attached to an IED, was stamped, in English presumably, "Made in Iran." You also learn that Hezbollah has a particular bomb-making style and that it turned up in Basra.
The book is written from the perspective of a bomb-disposal guy, the son of a bomb disposal expert of WW2 vintage. It describes a tour of duty in Iraq, and their effect on his wife and family. It's funny and terrifying and makes a case. I am amused by the linguistic inventiveness of troops. No one every walks anywhere; they all rock. 

"Rob rocks up.  He's usually the first one about in the morning.
'Hello, boss.  Fancy a brew?'
'I'd kill for another coffee.'
'Julie Andrews?'
'Madness not to.'

[Big snip]

Right on cue, Will comes over to put the meat on the bones.
'Want a brew, Jock?' I ask.
'Yes, please mate.  Put me down for a Julie.'
Tom's brow furrows. 'Boss, sorry for asking, but this has been bugging me for days. What the fuck is a Julie Andrews?' For the rest of the team, this is an open invitation to hurl abuse at the new boy. I let the piss taking run its course before putting him out of his misery. 'White, nun,' I say."
Which, for those of you who aren't English, means, "With milk, no sugar." 

David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon
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