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House to House: An Epic Memoir of War - War in Iraq
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List Price: $7.99
Our Price: $7.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Pocket Star
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 355
EAN: 9781416596608
ISBN: 1416596607
Label: Pocket Star
Manufacturer: Pocket Star
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2008-12-30
Publisher: Pocket Star
Studio: Pocket Star
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Editorial Reviews:
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One of the great heroes of the Iraq War, Staff Sergeant David Bellavia captures the brutal action and raw intensity of leading his Third Platoon, Alpha Company, into a lethally choreographed kill zone: the booby-trapped, explosive-laden houses of Fallujah's militant insurgents. Bringing to searing life the terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand infantry combat, this stunning war memoir features an indelibly drawn cast of characters, not all of whom would make it out of the city alive, as well as chilling accounts of Bellavia's singular courage: Entering one house alone, he used every weapon at his disposal in the fight of his life against America's most implacable enemy.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: House to House
Comment: I LOVE this book!!!!! I Really really really LOVE this book. This book may possibly be tied for my FAVORITE book ever. I'll have to wait awhile and see if the glow wears off.
Certain books make you feel like your world was turned upside down..."War and Peace" did this for me, and so has this book. Bellavia answered a million questions I always wondered about combat, many that couldn't even be intelligently expressed. I keep thinking of images from this story...mental pictures...conversations between David and Faulkenberg, Simms, Fitts, Ware, Lawson, and others... Sludging through the sewers, Sarcasm toward high ranking idiots, humorus twists on movie quotes, quips to break the tension, and some of the best "dark humour" which I, as a nurse, can appreciate. I am not one for gratuitous profanity, but in this story it was reasonable and realistic.
My favorite part of these types of books is always the part where the writer gives a detailed description of a comrad...you feel the respect that the author has...you feel the love between the men...you feel an almost reverential awe...like you're falling in love with the guy...then sadly, you realize...the guy's about to die. Maybe not on the next page, or the next battle, or the next chapter, but very soon. Rarely, does a soldier show this level of passion for a living comrad.
When I found myself bawling at the end of the story, it really rattled me. My knees were shaking for hours. Why? The realistic mental images of battle? The very palpable sensory experience that the author's words created? The honesty elicited by the authors openness and vulnerability? I think it was the relationship with SSG Fitts. SSG Bell and SSG Fitts are no longer close now that Bellavia has left the Army and it literally made me cry.
I read "Band of Brothers" by Stephen Ambrose, and "Beyond Band of Brothers" by Major Dick Winters about Easy Company of the 506th. These men joined the Army together after Pearl Harbour, and those who lived, served together until the end of the European campaign. Those who remain continue to meet regularly and are the closest friends imaginable.
Like the soldiers in Vietnam who rotated in for 6 mos to a year of combat and then went back home alone, it seemed like Bell's unexpected decision to discharge left him feeling lost and alone. It makes me so unbelievably sad that these soldiers of the Iraq War went their seperate ways. Maybe Fitts feels abandoned by Bellavia. Maybe Fitts feels like he worked through his demons, why couldn't his buddy? I can't help but believe that David is doing what he should be doing right now with the Warrior Legacy Foundation and other projects. I hope that Colin Fitts can see the value and honor in what David is creating.
David Bellavia has been accused of Machismo and Bravado in his descriptions of the Battle of Falluja, but I have never been so deeply touched by a soldier's descriptions of relationships, specific events that fueled his passions, intimate conversations with God in the midst of battle, fears of not measuring up in the eyes of his men, fears of placing them in harms way by his actions or omissions. I'm in absolute awe of the intimacy laid bare in this book!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Left me wanting
Comment: Too focused on a few days in his tour, the author should've filled
us in on other struggles he alluded to which seemed interesting.
Customer Rating:
Summary: words cant describe
Comment: Out of the hundreds of military books I have read that have been written from the first person point of view, this book ranks in the top 5. Unbelievable. There's nothing much else that can be said.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Comment: One has to read a script such as this to get the true picture of what our soldiers face in battle. No wonder they do not come back the same. I, for one, read this to show my appreciation for what they do for us. They leave behind their lives and families to protect us all. Few come home unchanged. We owe it to them to hear their story.
Customer Rating:
Summary: gritty, realistic, nerve-jangling, Exactly as advertised.
Comment: This book should be Required Reading for Everyone serving in the U.S. Government today, and not Just the military. Thank God for grunts like Sgt. Bell. HoooOOOyah.
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