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Name: The Names of the Dead

Author: Stewart O'Nan
Year: 1996
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Genres/categories:
Fiction

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ISBNs:
9780140263091
9780385481922
0140263098
0385481926

In Ithaca, New York, in 1982, Larry Markham awakes to discover his wife, Vicki, has taken their young son, Scott, and left him--not for the first time, possibly for the last. It is a deep blow to a life already in fragments: adead-end job delivering Wonder Bread; a strained relationship with his agingfather, a veteran of World War Two; and weekly visits to the VA hospital whereLarry, a former Army medic, leads a support group for disabled Vietnam vets.As he struggles to win Vicki back, Larry finds he is in danger of a far moreimminent sort: A disturbed member of the support group--a trained CIAassassin--has disappeared, and is stalking Larry and his family. His methodssend an unmistakable message: The game will end in death.At the same time, "The Names of the Dead" is a harrowing and heartfeltportrait of the Vietnam War and the men who fought it. The year is 1968, theplace A Shau valley, and Larry Markham--nineteen and green--must find a way tokeep his platoon alive. Here we see the stories Larry cannot bring himself totell--of friends who made the ultimate sacrifice in a war their countryscorned.

"The Names of the Dead" is the story of a man trying to find his way backto himself--a story about storytelling and memories that refuse to fade. It isthe story of a man rediscovering the courage to love one woman, and, throughher, the world, his country, his family, and finally himself.