Book Review: Bringing Vincent Home, part 1 (Viet Nam Conflict, Army burn ward, Baltimore family)

Bringing Vincent Home, by Madeleine Mysko* (Plain View Press, 2007, 182 pages, $14.95)

Divided Nations, Divided Families

The Viet Nam Conflict of the 60s and 70s divided the nations of both Viet Nam and the United States as well as dividing many families: the one depicted in Bringing Vincent Home is no exception. The (fictional) Duvalls of Baltimore represent us all: they are a microcosm of our county during that era, superimposed on a highly individualized story of one soldier, wounded in action. The Duvalls represent those who are single mothers in the 50s and 60s, war protestors, writers for the Baltimore Sun, pre-med majors, good Catholics, athletes, nurses and nurses in training, doctors, burn victims, and, of course, soldiers.

Lyrical, Melodic, Comforting and Immensely Likable!

Author Madeleine Mysko’s prose is easy-going with nearly all the characters interconnected in a natural relaxing way. You will not be surprised to learn that she is also a poet (Crucial Blue)

in addition to being a novelist.

Amazingly, the reader learns the backstory of the many major characters that travel tin and out through the novel, amid the heat of San Antonio’s Army base with Brooke Army Medical Center (Bamcee). And yet, the minor stories set the stage, and the soldiers and Army nurses are real and likable, and, of course, inspiring yet human.

Bringing Vincent Home is perhaps the only book I have reviewed in the past eight years online (and longer, in print) without chapter titles, which seemed quite appropriate. I often play the game of creating my own chapter titles if they are not provided but the Vincent book was perfect with chapters being numbered only. Many began with a page or so of reminiscing back to Vincent’s childhood times before focusing on the here and now of 1968 San Antonio, Texas, of a military base, of a hospital. There is so much growing-up to do before “bringing Vincent home,” even by his mother.

The Plot

The reader does not know if Vincent will survive the painful daily burn treatments (debridements) and the surgical grafts he must undergo. The reader does not know if Vincent’s mother will have to return to Baltimore to wait for her son’s transfer to the VA hospital system or if she will return alone to grieve.

Some will think the story ends rather abruptly but not all readers will agree. Sometimes we each have to finish the story in our own way. However, the author has given us an epilogue, which was not necessary - but neither was it surprising in how the lives of the numerous main characters turned out – the sign of a well-thought out story.

Bringing Vincent Home is a book I will take down from my bookshelf at least once a year to read again.

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Caveat: This book was a selection of the Veteran’s Book Group, a program at the Howard County, MD, Public Library.

* Madeleine Mysko also authored two books of poetry: Crucial Blue and In The Margins

as well as the longer 2015 novel Stone Harbor Bound.

A former burn-unit nurse in the Army, Mysko currently teaches writing in the Baltimore area.