How did you feel about length of time (pages) devoted to the competition at Kleos to be the new CO?

I felt it dragged on too long and seemed to take the story off in another direction. I felt it was Becca's story but once the narrative arrived at Kleos it became driven by the CO. I appreciated finally meeting up with him after all the letters/discussions but I didn't need to go through all the exercises and hear his commands which didn't add much.

I really feel the book would have been better without the whole scene. It was the story of Becca and Ben and then went off in too many directions. It lost the sense of dealing with families and PTSD.

This book was a disaster in my opinion. Every scene was so far fetched and unconnected. The plot jumped around so much, I forced myself to finish it. The competition at the end was so out of context of the supposedly plot of healing from the effects of war. Hogwash!

I so agree with Suzanne. I felt like it was real work to finish reading this book. I normally find something redeeming about every book I read, but this was a task in pure fortitude on my part.

I felt it was too long and not very realistic. Some of the things the men were expected to do were ridiculous and demeaning.

I thought that scene was put into the story for its shock value. It didn't belong there at all. It was way too long and it shifted the story to the CO, who was obviously crazy and not the focus of the story. I didn't like this book at all. It was another story like Apocalyspe Now, but instead of set in Vietman, the crazy leader was in the US. Why did Becca keep runnng after both her parents, who didn't think she was important, then marry someone just like them?

I agree with everyone else who has responded to this string. I liked the book (didn't love it but liked it enough to keep reading it) up to this point and the whole Kleos part completely ruined it for me. I pretty much skimmed the last 100 pages just to find out how it ended.

Far too long and involved...this was not the theme of the story and it wandered off.

I didn't care for the competition at Kleos because it was too long and didn't seem realistic. I agree that it shifted focus from Becca and her relationships to the CO and who was going to replace him.

So glad to see that others were struggling with this book too. This whole Kleos thing could have been left out. I was more interested in what Becca might learn from King in order to better understand Ben. There were moments when the story was going in that direction but would then swerve off. This book just did not hold together for me.

So gruesome! I suppose the author wanted us to understand how deeply scarred the soldiers were but felt this competition only made them feel defeated.

Too too much!

It was much too long. I kept thinking about the movie Apocolypse Now and the long journey down the river. This part of the book was like that to me. Too much time devoted to this character. The CO was crazy and no one stood up to him. How did he get such a hold on those men? That was not explained well. This made the book become like homework to me. I promised myself to finish it as part of my commitment to Book Browse, but I would not have read it otherwise.

Could not get through that section of the book fast enough. Did not enjoy a single paragraph. The entire Kleos/CO Proudfoot section of the book felt over the top and surreal. I was certain that Ben or King would wake up from this crazy dream but then I had to face the fact that this was supposed to be really happening. Would love to know what happened when Jennifer Miller took her 3,000 mile trip with Carry the Flame and Rolling Thunder that would inspire such a story.

I agree with dorisk. I found myself anxious to get it over with so I could see how the book ended. This book was really slow going for me because I just didn't find it realistic.