Rating: 
Summary: A teenagers discoveries about Vietnam
Review: Sam is a girl who is torn between her mother and her uncle. Throughtout the book Sam makes a lot of discoveries about herself, her family, and about Vietnam. At the end, I believe that Sam made the right choices. Read this book to find out if you agree. This was a good book because many people can relate to Sam and her feeings. It wasn't the best book because it I'm not really interested inn War books.
Rating: 
Summary: A journey to the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial proves cathartic
Review: Sam, her uncle Emmett, and her grandmother Mamaw must travel
to the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial so they can purge their
souls and move on in their lives.
Sam's father died in Vietnam; Emmett was in Vietnam; and Mamaw
never really knew why Sam's father was there. Everyone Sam
knows and cares about was heavily involved in the "War." She
is obsessed with finding out what really happened over there
and what it was really like.
Emmett is completely dysfunctional in modern life, unable to
hold a job or be responsible. He feels terribly guilty for
surviving when so many of his buddies didn't.
Mamaw was never truly able to say goodbye to her son; he
came back in a closed casket. She has felt a sense of loss
and confusion ever since.
The "cure" for their problems it catharsis of the soul; they
must travel to Washington, D.C to see the new memorial, purge
their souls, and return to their lives.
This book is strange to start, but it grows on you. By the end,
you feel like you're great friends with Sam and Emmett, and
feel what they're going through. Mason has done an admirable
job with her characterization.
Rating: 
Summary: A Brief Summary
Review: Samantha Hughes is a teenage girl in Kentucky. She was known as Sam. In the story, she was trying to get her uncle Emmett, who she lives with, to talk about the Vietnam War because she became obsessed with getting information about her father and his experiences and how he died. Emmett was Sam's father's brother who also served in the war. Sam never knew her father because when she was born, her father was still in the Vietnam War and had died before her birth. Emmett and his other Army buddies don't want to talk about the war. Sam got her father's diary and she got to read it. Upon reading her father's diary, she found out what his life and death meant. After she finished reading her father's diary, she and her grandma Mawmaw and Emmett took a trip to Washington. They went to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial and found Sam's father's name on the Wall.
Rating:
Summary: A Brief Summary
Review: Samantha Hughes is a teenage girl in Kentucky. She was known as Sam. In the story, she was trying to get her uncle Emmett, who she lives with, to talk about the Vietnam War because she became obsessed with getting information about her father and his experiences and how he died. Emmett was Sam's father's brother who also served in the war. Sam never knew her father because when she was born, her father was still in the Vietnam War and had died before her birth. Emmett and his other Army buddies don't want to talk about the war. Sam got her father's diary and she got to read it. Upon reading her father's diary, she found out what his life and death meant. After she finished reading her father's diary, she and her grandma Mawmaw and Emmett took a trip to Washington. They went to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial and found Sam's father's name on the Wall.
Rating:
Summary: In Country
Review: Samantha Hughes was the daughter of a Vietnam veteran. She never knew her father, since he died before her birth. She struggles in life to find out about her father, and the history of the Vietnam War. Samantha lives with her uncle Emmett, who also served in Vietnam. Emmett is friends with Tom, Earl and Pete, three other Vietnam vets who, like Emmett, all have problems of one kind or another that relate to their war experiences. Through the book, the reader finds out that Sam is not an ordinary teen. She has to take care of Emmett because he suffers from Flashbacks, and deals with a boyfriend she does not really care for anymore. She is also faced with the everyday choices that a teen has to make, such as what to do with her life.
Samantha becomes obsessed with finding out about her father and his experiences. But, Emmett and the other veterans do not want to talk about the war. Sam pushes everyone to attend a dance honoring the town's veterans, but Pete and Earl get into a fight, Emmett disappears, and Tom takes Sam home for an unsuccessful engagement. When Sam reads her father's diary, she begins to understand what his life and death meant. Sam and Emmett come at least temporarily to terms with the war in their lives after their trip to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial.
I really enjoyed this book because I was able to relate to Sam as a teenager and the problems that come along with those years. Also, Mason was very descriptive throughout the entire book, which helped me create a movie in my mind while reading. The character of Samantha was well thought out because of the fact that I know if I had lost my father as she did, I Furthermore, from what I know about the Vietnam War from U.S. History, Mason hit the bulls eye with her information. It was a great book and I reccommend it to anyone who enjoys sitting down in a quiet spot to read an enjoyable book.
Rating:
Summary: a book i keep coming back to
Review: somehow, "in country" (i have no idea why this lists it as "in country ri" - what the eff is "ri"? it's certainly not on my book cover, nor have i ever seen it listed as that...) anyway, "in country" is a book i constantly find myself thinking of and coming back to. as a girl who first read this book when she was a year younger than the main character sam and last read it when she was a few years older than sam, i can't help but indentify... i think the historical questions, the 80's pop culture, and explicit descriptions of the actuality of every day life are truly amazing... i cry every time i read the book. there's something so desperate and yet so fresh and hopeful about sam hughes. i would recommend this book to anyone, but especially any girl in her late teens, or like me, early twenties.
Rating:
Summary: a book i keep coming back to
Review: somehow, "in country" (i have no idea why this lists it as "in country ri" - what the eff is "ri"? it's certainly not on my book cover, nor have i ever seen it listed as that...) anyway, "in country" is a book i constantly find myself thinking of and coming back to. as a girl who first read this book when she was a year younger than the main character sam and last read it when she was a few years older than sam, i can't help but indentify... i think the historical questions, the 80's pop culture, and explicit descriptions of the actuality of every day life are truly amazing... i cry every time i read the book. there's something so desperate and yet so fresh and hopeful about sam hughes. i would recommend this book to anyone, but especially any girl in her late teens, or like me, early twenties.
Rating: 
Summary: Depends on the reader
Review: There are some books that are generally great. Most people will like them, regardless of their background. Some, on the otherhand, are enjoyable in large part because the reader can relate to the story. This book is an example of the latter.
My low rating may at first seem to be unfair to those that can relate to the characters, namely Sam. Those people are more likely to find the book meaningful and enjoyable.
I did some research (the book was for school) and found that a Vietnam veteran who was associated with the writing of the book seemed to feel that only one side of Vietnam veterans was described. In general, the book seems to have a limited perspective on the veterans, and coupled with Sam's immaturity, I felt was not informative.
Sam does grow up, taking a break from her life, which is a reflection of pop culture, accurately depicted. But this is not a dramatic war novel that gives insight on the Vietnam War and its effects, so much as it gives insight on pop culture and a 19-year-old who is just beginning to see more to life than MTV.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty bad overall
Review: This book is one of the worst books I've ever read on the Vietnam War and how it affected the lives of people. First off, Sam was obsessed with Agent Orange and that her Uncle Emmet was infected with it. It got so sickening after the first third of the book that I just couldn't finish reading it although it was required reading for my English class. Secondly, Sam was totally wrong about her father and the other military personnel who had served in Vietnam. Yes atroscities were commited and yes many soldiers over there didn't care what happened as long as they made it back alive. That's what happens in wars. Her father wasn't a bad man for doing what he had to: kill in order to avoid being killed. Thirdly, there was way too much sexual content in this book for it to be very effective as a tool of teaching about the effects of the Vietnam War.
Rating:
Summary: VERY BORING
Review: This book is pointless. The main character, Sam, is very childish. She is too busy worrying about everyone else's life around her and about the Vietman War to look ahead into the future. She wastes all her time trying to figure out what happened in the war and how her fater died. The whole book is about her quest to find out the gory details about Vietman. She even sleeps in a forest, pretending to be at war to reenact Vietnam. This book is very slow. I kept asking myself: Will Mason finally make some point? However, if you are fascinated by wars and lost someone close in a war then this book might be worth something to you.
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