Prisoners of War

Rating:
Summary: Poignant, sharp and eloquent
Review: At what moment does a man stop being alive and start being dead?

Death casts its long, dark shadow across the fevered cast of characters in "Prisoners of War," but it is unlived life that truly haunts them. And life tantalizes each one just beyond the fences -- real and imaginary -- that hold each of them captive. The result is a portrait of people at war -- with enemies abroad and with themselves.

POWs are expected to try to escape, and the consequences of failing can be fatal. But what happens when an escapee doesn't cross concertina wire and elude floodlights, but crosses bloodlines and eludes the stultifying glare of intimate history?

Yarbrough, a native Mississippian who now teaches creative writing at California State University in Fresno, is a sophisticated, gentle writer with a gift for subtlety. The latent heat of a Delta autumn wafts through his absorbing prose as surely as the complexities of small-town life float through his Southern memories. His voice is genteel and a little nostalgic, but neither fragile nor elegiac. His characters are superbly fleshed out, and his settings so richly drawn that when the action traverses the county line late in the book, the reader might feel as if he is leaving his own hometown.

Or escaping.

Rating:
Summary: Prisoners of War
Review: Changes made through the eyes of both white and black doing the war in a small Mississippi town. German prisoners are brought to a small Mississippi town and the events that take place also open some of the eyes in town about black and white. Dan Timms a white man with the same job as L.C. Stevens a black man driving a converted bus that sells a little of this and that, a small store on the move. Dan Yearns also comes into the picture when he joins the army to run away from the memories of his fathers suicide. The book has many small town people and how their lives seem to be changing with the war and in their own home town. A very well written book on the feelings of the south and how events can change thinking along with actions. Larry Hobson -Author- The Day Of The Rose






Rating:
Summary: His best novel yet!
Review: Prisoners of War is the most enjoyable and engaging novel I've read in a long time. Yarbrough's clear style propels the narrative forward in quick time. One reviewer here observed that sub plots slow down the pace. Nonsense! The novel is built upon sub plots and small incidents, each one filled with appealing surprises. Some will break your heart, others will make you gasp, and a few will make you laugh out loud. Simply put, this is a wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: You'll Love It
Review: Prisoners of War is the most enjoyable and engaging novel I've read in a long time. Yarbrough's clear style propels the narrative forward in quick time. One reviewer here observed that sub plots slow down the pace. Nonsense! The novel is built upon sub plots and small incidents, each one filled with appealing surprises. Some will break your heart, others will make you gasp, and a few will make you laugh out loud. Simply put, this is a wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: A gutsy tale!
Review: The year is 1943. Dan, a young man living in Mississipi, is eager to leave home and join the Army. His dad is dead, and the bank took over his family's farm. Dan, along with his "colored" colleague L.C., work for Dan's uncle Alvin by driving two old school buses that were converted into rolling snack stands. Marty, a friend of Dan's from the same town is stationed there as a guard for a camp of German POW's.

This is not an easy book to read. Besides having to keep the characters straight, it involves getting into the psyches of guys struggling with questions of racial inequality, considering the necessity or opposition to being in the armed service, and being so close to German prisoners of war. The story of these three young men comes alive with friendship as well as conflict as they struggle individually. Nothing comes easy for any of these three men. Their story brings the reader with a heavy hand into the heart and mentality of a small Southern town in some very difficult times.

Rating:
Summary: A gutsy tale!
Review: The year is 1943. Dan, a young man living in Mississipi, is eager to leave home and join the Army. His dad is dead, and the bank took over his family's farm. Dan, along with his "colored" colleague L.C., work for Dan's uncle Alvin by driving two old school buses that were converted into rolling snack stands. Marty, a friend of Dan's from the same town is stationed there as a guard for a camp of German POW's.

This is not an easy book to read. Besides having to keep the characters straight, it involves getting into the psyches of guys struggling with questions of racial inequality, considering the necessity or opposition to being in the armed service, and being so close to German prisoners of war. The story of these three young men comes alive with friendship as well as conflict as they struggle individually. Nothing comes easy for any of these three men. Their story brings the reader with a heavy hand into the heart and mentality of a small Southern town in some very difficult times.

Rating:
Summary: His best novel yet!
Review: Yarbrough's new novel has exquisite prose, wonderful dialogue, and extremely convincing characters. Prisoners of War is without a doubt Steve Yarbrough's best novel yet.