Finished INCOMING

Almost all of us baby boomers know someone who was in Viet Nam.  But, did we ever hear them talk about it?  I mean, really talk about it? 

Larry never brags in this book--he just talks about what happened, the people he met, his relationships with them, and the work he did there.  Judging from this narrative only, the reader can figure out that Larry was a very good and much loved medic.  Also, we can figure out that he was grateful to be doing something that was helping people, not hurting them.

So, why afterward, didn't he go on to become a doctor?  But that conclusion I also figured out--he had just seen enough suffering and dying for one lifetime.  Of course, the way life is, it wasn't enough.

I found this book extremely compelling.  So compelling I dreamt about it, waking up unsure if the incident I just dreamt about actually happened or did my subconscious make it up?  I had to go back to look.  And now I miss it.  I pick up my next book and wonder what will happen next in Incoming.  Needless to say, I can't wait until Larry's next book.  The only other autobiography I have read as frank and as compelling was written by Maya Angelou.

I have now started The Warmth of Other Suns, The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson.  This is about the migration of Blacks from the south to the north and west of our country which took place from about 1915 through 1970.  I was expecting it to read like a dissertation, but, no.  It is a very interesting retelling info from case studies.  I think it will follow three people (and others) from the reasons for the migration through old age.  I already find myself liking both the author and the first person introduced.