The Long March Home: A World War II Novel about the Pacific by Marcus Brotherton & Tosca Lee, Book Review

 

Book Summary:

Jimmy Propfield joined the army for two reasons: to get out of Mobile, Alabama, with his best friends Hank and Billy and to forget his high school sweetheart, Claire.

Life in the Philippines seems like paradise--until the morning of December 8, 1941, when news comes from Manila: the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor. Within hours, the teenage friends are plunged into war as Japanese warplanes attack Luzon, beginning a battle for control of the Pacific Theater that will culminate with a last stand on the Bataan Peninsula and end with the largest surrender of American troops in history.

What follows will become known as one of the worst atrocities in modern warfare: the Bataan Death March. With no hope of rescue, the three friends vow to make it back home together. But the ordeal is only the beginning of their nearly four-year fight to survive.

Inspired by true stories, The Long March Home is a gripping coming-of-age tale of friendship, sacrifice, and the power of unrelenting hope.

My Review:

Phenomenal. Page turner. Gripping. Emotional. Powerful. Haunting. The Long March Home kept me riveted to the pages until the very end. This WWII story is unlike any I have read. I felt like I knew a lot of about WWII until I read this historical fiction novel. I was so intrigued by the troops in the Philippines and the bombings and fighting there that I had to do my own research and look it up. What a huge part of history most people are missing. The authors do a masterful job of creating realistic characters that the reader can connect with. The friendship of Jimmy, Hank, and Billy was a friendship that most people wish they had in their own lives. I have chills just thinking of what these three were willing to do for the others. This story will stay with you long after you have read the last page. It is emotional, raw, gritty, and heartbreaking. It showcases the reality of war in a way I have never experienced before. If you are looking for something that will change you, that will move you, that will make you look at life differently, then The Long March Home is the perfect book for you. I received a copy of this book for free; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy Reading!!!

You can pick up your own copy via Amazon.