Book Review: Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman
Mercy, Mercy Me
Elliot Ackerman has turned his attention away from the Syrian civil conflict, the setting of his previous novel, Dark at the Crossing, and has focused instead on the horrific aftermath of war in his new slim volume, Waiting for Eden. A former decorated marine who has served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, the author has written a kind of Johnny Got His Gun for the 21st century. But whereas the narrative perspective in the Dalton Trumbo classic is from the wounded soldier himself, in Ackerman's novel, the narrator happens to be a brother-in-arms; a friend damned to, in this case, a hospital bound burn victim (the lone survivor of a pressure plate mine), the eponymous Eden. Bound to him not only fraternally but as the reader will learn, in a deeper way. Put simply, The narrator, though deceased, cannot move on until Eden joins him in paradise.
Enter Mary, Eden's wife and, besides the mechanics of ventilation, the only impediment to his natural death. Ackerman's dilemma in this work is not a simple one, he complicates it beyond the deeply held religious beliefs some people adhere to. He elevates this difficult yet binary quandary-- natural death vs. mechanically sustained life-- to a matter tumescent with conflicting emotions: guilt, resentment, love, loathing, despair and gratitude. Like Trumbo's book, Waiting for Eden falls into the sub-genre of anti-war missive, but Ackerman expands on this theme. War and its horrors are only the means to an end, in this work.
The real issue in Ackerman's novel is control of ones own life: Who wields it? When does one lose it? Whom does it affect? In Johnny Got His Gun, the protagonist, who is, to be blunt, left with only a thorax and a brain, makes his final request clear: use my body as a vessel of repugnance to teach others just what war can inflict on humans and on humanity. In Trumbo's novel, the protagonist's wishes are not to be honored. In Waiting for Eden the reader will encounter a similar ultimatum. Although the narrative choice in this novel may be considered by some to be hackneyed or speculative, it is a testament to the quality of writing that the author keeps his reader interested in the outcome.
~ 4.2 stars
Enter Mary, Eden's wife and, besides the mechanics of ventilation, the only impediment to his natural death. Ackerman's dilemma in this work is not a simple one, he complicates it beyond the deeply held religious beliefs some people adhere to. He elevates this difficult yet binary quandary-- natural death vs. mechanically sustained life-- to a matter tumescent with conflicting emotions: guilt, resentment, love, loathing, despair and gratitude. Like Trumbo's book, Waiting for Eden falls into the sub-genre of anti-war missive, but Ackerman expands on this theme. War and its horrors are only the means to an end, in this work.
The real issue in Ackerman's novel is control of ones own life: Who wields it? When does one lose it? Whom does it affect? In Johnny Got His Gun, the protagonist, who is, to be blunt, left with only a thorax and a brain, makes his final request clear: use my body as a vessel of repugnance to teach others just what war can inflict on humans and on humanity. In Trumbo's novel, the protagonist's wishes are not to be honored. In Waiting for Eden the reader will encounter a similar ultimatum. Although the narrative choice in this novel may be considered by some to be hackneyed or speculative, it is a testament to the quality of writing that the author keeps his reader interested in the outcome.
~ 4.2 stars
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