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"Home Front is Hannah's crowning achievement."—The Huffington Post In this powerhouse of a novel, Kristin Hannah explores the intimate landscape of a troubled marriage with this provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife, in love and at war. All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . . Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life—children, careers, bills, chores—even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then a deployment sends Jolene deep into harm's way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a solider, she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own—for everything that matters to his family. At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope. "Hannah has written a remarkable tale of duty, love, strength, and hope that is at times poignant and always thoroughly captivating and relevant." —Library Journal (starred review)
5 stars for the excellent writing and the story. And for keeping my interest as an audio book (which is rare with my easily-distracted mind).
2 stars for Betsy's constantly annoying behavior, including during "normal" family time before her mother's deployment. Sometimes, after Betsy had an over-the-top, demanding verbal tantrum, the parent would say, "I'm sorry," which made me double cringe! Betsy would have been more sympathetic to the reader if she'd been more polite before the deployment, and then after the deployment, gotten very quiet but showing obvious signs of distress. That way, the reader would sympathize with her, and want to pull her out of her shell, rather than wanting to slap her! (Though Betsy's tone of voice may have been especially annoying in this read-aloud audio book, compared to a printed book where the reader can apply their own tone of voice to the dialog.)
3 stars for Lulu who, in my opinion, was a superficial, stereotypical 4-year-old. Most young children, in my experience, are not sweet and innocent, and they are very savvy about family conflict, even if they can't articulate it in words. (Again, the audio may have made Lulu's dialog more strident and irritating than it needed to be.)
Having said all that, it was an engaging story, and I really enjoyed the character arcs. I learned a lot about the military. And I do recommend the book. ( )
This book had me in tears several times and here we are in 2024 amid more wars in the world...particularly what's happening in Ukraine and in Gaza. Hannah writes in a way that is so descriptive and makes you able to picture exactly what is being portrayed with her words. How can anyone read this...yes, a novel....and not decide that wars should just never happen in this world....there MUST be a better way. Fight...with WORDS. Just an incredible book to read and I'm just so sorry that it still fits the times we live in. ( )
This book was great! I won it through the Goodreads pre-release program and received it in the mail just a few days prior to its release to the public. The story focuses on Jolene, her family and her friendship with Tami and her family. Jolene and Tami are helicopter pilots in the Guard, raising their families on the West Coast and neighbors. Jolene's husband is an attorney and they have two daughters. Jolene's husband does not approve of the war and thinks it's something that is happening "over there" and not something that affects us here in America. Until Jolene and Tami get deployed and he has to reconfigure his entire life to be a single parent while Jolene is gone. This is a wonderful story that is beautifully told and I highly recommend it. ( )
Listened to this book on audio and read physical copy. Starting with the positive, the struggle with mental health coming home gave the reader some understanding the thoughts going through people with PTSD. The book did give me the tears, but to be honest, the MC did not endear herself to me. I read this book with my bookclub and so I really tried to like this book, but I probably would have DNF'd by the time I got about halfway through, instead I would put it down and only pick it up between other books. ( )
"Home Front is Hannah's crowning achievement."—The Huffington Post In this powerhouse of a novel, Kristin Hannah explores the intimate landscape of a troubled marriage with this provocative and timely portrait of a husband and wife, in love and at war. All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . . Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life—children, careers, bills, chores—even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then a deployment sends Jolene deep into harm's way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a solider, she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own—for everything that matters to his family. At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope. "Hannah has written a remarkable tale of duty, love, strength, and hope that is at times poignant and always thoroughly captivating and relevant." —Library Journal (starred review)
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5 stars for the excellent writing and the story. And for keeping my interest as an audio book (which is rare with my easily-distracted mind).
2 stars for Betsy's constantly annoying behavior, including during "normal" family time before her mother's deployment. Sometimes, after Betsy had an over-the-top, demanding verbal tantrum, the parent would say, "I'm sorry," which made me double cringe! Betsy would have been more sympathetic to the reader if she'd been more polite before the deployment, and then after the deployment, gotten very quiet but showing obvious signs of distress. That way, the reader would sympathize with her, and want to pull her out of her shell, rather than wanting to slap her! (Though Betsy's tone of voice may have been especially annoying in this read-aloud audio book, compared to a printed book where the reader can apply their own tone of voice to the dialog.)
3 stars for Lulu who, in my opinion, was a superficial, stereotypical 4-year-old. Most young children, in my experience, are not sweet and innocent, and they are very savvy about family conflict, even if they can't articulate it in words. (Again, the audio may have made Lulu's dialog more strident and irritating than it needed to be.)
Having said all that, it was an engaging story, and I really enjoyed the character arcs. I learned a lot about the military. And I do recommend the book. (