I Don't Know But I've Been Told: A Novel - Softcover

Correa, Raul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060955694 ISBN 13: 9780060955694

Publisher: Perennial, 2003

Synopsis

A former sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division reveals the truth about life in the U.S. military, introducing a fictional character who struggles to define himself while serving as member of the paratrooper squad. A first novel. Reprint.

About this title

Review:

U.S. Army paratroopers, armed with guns, drug habits, and a unique sense of patriotism, ramble on about their enlistment in I Don't Know but I've Been Told. First-time novelist Raul Correa gives us a nameless protagonist who wistfully recounts how decades earlier he was part of an invincible band of wild, peacetime soldiers, affectionately called "Recon Dogs." Bored with the routine of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the Recon Dogs (with suspiciously little thought) take over the second job of their beloved "Platoon Daddy" providing "surplus" weapons to the friendly local arms smuggler--before a stint in Panama gives the narrator his first and only love, Paola. Back stateside, a night of drinking helps the narrator see logic in tossing a grenade under a car, summarily replacing his high-flying times with a prison sentence. Now working on tugboats in New York harbor, our hollow man reveres two talismans: Paola's only letter and Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. The good times, for him, stopped long ago. Correa writes with all the macho swagger of his narrator's fun-loving, carefree past, turning in a memorable debut. --Michael Ferch

About the Author:

Raul Correa served as a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division and received a B.A. and an M.F.A. from Columbia University. He lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Perennial
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0060955694
• ISBN 13: 9780060955694
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272