Last Flag Flying - Softcover

Ponicsán, Darryl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0751571806 ISBN 13: 9780751571806

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Synopsis

Darryl Ponicsan never imagined that his first novel, "The Last Detail", called by one critic "...the first underground triumph of the 70s..." would be a continuing story. With the invasion of Iraq, however, the same elements that inspired the original - injustice, a senseless war, men of honor and duty caught in untenable positions - compelled him to revisit Billy Bad-Ass, Mule, and the hapless Meadows, and to see how his characters were faring in post-9/11 American life. The result is "Last Flag Flying", a story as tough and tender. sad and funny. as "The Last Detail". The boy Billy and Mule escorted to prison has come back into their lives, now a grieving man of 52, with a gut-wrenching request they cannot deny. What follows is a retracing of their steps from 34 years before, a journey from Norfolk, Virginia, to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on a mission as heart-breaking - and as exhilarating - as the first.

About this title

About the Author

Darryl Ponicsan divides his time between an island in the Pacific Northwest and the California wine country. The author of nine novels, he has also written several produced screenplays. The movie adapted from his first novel, "The Last Detail", first published in 1970, has become a film classic.

Review

“Darryl has once again captured the camaraderie and complexity of male bonding, as he did so brilliantly in The Last Detail. Three familiar characters, now some thirty years later, with a dubious history and an undesirable task ahead of them are what dominate the fascinating and satisfying story in Last Flag Flying.”―Bryan Cranston

"Ponicsán delivers an irreverent, acerbic, but nonetheless poignant look at the true nature of loyalty. Recommend both novels and the movie."―Booklist
Praise for The Last Detail:

“Remarkably good... The writing is superb, the pace headlong, the irony tempered with a curious gentleness.”―Cosmopolitan

“A salty, bawdy, hilarious, and very touching story.”–Variety

“The first underground triumph of the ‘70s.”–San Francisco Sun-Reporter

“One of the ten best novels of the year.”–Philadelphia Inquirer

“Honest, heart-wrenching.”–The New York Times

“One of the really excellent novels we will draw this year, and Ponicsán... proves himself not only a master but a model of dialogue.”–San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle

“A lean, funny, bitter book.”–Boston Globe

“[A] gem of a first novel... fast-paced... [The] dialogue often is hilarious..”–Fort Worth Star

“An accomplished writer with a sure storyteller’s touch.”–St. Louis Post Dispatch

“Will make any serviceman say: ‘Sure, that’s the way it was.’”–Newsday

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• ISBN 10: 0751571806
• ISBN 13: 9780751571806
• Binding: Paperback