Perfect for those wishing for a greater understanding of the modern military experience.

I implore all high school lit teachers to introduce your students to this novel. Instead of assigning All Quiet on the Western Front or The Things They Carried, let them learn of the horrors of war and the love between soldiers through this contemporary novel set in the Iraq War. Heartbreaking and unforgettable.

This book is so beautifully written and yet is extraordinarily painful to read. The brutality of the experiences of very young soldiers in Iraq and their difficulty of returning to "normal" life after living such a nightmare, is made so very clear. I want to express some of the conflicts presented in the book concerning survival and protection of loved ones and friends and courage and fate and the meaninglessness of life when caught up in war, but I can't possibly do any of it justice.

Even before I had finished reading it, this book made it to my list of favorite books of all time. The writing, the use of language, is just exquisite. It's a harrowing and compelling story, beautifully told.

"Yellow Birds" is an incredible first novel by a young writer well worth keeping an eye on. The eloquent first person narrative brings the reader deeply into the thoughts of a recently returned Iraq war veteran as he recalls his relationship with a slightly younger recruit he has taken a protective interest in. As the narrator relates their descent into the particular hell of urban guerilla war in a foreign and hostile environment, we simultaneously witness his unravelling as he returns home to an equally confusing place he once knew. The artistry of the book comes in the rich language and strong descriptive voice of the author. That the novel offers insight into the internal challenges this generation of warriors, like so many before them, have found in coming home, is a added gift.

The story is disturbing and yet compelling. The writing is well done that you seem to become a witness to the action. A quick read and well worth it!

A well-deserved nomination for a National Book Award. Maybe this will earn Kevin Powers a better book cover.

takes your breath away - insightful about war and what it does to those who go - is this really what we want are young people to live and never forget ?

Twenty-one-year-old Private John Bartle and his friend Murph went through basic training together and were posted to the same base in Iraq; through it all, Bartle has looked out for the smaller, younger Murph. But as the fighting escalates and the soldiers reach their breaking points, Murph flees the base for the dangerous world outside. Told in alternating first-person perspectives - of the men's experiences in Iraq and after Bartle has returned home - this is a powerful, insightful debut. For readers who are interested in other recent fictional treatments of the effects of the Iraq War on those who fought it, try David Abrams' Fobbit or Ben Fountain's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, both of which are cynically, blackly humourous but no less powerful. From the October 2012 Next Reads newsletter http://www.nextreads.com/Display2.aspx?SID=5acc8fc1-4e91-4ebe-906d-f8fc5e82a8e0&N=558348

This is a very beautifully written novel about two young men who become soldiers in the Iraq war. It can be disturbing and controversial but the writing is lyrical and I really enjoyed it.