Book Summary and Reviews of Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers

Name: Sunrise Over Fallujah
Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Author: Walter Dean Myers

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Sunrise Over Fallujah

by Walter Dean Myers

Critics' Consensus (3):

Readers' Rating (2):

Published:
May 2008, 304 pages

Genre: Literary Fiction
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Summary

Book Summary

Operation Iraqi Freedom, that's the code name. But the young men and women in the military's Civil Affairs Battalion have a simpler name for it: WAR.

In this new novel, Walter Dean Myers looks at a contemporary war with the same power and searing insight he brought to the Vietnam war of his classic, Fallen Angels. He creates memorable characters like the book's narrator, Birdy, a young recruit from Harlem who's questioning why he even enlisted; Marla, a blond, tough-talking, wisecracking gunner; Jonesy, a guitar-playing bluesman who just wants to make it back to Georgia and open a club; and a whole unit of other young men and women and drops them in the country in Iraq, where they are supposed to help secure and stabilize Iraq and successfully interact with the Iraqi people. The young civil affairs soldiers soon find their definition of "winning" ever more elusive and their good intentions being replaced by terms like "survival" and "despair."

Caught in the crossfire, Myers' richly rendered characters are just beginning to understand the meaning of war in this powerful, realistic novel of our times.

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Media Reviews

"This fine book could be included with a unit on current events and is a good choice for boys. Ages 12-18" - VOYA.

"Through precise, believable dialogue as the catalyst.... Myers's expert portrayal of a soldier's feelings and perspectives at the onset of this controversial war allows the circumstances to speak for themselves." - School Library Journal.

"Given the paucity of works on this war, this is an important volume, covering much ground and offering much insight. Ages 12+" - Kirkus Reviews.

This information about Sunrise Over Fallujah was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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big mac

sunrise over fallujah
This was a very great book. I would recommend this book to ages 12 and up. This would be a great book to read if you like war.

matt pabon

greatness
I recommend this book to middle school and up and too people who like war and want to know the truth about the war in Iraq. This book is so realistic because Walter Dean Myers actually interviewed Army veterans about the war and put it in the book. There are so many grabs in this book because I remember that I was going to drop this book as soon as I finished chapter one but then it caught me in a hook.

Overall this book is a great read and will keep you reading, and I personally don’t read books and this book was one of the first books that I have read a liked. The New York Times calls this book “Astonishing, and Unflinching”.

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