Roy Scranton discusses War Porn Wednesday 10/5 6pm at 57th Street Books. Details here. Below, read an excerpt (courtesy of Soho Press) from the book, containing the first paragraph from each of the three main perspectives.
From Dahlia— "Lifting the flowers, letting them drop. Asters and chrysanthemums, zinnias and goldenrod—extravagant for a barbecue maybe, but fuck it. A little reckless beauty my mark on rockface. Remember you’re the one who got your shit together and you’re the one who changes tires. You’re the one who rode out here with him and now you’re the one who’s waiting. I was all-state soccer once, MVP. I can read stress lines in bones dug from mass graves. We know what comes next: we fly home, I teach and go back to school, I have his baby. That’s the plan. But here I am killing time and I’m going a little crazy. Why are we still here?"
From Aaron— "The major in the lead truck took a wrong turn and we all followed. We drove two miles down the wrong highway before looping back to the intersection with the chipped concrete barrier spray-painted MSR Cleveland TO BAGHDAD. We got lost again just the other side of the border and wound up driving down a dirt road behind a line of tank pits. Blackened hulks jutted up from the sand. Later we saw our first Iraqis, a farm family thin as whippets, standing outside their hut watching us go by."
From Qasim— "Saddam smiled, white teeth shining. A common picture in a common frame, by law others like it hung all over. Thought or feeling made no change—hating the picture was like hating the sun. Even here, Qasim thought, in our musty office: Saddam Saddam Saddam. This one’s old, brown and fading, creased along one edge, the frame’s glass cracked at the corner. Surely we should have it replaced. The picture, the desks, the floors, the walls. The office was windowless, unventilated, stale. Three desks crammed against each other left a narrow perimeter for chairs. Qasim sat alone, leaning, pencil in his mouth, staring at Saddam. The Americans’ deadline barely a week away."
