Bombingham

Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading
Review: Walter Burke, a disillusioned soldier in Vietnam, writes home to the parents of his dead colleague. At a loss for what to say, he tells about his youth in Birmingham (called Bombingham due to all the bombings by racists). The literary quality is good rather than amazing, but Grooms does an excellent job of showing readers life from a child's view during the 1960s civil rights movement. Well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: A Sham of a Book!
Review: Wow, where to begin? I read this book as a pre-release editing copy, and while the premise is a phenominal one, the author falls flat on his face here. Maybe if he had made it into one of his short stories it may have worked better. But the title itself, for starters, is misleading as the book really has little to do with Birmingham nor the events happening there at the time. There isn't any real soul-searching by the older version of the main character, in fact he is quite cold and numb to life by the time he reaches 'Nam. Maybe if the book had been shorter, the story had stayed focused on the gripping family issues and didn't make a sloppy attempt at shoving 8 plots into one shoddy novel...maybe then I could have something positive to say. But as it stands it is a terrible sham of a book, luring the innocent reader in with a grabbing title and glossy back synopsis; and leaves you hollow, bitter, and unsympathetic for any of the characters. Sorry folks, I read many many books in my line of work, and this one was a waste of paper and a waste of precious hours out of my life.