Too Big a Storm

Rating:
Summary: Great story with big ideas and believably flawed characters
Review: The summer of 1969 is life-altering for 18-year-old Brady Callahan. When she meets rich-girl Sally the night that men first walk on the moon, Sally kisses her on the lips, foretelling an unusual friendship:

" ...Did you like kissing me? Didn't do much for me."

Sally nodded thoughtfully. "Same, I guess. I want something to do that, Brady. I want to feel something and be shaken up."

"Be careful what you wish for."

Brady's belief that she can fix every situation is shaken when Sally finally finds her cause as a political radical opposing the Vietnam War. In the meantime, Brady's brother Will, fighting in Vietnam, vanishes. The FBI considers him to be a deserter and a traitor, leaving the family open to condemnation and confusion. Although someone using Will's name writes articles for a newsletter from Saigon called The Deserter Times, Brady is convinced that the writer is not her brother. Where did her brother go? Is he actually a prisoner --- or worse?

Brady will start college in the fall. Meanwhile, she works at the local center to assist vagrants, runaways and veterans. Here, she meets and falls in love with Mark, a young veteran. Although the relationship is important to her, it's just one thread of Brady's tumultuous life complete with family relations, peace demonstrations, job responsibilities, friends heading for the Woodstock musical festival, and government investigations into disappearances of people she loves.

TOO BIG A STORM is a good read filled with big ideas, set in a fascinating era. Brady, a likeable character in a cast of believably flawed humans (there's not a stereotype in the lot), matures in a realistic and gratifying manner. Recommended!

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon