The world is on the cusp of war, suspended between the deprivations of the Depression and rationing of World War II, but for Earl and his older brother Jimmy, life is a series of small-town adventures - hunting, fishing, and drinking beer chief among them. Everything changes when Jimmy enlists in the National Guard on his 21st birthday, and is shipped to the Philippines.
Thus opens Carry Me Home, a nostalgic novel about how things used to be. Its narrator is 16-year-old Earl, by his own accounting an "idiot" since suffering from a serious brain fever as a baby. And while Earl struggles to understand what thoughts are appropriate to speak aloud and how to make change for customers at his family's grocery store, he has no trouble understanding the trials and tribulations of those around him.
Sandra Kring's novel moves seamlessly from laugh-out-loud funny (her funeral scene rivals that of Twenties Girl for hilarity) to heartrendingly sad, all told through the inimitable voice of Earl "Earwig" Gunderman. For all its emotion, Carry Me Home is not overwrought, and hopefulness emerges as the dominant feeling. Well written and easy-to-read, this novel offers a unique perspective on World War II - and on life.
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