Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - In Country

In Country
In Country
Author: Bobbie Ann Mason
In the summer of 1984, the war in Vietnam comes home to Sam Hughes, whose father was killed there before she was born: The soldier-boy in the picture never changed. In a way that made him dependable. But he seemed so innocent. "Astronauts have been to the moon," she blurted out to the picture. "You missed Watergate. I was in the second grade."...  more »
Info icon
ISBN-13: 9780060913502
ISBN-10: 0060913509
Publication Date: 10/22/1986
Pages: 256
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 36

3.6 stars, based on 36 ratings
Publisher: Perennial
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed In Country on + 35 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
This is a wonderful book. Watch the movie after you read the book as the book is more involved and better. A great post Viet Nam America tale. Strong characters and memorable. A great writer!! In the current issue of Paste Magazine this book is chosen as the best in classic fiction for it's era--Viet Nam!
reviewed In Country on + 25 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
By award winning author Bobbie Ann Mason. A moving story of a young woman (Sam Hughes)whose father was killed in Vietnam before she was born. A glimpse into the reality of war.
reviewed In Country on + 4 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Great characters...one of those nice, intimate books that takes place over a couple of days.
Read All 9 Book Reviews of "In Country"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

reviewed In Country on
I enjoyed this book very much. I appreciate a strong female author :)
reviewed In Country on
This book really spoke to the heart of a person who was a 18 yr old at the time of the Vietnam War. It is fiction...but not to the heart of this person who lost 11 friends in Vietnam.

This is the story of a young woman whose father died in the Vietnam War before she was born. Her quest to learn more about her father, other veterans, and the psychological and moral fallout allows the heart to find some peace. The book was made in to a movie...many of the reviews said it not only help attain personal reconciliation, but national reconciliation.
reviewed In Country on + 533 more book reviews
Sam Hughes, whose father was killed in Vietnam, lives in rural Kentucky with her uncle Emmett, a veteran whom she suspects is suffering from exposure to Agent Orange. Sam is a typical teenager, trying to choose a college, anticipating a new job at the local Burger Boy, sharing intimacies with her friend Dawn, breaking up with her high school boyfriend, and dealing with her feelings for Tom, one of Emmett's buddies. Sam feels that her life is bound to the war in Vietnam and becomes obsessed with the idea because of the reluctance of her family and Tom to talk about it. Her father's diary finally provides the insight she seeksinsight she cannot accept until she has visited the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. In Country is both a powerful and touching novel of America that analyzes the impact of the 1960s on the culture of the 1980s and a beautiful portrayal of an often forgotten area of the country. Essential for adult and YA collections.
LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW
TakingTime avatar reviewed In Country on + 1072 more book reviews
a search for identity


Genres: