Sparta

Robinson brings the tolls of war up close . . . Her powerful novel demonstrates that fiction actually can function as a sort of explosive device. —The Washington PostA Washington Post Notable Fiction BookGoing from peace to war can make a young man into a warrior. Going from war to peace can destroy him.Conrad Farrell has no family military heritage but as a classics major at Williams College he has encountered the powerful appeal of the Marine Corps ethic. Semper Fidelis comes straight from the ancient world from Sparta where every citizen doubled as a full-time soldier. When Conrad graduates he joins the Marines to continue a long tradition of honor courage and commitment.As Roxana Robinson''s new novel Sparta begins Conrad has just returned home to Katonah New York after four years in Iraq and he''s beginning to learn that something has changed in his landscape. Something has gone wrong though things should be fine: he hasn''t been shot or wounded; he''s never had psychological troubles—he shouldn''t have PTSD. But as he attempts to reconnect with his family and his girlfriend and to find his footing in the civilian world he learns how hard it is to return to the people and places he used to love. His life becomes increasingly difficult to negotiate: he can''t imagine his future can''t recover his past and can''t bring himself to occupy his present. As weeks turn into months Conrad feels himself trapped in a life that''s constrictive and incomprehensible and he fears that his growing rage will have irreparable consequences.[A] page-turner . . . Sparta is an exceptional account of life after war. —People