There It Is

A picaresque novel following a young soldier entering and surviving the Vietnam WarThere It Is by Ken Harper is a quintessential American coming-of-age novel in the vein of Saul Bellows The Adventures of Augie March Young Farragut Birdwell enlists in the army during the later years of the Vietnam War. He is the black sheep of his family; his dad is a decorated submarine officer from WWII and does not have much confidence in his young son. Farraguts attempts to fit in are often both humorous and heart-wrenching from the opening story of how he fakes being a boxer to escape the dreaded cleaning duty as a grunt to his catch-22 escape from joining the 101st Airborne Division when he lands in Vietnam. Farragut is very clever and funny but at other times he really messes up. But meeting the beautiful Yarel sweetens him.This first novel by Ken Harper is an entertaining and compelling story about integrity survival and courage.