Sex and War (ePub)

Synopsis: Sex and War

Captured during the bombing of Seoul and after weeks of suffering and enduring the cruel, icy death march north, two young friends finally reach the POW camp on the border of China in North Korea. His good friend Pete is interned with the rest of the prisoners, but Brad Stanton is thrust in solitary confinement. Without any proof of identification, the enemy is convinced that he must be a spy and after weeks of torture without breaking, he is to be executed tomorrow. Seeming to accept his fate, to avoid the thoughts of a cold barrel of a pistol being placed against his head, he reflects back on the happiest moments of his life during the summer of nineteen fifty at the tip of Cape Cod.

In a serene, almost idyllic setting, two young men coming of age, work together and enjoy the summer on a beach in Provincetown, Ma. Each one meets a girl and finds love. We see the typical trials and tribulations of young people confronted with new feelings and complexities between the stirrings of sexual desire and genuine love.

The naiveté and innocence of the fifties is reflected in the beginning as the thunder of the Korean War rumbles in the distance. The juice of young people flows subtly as the story unfolds and heats up later. Conflict between the contrasting relative innocence of youth and that of a devious and manipulative mother emerges as the story progresses. Faced with romantic disappointments and a traumatic loss of a close friend, in a hasty macho-moment the boys decide to join the Marines. The war in Korea is just beginning to heat up.

The story is then largely devoted to the young men enlisting in the US Marine Corps and experiencing the horrors of war, and a desperate young pregnant girl trying to come to terms with her situation.

The Korean War may be a distant memory, but with the current thunder being heard from the North Korean Peninsular is another storm brewing? Nearly fifteen percent of our population is now sixty-five or older. Many of them have experienced this period and would very easily relate to this novel. This story is not, however, limited to the senior citizen. It is timely in many respects and yet timeless in another with ingredients of love, sex, death, deception and the horrors of war. It is not a book for children!