Product Description

You've read, or you've seen in movies or on TV, the soldiers' story. This is not their story. This is the story of the forgotten others.

"Missing" and "worry" do nothing to capture the emotions felt by those left waiting. Yellow ribbons and baked cookies are the media's representation, not real life. 'Homefront''s Mia, a young woman left behind at the start of the Iraq war, forces you to experience the passionate glee and anxiety, the surreal and the real, the drunk and the sober, of waiting for a loved one to survive war from her very private, very intimate perspective.

You are in her heart. You are in her mind.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #761697 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-22
• Released on: 2007-03-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 312 pages

Review
"Kristen Tsetsi is certainly in great command of language and craft, which should not be surprising--her fiction has been published in Storyglossia, and other respectable venues...Like the war front, Homefront is a place of struggle, this one taking place in the hearts and minds of those left behind, and like in real combat, feelings and relationships can become missing in action. This is a thoughtful and elegant book; the writing immersive, evocative, and polished; the structure reflecting the sense of dislocation and of something missing in Mia's life." -- PODler Review

If there's a war on (and, these days, there's usually a war on), I want to be reading about it. I appreciate first person accounts, either fictionalized or not, and Kristen Tsetsi's Homefront, an emotional novel about a young couple's separation when Jake is shipped to Iraq, is a worthy new entry in this category. -- Levi Asher, Literary Kicks, July 19, 2007

Kristen J. Tsetsi's debut novel, Homefront, takes us into the life of twenty-six year old Mia, who faces a battle against anxiety, loneliness and despair when her boyfriend is deployed to Iraq.

By alternating plot with a slices-of-life format, Tsetsi gives dimension to her book in a subtle and masterful way, contrasting her clear, precise, concrete prose--which makes up the majority of the book--with a quasi-stream-of consciousness style interspersed throughout. Her solid, seamless and detailed writing has the power to bring us into each scene. The result is an engaging, realistic portrait of a lover's life at the homefront.

Mia (is this name a too obvious choice for a book dealing with war's consequences?) is the long-term girlfriend of Jake who is left at home while Jake fights in Iraq, not knowing when or if he will return. She is angry, bitter, and especially hostile to Jake's mother, but because of her circumstances we can sympathize with her. Her worry for him is valid; the guilt she feels every time her thoughts stray from him (fearing he will die during a moment when she is not thinking about him) is revealing of the psychological suffering she is enduring: "How long had it been? Minutes? An hour? Forever. That could have been the moment he died and his absence from my thoughts were a sign, a goodbye." She continuously acts out: binge-drinking, breaking things, slapping an innocent soldier, and setting things on fire. We wonder why she isolates herself so much. Is she so trapped in her circumstances as she thinks she is?

Part of her angst seems to stem from her doubts about the survival of her and Jake's relationship. Tsetsi keeps the reader wondering too, because we're just as confused about where she stands with him as she is. I wondered if Mia makes a mistake by not taking a lover when she has the chance. Instead she seems to prefer the company of Donny, an alcoholic Vietnam vet who pencils Mia's portrait. (In these scenes with Donny, the dialogue is very true but a bit exhaustive). Mia's motivations are not always clear, but what is clear is her obsessive love and feeling of helplessness--feelings most of us can relate to, which is why this book pulls us along. In the end, Mia shows her compassion, and we, the readers, hopefully have more compassion too.

The above review was contributed by: Sonia Reppe. -- Bookpleasures.com, April 24, 2007

What I didn't like: I'm not usually picky about book covers but I have to admit that this one was off-putting. After it arrived in the mail I put it aside easily for a while because the cover actually made me not want to read it.

Also, the summary on the back of the book is misleading. Here's a quote for you: "HOMEFRONT sheds needed light on the highly under-documented internal battles suffered by those left waiting." Now you tell me, doesn't that sound more like non-fiction to you?

What I liked:

This book is not at all what I expected it would be. Based on the description on the back I was expecting more of a non-fiction feel, more analysis of what the various characters were going through. But it is so much better than that.

Once I picked it up, I didn't want to put it down.

I was very concerned that the author's own opinions on the war - positive or negative - might be a huge part of the book. Honestly, I was worried that this would be an opinion piece disguised as a novel. Thankfully that was not true. Characters in the book do express their opinions on the war but only as part of who they are, not as a "statement" by the author. In fact I'd say that the book doesn't present this war in any particular light, good or bad - it simply is what it is, and the people left at home deal with it however they can.

This is an amazing book and I highly recommend it. --Age 30+...A Lifetime of Books, March 5, 2009

[A]n intensely intimate and affecting story of Mia, who's stuck inside a tornado of worry after her boyfriend deploys to Iraq. If you were moved by Tsetsi's STORYGLOSSIA Fiction Prize 2006 winning story "They Three at Once Were One," which was also recently named to the notable list in the Million Writers Award, this novel will immerse you deeper into the untold war story of what those waiting on the homefront experience while their loved ones are deployed.

Immersive is one of the primary criterion by which I judge novels, and I was 100 pages into Homefront before I looked up from the book. The beginning is grabber with the conflicted relationship, the impending sense of doom, and the isolation of the narrator. Structurally, it is told in a psuedo-diary format, and that heightens the immersion in two ways. First, by creating the expectation of intimacy and then delivering. And secondly, through the use of compression. Parts of the story are left out--what the narrator knows but doesn't need to write to herself--which is a narrative strategy that creates participation as the reader tries to fill in the gaps. This missing information is also a correlative for what Mia is missing, as the reading experience takes on the same feeling of dislocation that Mia feels. -- Storyglossia Review, May 29, 2007

Review
One of the most moving and evocative portraits of people left back at home while their spouses fight overseas.

Kristen Tsetsi is as sincere and gifted as they come.

What makes Homefront so powerful is that it is not an explicitly anti-war novel, or pro-troops novel. Certainly, it's about the struggles of those left back on the homefront while their love ones fight overseas. But also the novel is universal: it can be read and understood by anyone who's been in a long distance relationship, or knows someone who's faced a terminal illness, or, frankly, anyone who's missed somebody, while at the same time providing a precise window in that can only be understood by those who have experienced wartime directly. That is an amazing balance: both the universality and the uniqueness of what these characters are feeling.

This is great novel. Read Tsetsi's fiction posted online and her blog and discover one of the better writers you are likely to read.

Review
This beautiful and stark novel by Kristen J. Tsetsi makes real the agonizing waiting that so many Americans must do while their loved ones are at modern war. The protagonist's voice--that of a young, heady woman--is so familiar, so real, so intimate that I can almost imagine it were my own, though I've never had anywhere close to the same experience.

It seems like there have been a real lack of narratives out there about the experiences of those who love those in the military, especially this time around. We get a sense of their struggles at times with the coverage of vets' injuries and rehab processes, but even then, the partners and spouses of military folks are usually treated as accessories, not given their own authentic voice.

Reading Homefront will give you such insight into the daily battles at home caused by this messy war abroad, but even more universal, a deep sense of appreciation for your own loved ones. As I was reading it, I felt blessed to hear the snore beside me in the bed at night.

Customer Reviews

Unpredictable, and not just for the military wife.
I started to read "Homefront" late at night, before I slept, and the next morning when I woke I didn't leave my bed until it was finished. My own life was on hold as I followed the life of a young woman whose boyfriend deploys to Iraq. Even though I am nothing like the main character, Mia, I FELT what she was going through. I am a military spouse and spent many hours of my own watching CNN live coverage and chewing the nubs that I called my fingers whenever a convoy was attacked. So often, when we see the people whose lives are entwined with those of the deployed Armed Forces, we think they are amazingly strong to endure such separation. They are, they are strong, but they're also weak at times. Sometimes, beneath their public face they pout and curse and weep. In a shameful moment, they may imagine life without the beloved face they kissed so many months ago. Mia's unseen life is fascinating and the people she sort of...finds herself with are about as mismatched as they can be-another frequent reality of military families. Her story is all about the little moments; the events taking place are merely a vehicle to take you to her innermost thoughts. Kristen Tsetsi is an amazing writer, the words in her story placed like the sometimes bold, other times faint and whispering strokes on a painted canvas. Her timing plays havoc with your senses. She doesn't give you what's expected at all. Loved this book!

Enjoyable and moving
Occasionally, a book comes along that you know you will want to share before you've finished the read. Homefront is such a book. Drawn in from page one, I stayed mesmerized, needing to know how Mia survives her own emotional battles after Jake (her boyfriend) leaves for Iraq. The author has given us a character full of depth; opening her life, sharing her fears, and making us care. And in the end, allowed me some small bit of insight in to what my mother must have faced when my dad was off at war.

Superb
Highly recommend this novel. Sucked-in from page one. Tsetsi's writing gets you so involved with the main character (Mia): you cry with her, laugh with her, feel her, become intoxicated with her. Get sick with her, feel the pain. Couldn't put it down til the last page, which comes all to sudden. Can't wait for her next one!