The essays in the first half of the book kept my interest and attention and opened my eyes to new perspectives about the ongoing war in the Middle East. Many were a mix of hard-to-take grittiness and honesty and seen-it-before soldier life. I especially liked Prayer in the Furnace, which showed the meaningful and meaningless sides of being a chaplain under such brutal conditions.

The latter half of the book was populated with stories that were more about the issues facing returned vets. I know there are real issues here that need to be addressed, but maybe my patience for the stories had just worn out. I skimmed through these with little interest in them.

All-in-all a three star book. Four stars for the good stories in the first half. Two stars for the rest. ( )

A collection of well written angry vet stories. My favorite story "Money as a weapons system" reminded me of Catch-22 and was the only story that I saw my own life and civilian job in. ( )

A great book. Sent me into a rage at several points thinking about American hubris ( )

It took me a few chapters to figure this out but it turns out this a series of short fictional stories by people who are in Iraq or were posted there, each a first person account. Given the truly awful things that have happened there, a lot of this is deeply shocking. The anger and confusion of the Marines who have to go through this appalling experience will stay with me for a long time. Not a pleasant read but deserves its top recommendation. ( )

Beautifully crafted stories, deceptively straight-forward, giving an important and illuminating picture of the contemporary military experience. ( )

I picked-up "Redeployment" after I heard so many good things through different people I follow. When I found the copy of the book in my second-hand bookstore, I bought it right away. I decided to read it as non-fiction in November, but the truth is that it is fiction.
This book takes on some of the hard truths that soldiers and Marines are returning from (and participating in.) Phil Klay avoids the temptation to create heroes or play politics. The narratives feel authentic and don’t waste time with background information or explanations. (Sometimes, as a non-American civilian, I would have needed some explanation, even though I did my military service a couple of decades ago.) Some of the narrators are more likable than others, and a couple is completely repellent. But they are never less than totally engaging. I had a little trouble with the acronyms again because I am unfamiliar with the U.S military jargon. But believe me, I think it is an interesting read. ( )

This is exactly the kind of book about the Iraq War I've been hoping to read: a hard-eyed examination of patriotic rhetoric and the heroic masculine identity that draws people into war. While Phil Klay doesn't write the gorgeous prose of an Anthony Doerr or an Emily St. John Mandel, I get why Redeployment won the National Book Award. It tells a story we need to hear but are afraid to. It tells the real story of war and the women and men who suffer afterwards. Read this book. ( )

Brutal, beautiful, and wise. ( )

Reading these stories is a glimpse behind the news most of us read as our only connection to US military operations, in the Middle East of really anywhere. Klay captures the fear, the idiocy, the numbness, the dark humor and the way war both erases and heightens human connection. There's a variation in the tone and perspective of the stories that's welcome. Otherwise, the collection might seem too similar (the same story repeated). The language is as stripped down and utilitarian as a rifle -- no furbelows. Often, the stories end as if some essential paragraph has been snipped off. I came to like that. My only reason for not giving this a fifth star is that I wasn't really surprised by any of the stories. I knew something of the book (and Klay's well-deserved NBA win) and the writing was as expected. What I really love about reading is when my expectation is challenged by something especially remarkable and fine. ( )

Would it be crazy if I said this was the best short story collection I've read since "Jesus's Son"? UH OH I think I feel that way! It reminded me of that book in that it got into the heads of a group of people you don't normally see in literary short fiction -- this time, Marines. Each story is so elegantly constructed, with pitch-perfect dialogue and a careful balance of introspection and bravado, often. I liked that the stories also encompassed a range of experience within that world, as well as a variety of civilians who brush against that world, from sex workers to artsy theater students who want to steal pain for their own uses. ( )

Strong writing, better imagery. Chilling to read at times. ( )

Phil Klay knows about what he writes. He gives a true portrait of life in a war zone, and its effects - and after effects - from the point of view of various participants - the infantryman, the clergy, the humanitarian and the returning vet. Through their eyes we see their hopes, their despair, their fierce loyalties to each other and their demons. Some stories stand out more than others. I had a hard time with those few that detailed battles and were full of military acronyms. However, the story about the clergyman trying to make sense of the war for the men and for himself, the one about the humanitarian battling the clash between his goals and those of the military, and those describing the thoughts and feelings of the soldiers are outstanding. ( )

A nice collection. Some serious content. I found the different perspective on every story a little distancing. It made it harder to get a handle on be author's own perspective. Still it was impressive enough. ( )

An fascinating novel reads like non-fiction. Very thought provoking. ( )

If there were a reader’s version of post-traumatic stress disorder (let’s call it print-traumatic stress disorder), Phil Klay’s collection of short stories, titled Redeployment, could bring it on. I advise you take the risk. This is a tough depiction of war, mortality, and the struggle to keep one’s soul in place.

Also, if you love acronyms, well, have at it. For the confirmed civilian, cryptic military jargon abounds with which you can idle away time doing Google searches. ( )

Fin de mission est hilarant, mordant et triste. C'est ce qu'on a écrit de meilleur à ce jour sur ce que la guerre fait à l'âme humaine.

It's not really fair to judge an author's work by saying you would prefer that he'd chosen a different project. But I do wish Klay had written a memoir rather than a collection of short stories. I found the setting too distracting; I kept wondering how much had really happened, and how much was artistic license. That's not fair, but it kept me from ever becoming fully immersed in a single story. I wanted to love this book, and I love the idea of this book, but it just never quite clicked for me. (Klay's writing, however, is uniformly strong.) ( )

A collection of stories centered around Marines serving or who have served in the Iraq War.
This is a powerful collection, well and thoughtfully written. They're not easy stories to read, but I do feel that this is an important collection and one that should be read. And it really is very well done - the characters and their stories seem lovingly crafted and genuine. Definitely recommended. ( )

I read a lot of military fiction and non-fiction so when I saw this book, I had to check it out. It was pretty good. A few of the stories will stay with me. Some of the stories made me wonder what would have happened if they were longer. Our servicemen and women go through so much and I'm grateful for their service. ( )

With these stories set in Iraq Phil Klay captures both the inhumanity and humanity in war, often in the same story. In Ten Kliks South a marine artilleryman can’t help wondering, and even trying to find out what happened to the bodies of the ISIS insurgents he supposedly killed as part of a gun team. It’s his first time shooting at live targets and his sergeant has a different perspective: “We provide the bodies. We don’t clean ‘em up. You hear me?” This is the last story in the collection, which roughly progresses from front line action to the rear, and aftermath.

Several stories involve veterans attempting to re-integrate into the civilian world. Some are disfigured, all are wounded, either physically or unseen to the eye. This is some of the best war writing around, reminiscent of Tim O’Brien’s work. ( )

This is my year for reading war stories and short stories. [book:Redeployment|18114068] by Phil Klay, published 2014 is the winner of the National Book Award.
Here are my war stories for 2016:
Redeployment National Book Award
The Forever War Hugo, Nebula and Locus
All Quiet on the Western Front, classic antiwar book
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (2012), and I read a couple of books about war prisoners; The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Man Booker Prize (2014) and the The Garden of Evening Mists, (Man Booker 2012)
Its funny how reading can work that way. I didn't really plan to read so many books about war. Redeployment won the National Book Award. It a book of short stories all set in Afghanistan, Iraq or back in the states. They are well told stories. I kept comparing them to [book:The Things They Carried|133518] by O'Brien. By far, O'Brien's book is the more creative writing and this one is more realistic and doesn't use creative writing that O'Brien used. Phil Klay was a marine in the Iraq war. He tells the story by different soldiers who all have different roles, most are not really involved in direct killing. I then compared this to Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain which is also about Iraq War soldiers. Ben Fountain was not a soldier in the war.
I liked Redeployment, the stories were easy to understand and they were not too hard to read. I really liked the one about the Chaplin (Catholic Priest). I give the book 3.5 stars overall.
My favorite of the list is probably The Forever War and if we include the war stories that I've read before, I really liked The Things they Carried and I also think Catch-22 is worthy of mention as well. ( )

It's not really fair to judge an author's work by saying you would prefer that he'd chosen a different project. But I do wish Klay had written a memoir rather than a collection of short stories. I found the setting too distracting; I kept wondering how much had really happened, and how much was artistic license. That's not fair, but it kept me from ever becoming fully immersed in a single story. I wanted to love this book, and I love the idea of this book, but it just never quite clicked for me. (Klay's writing, however, is uniformly strong.) ( )

This collection of short stories involving Marines during the GWOT was realistic but not necessarily enjoyable. Definitely not a lite read. But, having done two deployments in Afghanistan, I felt like I'd head similar stories second hand before - which speaks to the realism if not the originality. But I will say that the writing style was better than many veteran written books. As with most collections of short stories, I enjoyed some stories more than others, but all gave me a different perspective of the Marines, which I haven't read too much about before honestly. ( )

This is a collection of short stories featuring soldiers who served in OIF. I really loved the use of "power language" (words used by a group of people as a sort of shorthand; but that often excludes others outside of the group, e.g. slang & acronyms); and the stories were well-crafted even if I didn't "get" a couple of them; and none really got under my skin the way 'Matterhorn' (by Karl Marlantes) and 'Dispatches' (by Michael Herr) did. ( )

4.5 stars. This book is on many"best of" lists and I can see why. Honest, gritty, poignant and told from a perspective few of us can honestly say we get. No political soapboxing for me on this one. Just darn great writing.***And congratulations Mr. Klay on your National Book Award!*** ( )