Fives and Twenty-Fives by Michael Pitre

Fives and Twenty-Fives by Michael Pitre
Buy Fives and Twenty-Fives by Michael Pitre at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: General Fiction
Reviewer: Ani Johnson
Summary: We follow a unit of US Marines and their Iraqi interpreter back and forth between Iraq and civilian life afterwards. Based on true accounts, this is a powerfully compelling story that's enhanced by the audio book treatment.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 400	Date: August 2014
Publisher: Audible
ISBN: 978-1408854440
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In Iraq any soldier within 5 metres of a roadside bomb explosion will die as even an armoured truck will be torn to pieces. Being within 25 metres of a roadside explosion would be fatal to foot soldiers. Lieutenant Pete Donovan and his US marine unit know this better than anyone. Their job in Iraq is to repair the roads but it's not as simple as it sounds. Every pothole (yes, every pothole) contains a bomb; even the kerbstones could be dummies filled with explosives. That's why every serviceman and woman has it drilled into them: no matter what, no matter where, always watch your fives and twenty-fives.

Michael Pitre makes it clear at the beginning that this is not an autobiography but it is true. We have no treason to mistrust his integrity either: Michael became a marine in 2002, has been deployed to Iraq twice, reaching the rank of captain before leaving in 2010 to study for a master's degree in business. His credentials speak for themselves. He's known people like those of whom he writes, leaving us gawping with amazement at what they went through and, in many cases, are still going through now all the fighting is apparently over.

Each character has his own chapter which is perfect for an audio book. Every voice is totally different, therefore easily distinguished and the narrators (Kevin T Collins, Nick Sullivan, Jay Snyder and Fajer Al-Kaisi) tell their tale in a totally convincing way evoking all the feelings necessary for us to engage and be transported by such an emotionally textured tale. I listened to the whole 11 hours 55 minutes while decorating and, to be honest, I was so totally into it (as the young people say!) that I made a real mess of the walls (and the floor and some of the furniture) where my mind was with the guys rather than the paint brush.

We initially meet Pete, army medic Lister Pleasant, Corporal Zahn and native interpreter Dodge after the conflict, trying to forge their futures. Then, as the story unfolds we travel back to the war at regular intervals and realise the moments transforming them from the comparatively innocent men that originally enlisted.

We gradually realise why Lester carries his trauma kit around with him in his truck back home and something within us melts as we discover the vulnerability beneath his toughened shell. We see in Zahn a loyalty to his former lieutenant exhibited in the suspicious readiness to defend him with his fists and fuelled by the need for alcohol.

Pete himself comes out of the war a modest man who doesn't believe that his unit liked him. Eventually his unit confirm this and reveal why but it doesn’t stop our hearts reaching out to the Lieutenant as he tries to melt into normality among his university course class.

The most interesting of all of them is the interpreter. This particular unit names all their native interpreters after American cars, so Dodge he becomes. Before working in the military however he was Kateb, a student studying literature; here Michael is particularly clever. Dodge's favourite book and talisman throughout the conflict is Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain; not a random choice though. As Dodge meditates on Twain's writing, parallels are revealed between the conflict and this novel written in the innocent period before the American Civil War.

Please don't assume that Dodge is not a two-dimensional vehicle for literary comparison though. As he tries to survive the after effects of his American bout of employment, we watch his own fight for a life including a desire for some form of recognition for his services. He's not interested in financial pay-outs, he just wants to be safe else he's endangering his life before, during and afterwards.

In essence this sums up the novel. These are people who sacrificed much, were promised much and then sent back to a civilian life that none of them anticipated because none of them could anticipate the people they would become or the effect that would have on others around them.

The legacy of Iraq for them is a daily fight for inner peace and closure that no one else can understand. This is what also makes Michael Pitre an amazing author. He's not only found words to describe their internalised isolation, but does so vividly taking us to a place we'd have found it impossible to imagine alone.

(Thank you so much Bloomsbury for providing us with a copy of this audio download for review.)

Further Reading: If this appeals then we also heartily recommend the equally powerful The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, also written by a US serviceman with front line experience.

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