Yellow Birds

Yellow Birds is the debut novel of American writer Kevin Powers, drawn from his own experiences on the battlefield in Iraq. Set against the backdrop of the Iraq War, it tells the story of a young soldier, John (called Bartle in the novel), and his even younger comrade Murphy (Murph), who come to rely on each other and forge a bond of life and death on the battlefield. Before shipping out, John promised Murph's mother that he would bring her son home safely; yet the chaos, fear, and death of war make that promise nearly impossible to keep. After returning home from service, John is haunted by the memory of war: he instinctively fears cars, his hands unconsciously assume the posture of gripping a rifle, and though strangers treat him as a hero, he feels himself slowly disappearing. The novel moves back and forth between the battlefield and life after homecoming, using fragmented narration and poetic language to portray war's rending of soldiers' inner lives, its harm to civilians in war zones, and the moral torment of promises that can never be repaid. The book was a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award for Fiction and won The Guardian First Book Award; it was named a best book of the year by numerous media outlets and is often mentioned alongside All Quiet on the Western Front and Catch-22.