I hope he won't get mad at me but....

I just read and reviewed a novella from one of our very own DUers. I'd love your opinions on the review and what you think of the story.

Kazuko By Edward Gard.

The novella Kazuko, by Edward Gard is more like an annotated epic poem than a coherent narrative. This works for it however and Gard’s paragraph structure though simple, I would almost describe them as small literary vignettes, are surprisingly descriptive for his sparse use of words.
Kazuko is an epic poem about a sailor and his siren that calls to him from across the sea. The poem in its entirety is on the last page. Gard takes us on a short but important journey there filling in the “real world” blanks of a story which could be written simply about mythological archetypes. The poem is broken into parts in the body of the story and “annotated” with the tales of Eddie’s journey to its conclusion.
More specifically it is about little Eddie waiting for his day to ride the train that seems to take all of the boys from his Western New York home to the place where they meet the sea that they will ride to war and become men.
Eddie dreams of his siren calling him across the vast oceans, beckoning him to make that physical and spiritual journey into manhood with distant love its reward. We learn of some of his friends and in the author’s flashes forward in time we learn some of their fates before they do. Eddie’s life as a child is spelled out for us with ample description, and through the child’s eyes. One particularly stark segment about a vile attack Eddie endured was heartbreaking in its innocent honesty.
We know where Eddie came from and who he is when the poem/story moves into its second segment about his experiences during the Korean War while stationed on a U.S. Minesweeper and his time spent in Japan. Gard’s prose in this segment reminds us of the universal experiences of soldier at war and of the times of extreme inactivity that many support units experience. The sailors fill their time with tales and games and of course with the company of the local population. Specifically Japan’s thriving prostitution services to GIs in port.
Movement the third is when Eddie finds his Kazuko and finds his first true love. They can barely communicate but seem to share an almost fate driven love that comforts them both through the loneliness and horror of war. Eddie becomes more than a GI “John” and realizes what they share is real which of course makes it more tragic when sailor and siren must inevitably be parted by oceans of distance and time again.
Edward Gard has graced us with a simple but endearing and universal love story in “Kazuko”. It is clearly from his heart and from many personal experiences and the reader is richer for sharing a small part of one small man’s life and loves. The ending of the poem suggests a more “Romeo and Juliet” resolution to the tale. I for one am glad the real “Eddie” stuck around to tell it.
Scott McGregor