A friend recommended this book to me. I wasn't sure it was my kind of read -PTSD and war. But I was almost immediately sucked into the story of a damaged young man who converses with Hemingway at the most critical moments of his life. That could sound odd, but the dialogue of the conversations rang so true to everything I have read about this author that they became my favorite part of the book. James Charles writes in a style not unlike Hemingway - straightforward and devoid of flowery descriptions. Whether it is his norm or a style adopted for this book only, it was very successful here. I literally had trouble setting this novel aside to do ordinary things like eat and sleep! Of course, the flashbacks to Afghanistan are vivid and difficult to bear, but the deep friendships among the marines gave the reader an element of humanity to cling to. And in the end, this is a sweet love story. The conclusion was fairly simple, but by then I was so involved in these fictional lives, I was ready for a "happily ever after".