A contemporary realistic novel, Sunrise over Fallujah tells the story of Robin Perry, an 18-year-old African American from Harlem in New York City, who has enlisted in the army and been deployed to Iraq. His father had hoped Robin would go to college, but, like many young men and women his age, he joined the military after the events of September 11, 2001 because he wanted to serve his country. The complexities of war, the clash between ideals and reality, and the theme of lost innocence all feature in this novel.
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egins with Robin and the members of his Civil Affairs unit on the ground in Kuwait prior to entering Iraq. Their job is to build relationships with Iraqi civilians while others fight the Iraqi military as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Robin’s unit enters Iraq after receiving unclear and often contradictory orders from their superiors. Their experiences with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), sniper fire, weapons searches, and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) will probably be familiar to readers who have followed the news about the war. The setting for these events, Iraq, is not depicted in graphic detail nor is it a place of many colors. It is brown, the color of the desert, a bland backdrop to the daily, almost “matter-of-fact” violence.Most of the plot revolves around the growing confusion Robin and the members of his unit are experiencing. The Rules of Engagement (RoEs) change daily, and the novel is filled with questions about the purpose of the war and fighting an enemy that can melt into the civilian population. In his own words, Robin says, “I didn’t know which of the figures in robes down to their ankles were praying for peace and which were planting bombs on the side of the road” (144). To underscore the uncertainty, Myers includes an allusion to the anti-war novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. One of the characters in this story receives a stuffed monkey (nicknamed “Sergeant Yossarian”) that becomes the unit’s mascot. Their bitter humor clearly demonstrates their growing loss of naivete and their awareness of the incompetence and even insanity that exists in wartime.
Myers uses Robin and the two main female characters, Marla and Captain Mills, to humanize the soldiers involved in the war. Marla is there after bouncing around foster homes and having unspeakable experiences, while Captain Mills wants to empathize with and truly help Iraqis. Mills is bound to fail (and does), while Marla joins the guys in joking about and questioning the war until the climactic scene in the tribal lands. Then, she crumbles. Even though she is tough and tries to be a good soldier to escape from her earlier experiences, Marla seems to symbolize a recurring idea that escaping from injustice is impossible. War is neither for idealists (Mills) nor those wishing to escape (Marla). However, it is an Iraqi woman, Halima who reinforces the basic message of the novel. When she says, “Treat our lives as if they are as precious as your own” (148), Myers is reminding his readers of the complex, multi-tiered nature of war. Fighting for a cause is noble but unrealistic.
Robin’s letters to his mother and uncle are interspersed throughout the novel. In the letters to his parents, he tries to calm his mother and make amends with his father. When he writes to his uncle, a veteran of the war in Vietnam, readers gradually realize how difficult this conflict is for Robin and also how he develops an understanding of his uncle’s unwillingness to discuss his own wartime experiences. Robin’s early letters question why his uncle is incapable of discussing Vietnam and seem almost defiant in tone. Throughout his final letter, his tone suggests that he has become his uncle and will be unable to discuss what he has seen in Iraq. If understanding is part of maturing, Robin has matured by the end of this story. “Robin is only eighteen, and it is difficult to watch his innocence erased as war leaves its mark on him, but it is the reality for many young men and women” (Petruso 2008).
Reference List:
Petruso, Stephanie. 2008. Review of Sunrise over Fallujah, by Walter Dean Myers. Voice of Youth Advocates 31(1). Library Literature database, TWU Library. Accessed October 16, 2011.
Highly Recommended (Grade 8 and up)
Review Excerpts:
Through precise, believable dialogue as the catalyst, tame compared to that warranted in Fallen Angels, Myers's expert portrayal of a soldier's feelings and perspectives at the onset of this controversial war allows the circumstances to speak for themselves. (School Library Journal, April 1, 2008)
Given the paucity of works on this war, this is an important volume, covering much ground and offering much insight. (Kirkus Reviews)
Readers will get a sense of the complexities of the war, and of the ways the rank-and-file, as represented by Robin, are slowly drawn into covert or morally dubious engagement. (Publishers Weekly, April 21, 2008)
Reviews retrieved from Bowker’s Books in Print database, October 3, 2011.
Awards & Recognition:
Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year, 2008
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, 2008
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