Well, the book is kind of about the woman's experiene during the war: She lived right around the border of North and South, so ended up caught up in a lot of issues with the Viet Cong and the southern government. Half her family killed, the rest displaced. She ended up in the US after the war, and returned to her hometown 20 years later, so a lot of the book is about her reconciling with her family. It's crazy how much love she has for humanity after all the war did to her and her home.
Thanks for telling me to enjoy my youth. I've been trying to kill my procrastination habit so I can do what I need to do and enjoy the rest of my time rather than half-enjoying the procrastinating time.
I just looked up where West Plains is... never really occurred to me just how big the NY metro is. Honestly, sounds kinda relaxing to smoke and wait for a loved one.
Sounds like a remarkable woman - certainly a far better person than I.
Oh, yeah.. those smokes back then were quite relaxing. We're talking what seems like half of forever ago. Maybe something like 1986 or 1987? Seemed as though every other song on radio was Madonna: "Crazy For You", etc.
There was a heck of a mall in White Plains that I believed was called "The Galleria". Three stories worth, so several sets of open-air escalators.
I'll never forget getting off one on the third floor, and walking into a music shore ("CD's"..) *just* as "Walking on the Moon" by The Police started to play, leading to a purchase of whatever CD that was on. It's still easily my favorite Police song.