Bennington, VT (Vocus) November 1, 2010
It was early September in 1989, when author Mary S. King had an awakening. It all began when her husband returned from war—a war that never left him. In Facing The Wall: A Mission a never-ending journey; she shares the story of her family living with the aftereffects of a trauma endured by a loved one.
Though the Vietnam War is over, the nightmares that plague those who fought the war, for many, remain. Jim, the author’s husband and a combat veteran, suffers from PSTD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). PTSD leads their family toward an unexpected destiny that has many twists and turns. Facing The Wall: A Mission a never-ending journey, chronicles their life together. With compassion King blends the past and present. She brings readers on her journey of life experiences that has sadness, hope and finally a new understanding of her husband.
War is not the only occurrence that can leave people traumatized. Many people, in their ordinary lives, have had ordeals in their life that could result in PTSD. King hopes that in sharing her story, it will help people to understand trauma and ultimately: they will have heartfelt understanding and compassion for victims of both emotional and physical trauma.
A Vietnam vet’s wife fights a long battle with her husband’s post-traumatic stress disorder in this poignant memoir. When her husband Jim, a 27-year-old Marine, returned intact from Vietnam in 1969, the author hoped that the couple could resume their lives as before. But although Jim bore no physical scars from his year in combat, his psychic wounds ran deep. Indeed, he hardly seemed to have left the war… In her clear-eyed memoir, King draws a subtle, layered portrait of her lost soul of a husband. Sometimes he seems unreachable, sunk in memories of Vietnam and of his buddies who didn’t make it back (or in guilt over his own survival) and unable to carry out the simplest project; but he also devotedly serves as a volunteer fireman and pulls himself together to help his wife through crises and grief. It is as much the author’s story as Jim’s, as she struggles to hold the family together and fathom the stranger her husband has become, and to reclaim her own personality from the ravages of “secondary” PTSD. With America’s latest conflicts still generating victims, this is a very timely book: an anguished, unsparing, but ultimately hopeful view of the heartbreak of PTSD.
An absorbing firsthand saga of war’s invisible casualties. —Kirkus Discoveries
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About the Author
Although Mary S. King is not a psychologist, she is the wife of a veteran with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). She has witnessed the many faces of this disorder. She believes it is her mission to share her life story. Her hope is that everyone will gain greater compassion and understanding for all victims of trauma and their families.
FACING THE WALL: A MISSION * by Mary S. King
a never-ending journey
Publication Date: June 21, 2010
Trade Paperback; $19.99; 160 pages; 978-1-4415-7353-7
Trade Hardback; $29.99; 160 pages; 978-1-4415-7354-4
eBook; $9.99; 978-1-4500-4679-4
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