While he wanted to go to college, he knew that his family would never have the money. Summary: Richie Perry graduated high school without any idea of what to do next in his life. Reader’s Annotation: After Richie graduates from high school, he joins the Army and is sent to Vietnam where he encounters events straight out of his worst nightmares. And there's not even the right wine to help them pave the way.Myers, Walter Dean (1983). Perry and Peewee might be okay, eventually.

This dude might be a peek of what going back to the world will be like-being surrounded by people whose problems seem small after all they've been through. He doesn't seem to realize there's a war droning on (despite being on a plane from Vietnam. Then, in the middle of it all, there's a random man whose biggest problem is the right wine. Drone is a negative sound, and makes it seem like war is still weighing heavy on the main characters' minds. We were headed back to the World.' (23.110)ĭoesn't exactly make you feel warm and fluffy. A fat man complained that they didn't have the wine he wanted. The airplane scene that ends the novel shows just how strange Perry and Peewee's transition to civilian life feels: If it was hard in the hospital, it's not about to be any easier going back to the actual real world. And that was before he saw some of his worst battles of the war. He had gotten used to a world where people didn't do normal things, where people were focused on fighting and survival. And with a higher chance of death.Īt that point, Perry's head was still in war mode. It's like that dream where you're in your underwear, but real life. 'There was this feeling that everything I was going to say was either too loud or too strange for a world in which people did normal things.' (16.120) And Perry knew he was being weird, but didn't know how to snap out of it: Remember when Perry was in the hospital the first time? A bunch of soldiers commented on how weird he was. Now that the question of whether they'll get home alive is answered, the question remains: will they get home okay? As in, psychologically? How will they transition from war to normal society?Ĭhances are it's gonna be tough to switch back to civilian mode. It's cute, but it's also because they're like, kinda traumatized.

But their reactions aren't normal, happy reactions. Sure, Perry and Peewee finally got what they wanted: to go home. Perry and Peewee flew to Vietnam together, and now, due to a mix of injuries and medical profiles (fun!), they get to go home together.Īs much as you want to tie it up with a neat little bow, it's not really all that simple. It feels fitting that a book that starts with an airplane ride to Vietnam ends with the airplane ride home.

Fallen angels dean myers