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This is a rollicking novel in unexpected ways.

When Malinconico's growing sense of haplessness finally erupts into a duel of words that questions both justice and entertainment, the result is a provocative and funny rant that reflects upon how mass media shapes our lives. He becomes a fulcrum in a bizarre stunt in which a grieving father turns a grocery store into an impromptu courtroom on live TV to avenge his son's inadvertent murder by a Mafioso, which actually is comedic.

Vincenzo Malinconico suffers such regard from his kids, his ex-wife, his girlfriend, his fellow lawyers, even from himself. "Hapless" is a word that promises complications, evoking possible comedy but also the potential for uneasy self-reflection - for don't we all fear that someone may, on perhaps not one of our best days, regard us as hapless? Inspired by that reciprocal relationship, Turner offers readers a window into not only his family's experience of war, but also the imagined perspectives of bystanders and enemies: bomb-makers in Iraq, families caught in the crossfire, the kamikaze pilots who fought his grandfather.By Diego De Silva, translated from the Italian by Antony Shugaar. The poet adds, "Of course, the contract that goes with that is that others will hunt for our own."

Turner tells NPR's Arun Rath that his squad leader once said, " 'Men, we're in the job of hunting for people's souls.' " In his memoir, My Life as a Foreign Country, the poet turns to prose, using fragmented, lyrical language to explore his inheritance of war and what it means to be a soldier today. His work includes the award-winning piece " The Hurt Locker," inspired by his service in Iraq. Turner himself, whose Army deployments included tours in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Iraq, is a poet as well as a soldier. And the family's warrior tendencies went beyond deployments: Turner's dad built a martial arts studio in the garage, and the family mixed napalm and blew things up for fun. His father served during the Cold War, his uncle fought in Vietnam, his grandfather fought in World War II and his great-grandfather in World War I. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title My Life As A Foreign Country Subtitle A Memoir Author Brian Turner