- Rachel Penate
Home Front by Kristin Hannah

TITLE/ AUTHOR: Home Front by Kristin Hannah
PUBLISHER: St. Martin’s Press (2012)
GENRE: Literary Fiction
★★★☆☆
SUMMARY: “Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life—children, careers, bills, chores—even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then a deployment sends Jolene deep into harm's way and war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen.” (Adapted from Goodreads)
REVIEW: OH HEY! Look! It’s me reviewing another Kristin Hannah novel! Haha. If you don’t know me already, she is one of my go-to authors. Her books are total comfort reads and never fail to be easily readable. I know what I’m going to get with her novels and sometimes that’s just what the doctor ordered.
But while I praise the predictability of her stories, pardon me while I just blatantly contradict myself and say that the predictability of this story is actually what caused me to downgrade it from four stars to three.
★ Despite constantly praising Kristin Hannah for knowing how to dialogue about suffering and family change, Home Front wasn’t a winner for me. ★ Essentially what it came down to was this: 1) I wasn’t entirely convinced by Hannah’s portrayal of Jolene (the protagonist) and 2) ultimately this book felt like an altruistic and (at times) dramatic take on the experience of being a military family.
Overall, Home Front lacked an added depth and vulnerability to it’s writing that left me wanting for more.
SENSITIVITY WARNINGS: PTSD, marital issues/ divorce, injury in war & deployment.
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