Book Club Reporter Book Reviews

Alone In The Light - Author: Benjamin W. Bass - Military - Romance Novel

April 26, 2020 Laura Jay Season 2 Episode 18
Book Club Reporter Book Reviews
Alone In The Light - Author: Benjamin W. Bass - Military - Romance Novel
Show Notes Transcript

Astounding Debut Novel! 

Alone In The Light is brilliant story-telling at its best! 


  • Benjamin Bass has written an astounding debut novel. Alone In The Light is much more than a book...it's a deeply moving, personal experience from which you must recover. 


  • Benjamin Bass brings to his readers, complex characters of depth. 


  • I believe Alone In The Light has the magnificent potential (and dare I say, the power) to bring the characters, as well as the readers, “together in the light!”  


  • The story of Alone In The Light is told from the perspective of characters, Josh Carpenter and Mary Fischer. Josh is affectionately referred to by the men in his National Guard unit as, “Big Sarge.” Mary is also in the military and meets Josh in Indiana. Everything is pretty much copesetic.  Then Josh’s unit, and Mary, are moved from Indiana and stationed in Camp Wolf, Kuwait.  

  

  • Let's not minimize the strong message in Alone in the Light. Our VA has failed our military veterans for decades. If our veterans don’t deserve our help, then who does? 


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Book Club Reporter Book Reviews

  • Alone In The Light - Military Romance Fiction


Podcast Transcript: 

Introduction: (00:11)

 Hello gentle readers. Welcome to Book Club Reporter Book Reviews Podcast. I’m your host and Book Club Reporter, Laura Jay. This season two, episode eighteen. 

  

Book/Author: (00:12)

 Okay readers, today I’m going to talk about Alone In The Light, written by author Benjamin Bass. And this is his debut novel.

 

 

About Book Club Reporter: (00:21)

 And before we get started, be sure to read all my book reviews, book news, book club reading lists and more at bookclubreporter.com. And you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Just take a look at the show notes for this podcast for all the info and links.

 

 

Book Description: (00:39)

 Okay fellow readers, I’m going to give you the publisher’s description of this book. And that should provide us with a good segue into my book review.

 

 

Book Review Intro: (01:43)

 Okay, so here’s my book review of Alone In The Light. Alone In The Light is much more than a book. It’s a deeply moving, personal experience from which you must recover. At least, that’s what it was for me.

 

 

Book Review Audiobook: (01:59)

 I purchased the Audible version of Alone In The Light. And I listened to Alone in the Light while I was alone in the dark at bedtime for several nights in a row until I finished the story. So yes, I listened to Alone in the Light while I was Alone in the Dark, huh, just saying.

 

 

Podcast Ad: Duration (01:10)

 I’d like to take a short break here to tell my listeners how easy and fast I got started podcasting. If you’ve heard my Buzz Sprout podcasting ad before just go ahead and skip forward one minute and you’ll get right back to the review. If my story helps others get started podcasting as fast and as easy as I did, well that’s just wonderful. 

 

Here’s my story in a nut shell. I did a little research on how to start a podcast. I came across Buzzsprout.com. Buzzsprout has an amazingly easy interface! I quickly found everything I needed to upload my audio recordings. And within a very short period of time, I found my podcast listed in major podcast directories. Now, I’m having fun turning my book reviews into podcasts.

 

Here’s more great news! Buzzsprout has come up with a great way for podcasters to monetize their podcasts. I’m doing it, and you can do it too! If you’ve been wanting to get into podcasting, here’s your chance. To help you get started I’ve placed a Buzzsprout link in the show notes of this podcast. And following the link in the show notes lets Buzzsprout know I sent you, gets you a twenty dollar gift card, if you sign up for a paid plan and helps you support my podcast show. Hey, okay, let’s get back to our show now.

 

 

Book Review Continued: (03:29)

 Okay, so here’s my book review of Alone In The Light. The story of Alone In The Light is told from the perspective of characters, Josh Carpenter and Mary Fischer. Josh is affectionately referred to by the men in his National Guard unit as, “Big Sarge.” Mary is also in the military and meets Josh in Indiana. Everything is pretty much copesetic.  Then Josh’s unit, and Mary, are moved from Indiana and stationed in Camp Wolf, Kuwait.  

 

 

Book Review: ( 03:30)

 Although, I finished reading/listening to Alone in The Light a few months ago. It has taken me quite a while to get to a place where I could write about the book. First let me say, Benjamin Bass has written an astounding debut novel. On the surface, this is a story about men and women in the National Guard. They have been called to serve in the war in Iraq.  As you might imagine, bad things happen during the war. 

 

 

Book Review: (04:27)

 After Josh’s unit returns back home to Indiana, life is anything but easy. Josh suffered a significant physical injury during the war. Although Mary wrote many letters to Josh while overseas, Josh showed no interest in her or her letters. It seemed as though nothing about Josh was the same. The war, his injury and loss of lives during the war had changed him. 

 

 

Book Review: (04:55)

 While Mary did not understand why Josh shunned her, she recognized that he indeed was a changed man. And even if Josh was no longer romantically interested in her, Mary continued to care about him. She realized the change in Josh, mentally, was destroying the person he used to be. I am sure Mary was grieving the loss of the man she once knew. 

 

 

Book Review: (05:18)

 Benjamin Bass brings to his readers, complex characters of depth.  Everything Josh does and/or experiences after returning home, screams PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).  But the real Josh is still there, somewhere down deep. And through it all, Josh continues to care about his comrades. Even so, he cannot save anyone, not even back in Indiana. And, how can he? He is suffering both physically and mentally, as the life he once lived is going down the drain.

 

 

Book Review: (05:52)

 Benjamin Bass expertly depicts the changes in Josh. We see Josh suffering both inwardly and outwardly. Even as Bass shows us a man who is sinking fast, we don’t want to accept that he may never be the same. We want Josh to get back to being the man he was. We will feel better if we just get to see Josh smile like he used to. We would like to take hold of him and shake him.  And we even want to scream at him to stop drowning himself in booze. 

 

 

Book Review: (06:23)

 Honestly, we need Josh to make things better with Mary, the woman who so clearly loves him. We ask what happened to Josh’s feelings for Mary? Yet, we already know the answer. We cannot ignore what we see. We recognize Josh’s mind is betraying him through the life-destroying power of PTSD, left untreated, left undefeated. We want Josh to fight back! We want to cry out, “Come on Josh, you are stronger than this damned PTSD! Don’t be afraid to fight!” But is that fair of us? Would that even work?

 

 

Book Review: (06:59)

 Let me be clear, I don’t like books that bring me down. Alone In The Light is brilliant story-telling at its best. I keep asking myself, "What good is it to be, Alone In The Light?” That’s kind of like Tom Hanks marooned on an island with a soccer ball. Let’s face it, he needed a companion so he would not be Alone In The Light. I believe Alone In The Light has the magnificent potential (and dare I say, the power) to bring the characters, as well as the readers, “together in the light!” 

 

 

Book Review: (07:32)

 My heart goes out to families struggling to bring a loved one back into the light of a loving family and friends. And though it is surely an accident of timing, Alone In The Light is also a testament to a world fighting a war against what feels like an invisible enemy, the Covid Virus. And if that’s not enough to give all of as PTSD, I don’t know what is. 

 

 

Book Review: (07:53)

 I’m not trying to minimize the real message in Alone in the Light. I know most of you all listening to me now, know how the VA has failed our military veterans for decades. We all have the power to vote and hopefully as a nation we will make the choices that will make a difference,  one that will make a difference for our veterans. If our veterans don’t deserve our help, then who does? 

                                    

 

Thank You: (8:14)       

 Thank you all for joining today for this book club reporter book review. If you would like more info about today’s book review or a copy of the book check the show notes for this podcast episode, or simply visit BookClubReporter.com.

 
 

See You Next Time: (7:03)

And don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast, because there are many more book reviews to come. See you next time.

 


End: (07:06)