The Things a Brother Knows

by Dana Reinhardt Narrated by Joshua Swanson

Overview

The story of a young marine's return from war in the Middle East and the psychological effects it has on his family.

Finally, Levi Katznelson's older brother, Boaz, has returned. Boaz was a high school star who had it all and gave it up to serve in a war Levi can't understand. Things have been on hold since Boaz left. With the help of his two best friends Levi has fumbled his way through high school, weary of his role as little brother to the hero.

But when Boaz walks through the front door after his tour of duty is over, Levi knows there's something wrong. Boaz is home, safe. But Levi knows that his brother is not the same.

Maybe things will never return to normal. Then Boaz leaves again, and this time Levi follows him, determined to understand who his brother was, who he has become, and how to bring him home again.

Award-winning author Dana Reinhardt introduces readers to Levi, who has never known what he believes, and whose journey reveals truths only a brother knows.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

With exceptional sensitivity, Reinhardt (How to Build a House) chronicles a soldier’s troubling homecoming, in this timely novel told from his younger brother’s point of view. Three years after joining the Marines and serving overseas, Levi Katznelson’s brother, Boaz, returns to his Boston suburb a hero. But he seems to be a different person: withdrawn and uncommunicative. After isolating himself from the family, Boaz announces his plans to hike the Appalachian Trail, yet Levi suspects his brother has another itinerary in mind. Using a route marked on a map Boaz left behind, Levi follows Boaz’s path and eventually catches up with him. Walking side by side with his brother all the way to Washington, D.C., visiting ex-Marines and soldiers’ families along the way, Levi learns more about his brother’s experiences--like why he’s stopped riding in automobiles--than Boaz can explain outright. Refraining from making political judgments about current conflicts, Reinhardt personalizes a soldier’s traumas in terms civilians can understand. Levi’s growing comprehension of Boaz’s internal turmoil is gracefully and powerfully evoked. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2010:
"The emotional journey is leavened with humor and a little romance, but it moves toward the conclusion with an inevitability that grabs and doesn't let go. Every character contributes and brings a point of view that adds to a fuller picture of the personal consequences of war without being simplistically pro or anti. Powerful."

Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, August 30, 2010:
"With exceptional sensitivity, Reinhardt (How to Build a House) chronicles a soldier’s troubling homecoming, in this timely novel told from his younger brother’s point of view . . . Reinhardt personalizes a soldier’s traumas in terms civilians can understand. Levi’s growing comprehension of Boaz’s internal turmoil is gracefully and powerfully evoked."

Starred Review, Booklist, October 1, 2010:
"Reinhardt’s poignant story of a soldier coping with survivor’s guilt and trauma, and his Israeli American family’s struggle to understand and help, is timely and honest."

JANUARY 2011 - AudioFile

Joshua Swanson recounts the story of a troubled vet, Boaz, recently returned from the Middle East, and his conflicted younger brother, Levi. “Boaz went in the military as a man and came back a ghost,” claims Levi, who is so determined to bust through his brother’s monosyllabic shell that he stalks him on a long trek from Baltimore to Washington, DC. The plans works eventually; conversation evolves, and so does Levi’s understanding of war and kin. Swanson has the tempo and temperament of the brothers down pat. The boys’ Israeli father and grandfather give Swanson a chance to demonstrate his Hebrew accent as they try to reach Boaz. Swanson’s narration of Levi’s colorful friendships and first romance is delivered as a counterpoint to the traumas of war. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Levi's older brother Boaz enlisted in the Marines after graduating from high school rather than attend an elite university as expected. Levi has felt the distance grow between them prior to and throughout his enlistment. Now, Boaz—renamed Bo—is returning home from the Middle East. The person who arrives bears little resemblance to his previous self, holing up in his room and barely communicating. When Bo announces his intention of hiking the Appalachian Trail, Levi (who has snooped in Bo's Internet history) knows better. With a little help from best friends Pearl and Zim, he joins Bo on his personal hegira. The first-person, present-tense narration takes readers steadily toward the core of what has happened to Bo. Levi's reflections and observations are crisply apt and express essentials succinctly. The emotional journey is leavened with humor and a little romance, but it moves toward the conclusion with an inevitability that grabs and doesn't let go. Every character contributes and brings a point of view that adds to a fuller picture of the personal consequences of war without being simplistically pro or anti. Powerful. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172161773
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	09/14/2010
Edition description:	Unabridged

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