From Baghdad, With Love by Lt. Col. Jay Kopelman216 pages
Completed 2/1/10
Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, this book revolves around Lava, a pup found in Fajullah by a Marine battalion in the height of the Iraqi conflict, and Kopelman's desire to breach rules and save this helpless pup from a war zone.
I, as usual, was drawn into this book by the beyond adorable cover; I am sucker for puppies. War, not so much. So it was difficult for me to get into this read; a lot of it focused around battle zones, suicide bombers, transporting between bases - bureaucracy. If there's anything I hate as much as I love puppies, its droning. This book seemed to do a lot of that.
While the story is touching - a tough Marine is so touched by the little pup that even after leaving Iraq he fights to bring him to the United States - it seemed to have the opposite effect on me that what most readers probably have experienced. I felt a deep sadness for the multitudes of other animals - especially dogs - that were not helped; that were left behind, wounded, hungry, alone. Yes, Lava stumbled upon a battalion who ignored the rules and adopted her, but couldn't there be something else that could help more? For all of the effort and teamwork that went into bringing this dog all the way to the U.S., how many dogs were lost?
Well, I knew I would go off on a woe-are-sad-puppies tangent, but that's mostly what this book left with me. I would recommend this one more towards a male audience - the war descriptions were a little much for me - and to animal lovers who can keep perspective on the issue at hand.
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