The first half of this autobiography is downright undistinguished, telling of the marriage of the Novaks, students at Washington State University, and their adjustments as Dave prepared to go off to war. But the author's reminiscences of her life on the home front while her husband, a Marine, fought in Vietnam are strikingly poignant: living for a time with her parents (who strongly opposed the war, and considered Dave a fool); attending college classes with students who hoisted North Vietnamese flags at antiwar rallies; corresponding with other combatants' wives; experiencing a grinding loneliness as she worried about her husband and new baby. The last chapters, about Dave's eventually successful battle to triumph over his traumatic wartime memories, are especially moving. (Jan.)
