cover image They Dragged Them Through the Streets

They Dragged Them Through the Streets

Hilary Plum. Univ. of Alabama, $14.95 trade paper (128p) ISBN 978-1573661720

Plum's debut novel follows four friends%E2%80%94Ford, Vivienne, Sara, and "A" (whose full name is never revealed)%E2%80%94in the events leading up to and during the aftermath of two deaths. One is that of Ford's older brother Jay, an army veteran who committed suicide upon returning home from the Iraq War; the other is of mutual friend Zechariah, who died in a house explosion. Told in chapter vignettes titled by the first initial of the shuffling narrators, each member of the group struggles with personal strife while maintaining their protest of the war. Weaved among suggestions of terrorism against recruitment centers, schools, and hospitals%E2%80%94all symbolic statements against the war%E2%80%94Ford battles alcoholism as he tries to comprehend his brother's reasons for taking his own life, Vivienne struggles to maintain sanity after Zechariah's death, and Sara reconsiders her place in life while working at a shelter for veterans. With so many fragmentary chapters and indistinguishable character voices, the book becomes a draining read. The one personality that stands out is Jay, and Plum's rich descriptions, across an all-too-brief two pages, make it hard to believe she couldn't do the same with the others. (Mar.)