Get Your Hands On Battle Dress Narrated By Amy Efaw Available Through Document
book was way better than I expected, I picked it up out of bin of books at a local thrift store, shrugged, and told myself, "hmm, this might be an interesting read, plus, it might be good research for writing.
" I purchased it forcents and told myself if it was terrible, I didn't have to finish it.
But it was great! The story was very intriguing and the ins and outs of West Point life quite fascinating.
It was actually very clean and I found it an enjoyable read, And while it wasn't this super mystery or anything, I found myself turning page after page and not wanting to put it down.
I read it in a record two days, so that says a lot! This book was just great!
Recommended toand up for some more mature things a teenager might not get.
Contains: one or two instances of minor language, including the original I thought this book was really good! It kept you on your toes, made you want to dash out of bed in the morning and rush through things to keep the upperclassmen happy! lol.
The only thing I wanted was to see her family again at the end, I was hoping I would, Even if they didn't change their tune towards her, I still wanted that, wanted to see her stand up to them as a changed woman.
Even without that at the end, it was still a very satisfying ending though, I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes Army tales, or is thinking of going to West Point.
The fact that the author went there herself cements the book even further as something credible, She states in the beginning that she did simplify the chain of command to make it easier to follow, and having her put that in, made it easier to swallow.
It means I won't blindly follow what she writes and believe it's all true to form just because she went there.
The rest of it, yeah, totally believable, and an awesome story to boot, Read it. At the encouragement of a friend, I am going to leave this honest remark: this is a glorification and even fetishization of the abuse and, in this case, child abuse the military utilizes in the book to make soldiers.
And I am not really talking about the constant verbal insults, though I think that aspect is certainly silly.
I'm talking about the coldness and glee with which the superior officers approach the mere thought of subjecting their charges to physiologically stressful situations and routines.
It's not clear how well this book reflects real life, but it's certainly of a disturbing subgenre of YA which features extravagant teen misery.
If this book was comprised of the author's actual experiences, perhaps with some justification as to why and how this kind of training produces good soldiers and some critiques of the process, I wouldn't complain.
A YA about the firstweeks a teen spends at West Point, I thought it was great fun and really interesting, I'm hoping there will be more bookscontinuing the journey,
It would be great for tweens who want to read up, I would guess, as well as teens.
No bad language or sex, Some of the scenes are a little intense, though, with how the newest cadets are treated, Might be an interesting springboard for discussion,
Big thumbs up from me, I almost gave this one back to the library, but I'm so glad I hadn't, This book is wonderful, the best book I've ever read about a modern day girl that wants nothing more than to be part of something, one of the guys.
I've always liked it when girls were tough, but this sets a whole new bar,
Andi Davis has spark, personality, wonderful character, and she's so real, Unlike a lot of books, Andi isn't perfect, and she makes mistakes like normal people, I hate it when some characters do everything right, but we know that Andi is good at running, but not so great at pushups.
This book may be a bit confusing in the beginning, but don't get jogged by the somewhat boring beginning because it is worthwhile.
Battle Dress is a yes, the best I've read in a long time, The supporting characters like Kit, McGill, Gab, and even Hickman give a special spark to the story, The older cadets like Cadet Daily or Cadet Black "no pun intended" really just add to the lovely story.
READ IT! It was really good! made me really motivated after reading it!,. This was a quick read, Very in your face American style military, but it does give a good account of one person's experience going through West Point.
The thing I liked about it the most was Amy Efaw does not pull any punches, nor does she shy away from the internal dialogue of self doubt and inadequacy many cadets must feel.
As this is based on her own experiences, I'd say this is a good read for someone who wanted to get an insider's view of the Academy.
A semiautobiographical YA novel based on Efaws own experience attending West Point, For teenage runner Andi Davis, military academy is an escape from the unrelenting brutality of her familys emotional abuse.
There she faces institutional sexism and her own tendency to judge women more harshly than men, and, like any cadet, struggles to survive in a deliberately harsh environment.
But she also finds, for the first time in her life, a sense of belonging and people who value her strength.
The novel covers only basic training “the Beast,” and so is catnip to anyone who enjoys training sequence except for the very first chapter, the entire thing is a training sequence.
Its very wellwritten, wellcharacterized, and realistic,
Though its much more about the daytoday experience of military training than rahrah patriotism, dont expect any critique of war, America, Americas military policies, the militaryindustrial complex, because you will not find it here.
Its an intense, inthemoment book about a young woman taking the first steps toward becoming a soldier, and how that changes her.
I liked it a lot,
This was a great read for so many reasons, It's an intriguing look into life at West Point, what the cadets go through their first six weeks, the beat down they receive before they are built back up as new, stronger people.
It seems just like a lot of yelling and degradation at first, but by the end, it made sense to me.
Andi comes from a very dysfunctional family, At first, she feels like she's stepped from the frying pan into the fire, but soon in the middle of being called a knucklehead and learning how to be a team with her squadron, she sees the light.
. . and most important of all, she goes from being a follower to a leader, It was in her all along, she just didn't have the confidence to assert herself,
The book contained many LOL moments, but the strongest theme of all, at least to me, was becoming a leader and building confidence.
In the beginning, Andi felt her family held her back, By the end, Andi realized she was holding herself back,
Full review on Book Babe: sitelink blogspot. com I remember really liking this book when I first read it in high school, At the time I didn't read much, Although I was an avid reader in middle school, depression and general teenage angst left me with little love for reading.
I don't remember why I ended up reading this book, but I'm glad I did,
Battle Dress reminded me of the joys of reading during a period of time where enjoyment was sparse in my life.
For that, I'm eternally grateful, Andi is a very realistic heroine who has accepted an appointment to West Point, Her acceptance was driven by the need to escape a loud and abusive mom and a silent Dad.
She is really not prepared for the upcoming experience, She has no idea what some of the terms she is ordered to do mean, Her successes and failures are both poignant and funny, She learns to be part of a team and she has found a home, This story is based on the author's own experiences at West Point, Great recreational read. Really enjoyable. I liked getting to see a bit into how the military works even if its not exactly how it works.
Getting to see girls
in the military is really inspiring and at times frustrating with how they are in a way just differentiated and at times seen weaker than the men just because of their gender.
But in all it was good, A great YA novel following high school grad Andi Davis through her basic training "Beast" at West Point.
Set in thes I'm sure it's just as relevant today, The best part Its author, Amy Efaw, also graduated from West Point in thes, I can't remember everything in this book but I remember that I really liked the girl, She is strong and not only physically, But she is real and I can really understand how she is, The author describes the environment of west point well too and the end is good, On the ride to West Point, Andi's siblings bicker and her mother tries to get out of the speeding car atmph and then throws her dad's glasses out the window so he will be forced to let her drive.
With a family like this, it's no wonder Andi welcomes the grueling six week boot camp experience, known discomfortingly as "Beast.
" Anticipation quickly turns to tolerance as she is verbally abused to relearn how to walk, talk, even eat.
The fear that she will fall into the category of dropout like a third of her class haunts her almost as constantly as she defends her boycrazy roommate.
One of the few girls in the class of, Andi struggles to fit in and gain the respect of her peers, her superiors, and her family.
Frequent runins with a misogynist cadet bring up feminist issues, West Point ultimately becomes a place where she learns new skills, makes friends, breaks records as a runner, and discovers that her squad leader is human, after all.
The climax of the book, a sequence of trials that puts everything the new cadets have learned together, gets a bit long and drawn out as Efaw describes the step by step solution to each problem.
Still, this is where Andi really has a chance to shine,
The book is nicely supplemented with a map of West Point, a chart of seniority, and a glossary of military terms and slang.
An author's note puts the book into context Efaw graduated from West Point inand explains what was left out in the hopes of simplification.
The hardcover version has an unappealing oldfashioned look why didn't the art director feature a West Point cadet's uniform instead The West Point badge on the back is very appropriate.
Battle Dress offers a unique point of view and lots of action, and will be perfect for anyone, male or female, who wants to know how bad boot camp really is.
In spite of intense writing and a strong female character, this book may need some pushing, Purchase in paperback. Most of you do not know this about me, but I have always been fascinated by military protocol.
For a nation that champions individuality and creativity, its military seems to be one of the last bastions of enforced conformity and groupthink.
Coming from both a collectivist and individualistic culture, I can see the pros and cons of this military protocol.
BATTLE DRESS was a solid glimpse into the mysterious world of West Point, although Andis internal conflicts were a little roughly drawn.
Creative insults and capital letters flood the pages of BATTLE DRESS, appropriate for the strict discipline surrounding West Point.
I enjoyed how the book so thoroughly created the terrifyingly intimidating environment of the Beast: small details such as the different uniforms required for different activities, the time these cadets have to get up unbelievably early, and the language really contribute to making you feel as if you were experiencing Beast toowithout the ridiculously early wakeup calls and fivemile runs, that is.
So I appreciated the details that made Beast come to life for me, but felt much less connected to all the characters, including Andi.
There is a sort of running conflict between Andi and her unsupportive, mentally abusive family, and Andis feminist side.
What exactly a kind of space does a female occupy in the still maledominated military world Andis feminine roommate, Gabrielle, and a handful of stereotypical sexist squad members contribute to the theme of womens rights in the military, but in a way that always felt very glossed over and underdeveloped.
Interestingly enough, I think this book mightve worked better for me if it had just stuck with a straightforward presentation of Beast and not tried so hard to make Andi have complicated emotional issues.
I felt like Andis struggles to overcome her familys disappointment, contributing to and combined with her obsession with proving herself in Beast, lent a forced feel to the story.
No, Im not questioning the fact that she has family issuesbut issues as delicate as that one need to be carefully and thoroughly developed, and I think that BATTLE DRESS may have relied a bit too much on Andis familys inarguable meanness to carry that part of the plot along.
Overall, however, BATTLE DRESS will make a great read for anyone interested in West Point or the military training culture.
Amy Efaws personal experience translates well onto the page, and the book does not disappoint in that aspect.
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